(Photo courtesy of PLL)
A sold-out crowd at TCO Stadium in Eagan, Minn., was treated to a pair of thrilling PLL Quarterfinal matchups, both featuring comebacks (one successful, one not) and ultimately a pair of 14-12 outcomes.
In the first game, Waterdog attackmen Kieran McArdle (6G), Michael Sowers (4G, 4A) and CJ Kirst (4G, 1A, 5GB) combined to score all of their team’s goals and McArdle was the hero in clutch time as Philly rebounded from Brad Smith’s game-tying 2-pointer with the final two tallies to secure the win over the Maryland Whipsnakes.
In the nightcap, a slow first quarter gave way to the Redwoods and Chaos trading goals before Carolina’s five-score spurt on each side of halftime broke open a 5-5 tie. From that point, a series of fortunate events favored California — highlighted by Romar Dennis’ third quarter 2-pointer that cut the deficit to one — and Andrew McAdorey, Chris Kavanagh and Chayse Ierlan proved the difference for the Woods.
The Semifinals are set for next Monday in Philadelphia: the Waterdogs will take on No. 1-seed New York in the Eastern Conference championship game, while the California Redwoods will tangle with the Western Conference No. 1-seed Denver Outlaws at noon.
Here’s how it went down.
Philly Advances Behind McArdle Magic
Sowers had two goals and two assists less than eight minutes into the game and, not only did it feel like Philly was rolling and en route to snapping their four-game losing streak, but also that Maryland would struggle to score enough to keep the game competitive.
Late in the first quarter, however, Levi Anderson and Colin Heacock scored the first of what would be three two-goal spurts that cut Philly’s lead to two, and the second quarter featured a stretch during which the teams traded goals. By halftime, the Whips’ ability to respond offensively trailed only the individual brilliance of the Waterdogs’ goal-scorers (it seemed like every Philly goal was a crease-dive twister or a silky smooth BTB) as the game’s prominent attribute.
Philly hit a dagger :12 before halftime and stretched the lead to four to open the third, but Whips responded with a pair of goals. The Waterdogs again scored twice and, for the third time, Maryland scored back-to-back goals, cutting Philly’s lead to 12-10 with 9:35 to play. The second in the sequence featured a connection of Maryland’s leading scorers as rookie Aidan Carroll (4G, 1A) converted an assist from future Hall of Famer Rob Pannell (2G, 2A).
That set up the game’s dramatic peak as Carroll executed a pass-down/pick-down weave with Smith that Philly coach Bill Tierney said his team misplayed by going under the screen, and the game was tied 12-12 with 6:44 to play.
A little more than four minutes later, though, McArdle stepped out of the phone booth, his fifth and eventual game-winner coming off of a dodge against a shortstick from behind and the sixth a lightning quick catch-and-shoot on the crease as his momentum was taking him away from the ball and the goal.
For all the production of the attack, though, Tierney was quick to credit the team effort — especially the midfielders — emphasizing how proud he was in his postgame comments.
“I don’t know what our midfield scoring count was today, but it wasn’t much. But they played their best game of the season,” Tierney said. “From [Alec] Stath[akis] battling Nardella … [Zach] Currier was on the field for 47 minutes of the 48 … Couldn’t be more proud.”
Jack Hannah (1A), LSM Ben Wayer (1A, 3GB), SSDM Dylan Hess (1A, 4GB) contributed to the effort, and Stathakis won 11-of-27 face-offs and picked up three groundballs, but it was Currier’s production that really stood out — he caused a turnover, scooped seven groundballs and won both face-offs he took.
“Zach’s just a special one,” Sowers said. “I had the opportunity to play with him at Princeton, as well, and… T’s pretty competitive, but I was going to say that Zach’s the most competitive person I’ve been around.”
It sets up a homecoming for a team split its games at Villanova Stadium on June 13-14 and a rematch of Atlas’ epic 20-19 win in the regular season finale on Aug. 9, a game that Tierney joked was good for everyone and everything in the sport except his health.
“Playing in Philly in front of our home crowd is something we’ll feed off of, we need that energy.” McArdle said.
The Eastern Conference championship game is set for 3 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 1, at Subaru Park.
Redwoods Overcome the Chaos in Comeback Fashion
After Carolina and California traded goals in the first minute, it was only Sergio Perkovic’s rollback to his left hand (a shot that he said on the broadcast that he’d tried in practice but never in a game) that set the margin after 12 minutes.
Chayse Ierlan set the tone early, making seven first quarter saves. Chris Kavanagh got his second goal to open the second quarter and three others (Charlie Bertrand, McAdorey and Dylan Molloy) scored for the Redwoods, while Carolina responded with Owen Hiltz (2G, 2A) heating up, Cole Williams scoring in his first game of the season and Perkovic again doing something he rarely does, this time taking a bottom-up feed from Hiltz, throwing a huge face dodge/hesitation move and hitting a sidearm release low.
Chaos scored the next three either side of halftime, stretching their lead to 10-5 and topping their win probability out over 85%. And while Chaos defender Jack Rowlett continued to win matchups vs. Molloy, McAdorey’s speed came into focus; his back-to-back goals cut the lead to three. That set up the first of a series of breaks that seemed to go the Woods’ way — they should have lost possession on a check that went out of bounds, but it was ruled a shot and stayed with California. Dennis 2-pointer came later in the possession.
After being treated in the third fro an apparent calf issue, Redwoods face-off specialist TD Ierlan gave his team its lead of the game four seconds into the fourth with an immediate response to Jackson Eicher’s man-up goal with :16 remaining in the third.
California’s good fortune was not without Chaos’ best attempts to counteract it, starting early in the fourth with backup goalie Austin Kaut manning the iPad and spotting McAdorey landing in the crease much earlier in a possession that resulted in a goal, which took the goal off the board (and kept the score at 12-11). Hiltz, who played attack in the second and fourth and was much more productive down low, hopped off the field early in the fourth with a cramