Photo Courtesy PLL)

There’s one more weekend of the Premier Lacrosse League regular season.

It’s Boston homecoming next week, and that’s fitting as the Cannons will play two games to decide the fate of their season. They are just ahead of the Whipsnakes in the Eastern Conference standings. 

Three teams in each conference advance to the PLL Playoffs. The Denver Outlaws, in a nationally televised showcase Saturday vs. the East’s New York Atlas, earned a bye to the PLL Semifinals. The game was an overtime instant classic.

The Carolina Chaos also clinched in the West with a cool-under-pressure comeback win Friday night.

EASTERN
*New York Atlas (6-3, +16SD) 
Philadelphia Waterdogs (4-5, -2) 
Boston Cannons (4-4, -3) 
Maryland Whipsnakes (3-6, +4)

WESTERN 
*Denver Outlaws (7-3, +18) 
Carolina Chaos (5-4, -14) 
California Redwoods (4-5, -5) 
Utah Archers (3-6, -14) 

Here is a look at Saturday’s PLL action. 

 

Outlaws Complete Comeback vs. Atlas in OT

 

Both goalies had made a couple of saves each in the overtime period. Brennan O'Neill was trying to tough out a lower body injury after hobbling off the possession prior. The majority of the players on the field were running on fumes.

So when Jared Bernhardt picked the ball up off an endline restart after Graham Bundy, Jr. (1-for-8 shooting) attempted a 2-point shot, the biggest free agent get this season knew he had to make a play. Bernhardt went left around his college roommate Logan Wisnauskas' screen at X, got separation and fired low for the sudden death winner to clinch Denver Outlaws' spot in the PLL Semifinals via a top seeded finish in the Western Conference.

Denver defeated the New York Atlas, 13-12, in a gutsy comeback inspired by a raucous home crowd at Peter Barton Stadium on Saturday on short rest following their a loss against the Chaos that snapped their six-game winning streak on Friday night.

"That was one of the best games I've ever been a part of," Outlaws coach Tim Soudan said postgame.

 

 

Soudan revamped the Outlaws offense that was built primarily around Brennan O'Neill, the No. 1 pick in last year's draft, into one that includes trade acquisition Pat Kavanagh, the return from injury in Wisnauskas, and Bernhardt, who joined the team after Week 1.

O'Neill had two goals on nine shots, Kavanagh was shutout for the first time this season matched up against Gavin Adler, and Wisnauskas had two goals and an assist. But it was Bernhardt who stole the headlines with his game-winning tally.

"It's awesome to feel that energy, everyone's into it and it's great to call this place our home," Jared Bernhardt said. "Obviously, choosing the Outlaws, everything was what I thought it was going to be. Just with the guys in the locker room, that to me is huge, like I said I want to go in and be accepted and enjoy going every weekend. The guys have been great, the coaches have been great, so the season has been really good."

It was a workmanlike comeback after New York built a 9-4 halftime lead.

"It was a tale of two different halves, we had two different teams show up," Atlas coach Mike Pressler said postgame. "We jump all over them, 9-4 at halftime, then in the third quarter we stopped playing. We were watching them. We scored nine in the first half, scored three in the second. Struggled at the face-off X, struggled clearing. I want to give credit to the Outlaws, but in so many ways we beat ourselves today, and that was disappointing."

O'Neill scored around a screen to open the second-half scoring, then Bernhardt had a hand in the next three goals with a couple assists to Wisnauskas and Bundy before going solo with 34 seconds left in the third to cut it to 10-8.

The big momentum play came to start the fourth-quarter scoring when McNaney stuffed a Reid Bowering quickstick, SSDM Ryan Terenfenko dove to goose it to LSM Jake Piseno, setting up a transition take from O'Neill. Justin Anderson stormed out of the box on the next possession to tie it up, 10-10.

With two goals already to his name, Shellenberger drove lefty around a Bowering screen and opted to jam it inside on Bowering's slip towards the net, with Bowering finishing for his hat trick. But two clutch defensive stops from Denver's defense followed, setting up a chance to tie it in the final minutes on the other end.

Piseno had other ideas, launching his third 2-pointer of the season to take Denver's first lead since it was 2-1 halfway through the first quarter. McNaney denied Matt Traynor on a doorstep shot with about 90 seconds left, then the Outlaws called timeout to try and draw up a play to get some breathing room. Kavanagh ended up driving up the hash and his jumphsot went wide right with the shot clock expiring, giving New York a chance to draw up a play on the other end.

Shellenberger seemed to have his MVP moment, again working around a Bowering screen to get the short-stick matchup against Terefenko, splitting to his left and sending an overhand rocket to the top shelf with 15 seconds left to force overtime. Trevor Baptiste won the ensuing face, Pressler called timeout, and Jake Stevens sent a shot down the right alley with six seconds left, only for McNaney to kick it away.

Costabile and Wisnauskas traded desperation shots to start OT, then Traynor got the first clean chance with an overhand stepdown that McNaney caught. On the other end, Dalton Young danced behind and found Wisnauskas, who walked in, faked, and thought he scored only for Liam Entenmann to jump and stick out his right leg to keep it out miraculously.

Teat worked with Bowering next, sending a BTB pass into traffic that he somehow corralled before missing nearside. Shellenberger slipped on a split dodge and sent a pass with the shot clock expiring, but Bowering's redirect hit McNaney's thigh. The teams traded defensive stops yet again, then it was Bernhardt's time to shine.

The Outlaws have a full month to rest, recover and regroup for the semifinal round while New York will look to bounce back against the Waterdogs in Boston in the final weekend of the regular season next Saturday.
—KEVIN BROWN

 

Molloy Goes Off in ‘New Cleats’ as ‘Woods Fight Back

 

Never tell the California Redwoods the odds. 

With just over nine minutes left Saturday night, the Redwoods had a 2% probability of winning against the Maryland Whipsnakes. 

“We don’t like numbers, doesn’t matter,” said Dylan Molloy.

 

 

They won, 13-12, earning their second-straight win in which they overcame a fourth quarter deficit. Molloy scored the game-winning goal with 41 seconds left, donning coach Anthony Kelly’s old cleats en route to one of the best games in his pro career.

The Redwoods moved to 4-5, a win ahead of the Utah Archers in the West. 

All of it summed up by Kelly’s pregame message on the whiteboard.

“We’re never out of the fight,” he wrote.

“Numbers don’t matter until the clock ends,” Kelly said postgame.

Molloy had five goals on eight shots, and Chris Kavanagh had a hat trick and four assists. TD Ierlan went 72.4% vs. Joe Nardella, and his brother Chayse had a fourth-straight game above 50%, making 13 saves. Cole Kastner had a pair of caused turnovers as the ‘Woods did not allow a goal in the fourth. 

In the fourth quarter with a 2% chance, things looked bleak. Aidan Carroll’s Whipsnake-leading third goal put Maryland up 13-10 late in the third.

But Molloy came up field and scored low-to-high off a series of team ball movement to narrow it to two goals. Andrew McAdorey took the ball to X, then sped to his right and threw a dart to make it a one-goal game. It took five more minutes to tie it, as Kavanagh danced back and forth up top and got to the middle to bury a shot from the slot.

Molloy had some magic in his new cleats. He wore Anthony Kelly’s old tie-dye MLL all-star cleats a week after his broke. His coach promised he’d look back through his old stuff, found the cleats in a bag of old gear as he’s moving houses and had them overnighted to the equipment manager for Molloy to use. Molloy was self-conscious about them at first and was going to stick to the ones he wore mid-game last week, but Kelly convinced him.

Now they aren’t coming off.

Molloy took the ball from X with under a minute, went around an Aidan Danenza pick, got to the middle and rolled back and put it home.

“We’ve been talking about mentally believing that we can win and close a game. I think at every piece of the field we stepped up,” said Molloy.

Danenza had a pair of goals and continues to prove himself.

“Aidan Danenza is an unbelievable player. Every week he’s getting a little more comfortable and showing what he’s capable of,” Kelly said. “He had a few weeks of not playing and came back and answered the bell. Aidan, what he brings is a positive attitude, but he’s an extremely smart and savvy lacrosse player.”

TJ Malone had two goals and an assist for the Whipsnakes. Rob Pannell, back in the lineup and facing his old team, had two goals. Jack McDonald started off the scoring with two pole goals. The Whipsnakes (3-6) are last in the Eastern Conference; they have a huge game with the Boston Cannons, a spot ahead of them, during Boston’s homecoming weekend. The Redwoods face the Cannons in the first part of their homecoming back-to-back.

“We’re a young team. We’ve been growing every week. Even when we lose, we’re growing and getting better,” said Kelly. “Our goal is to keep trending that way.”
—MATT KINNEAR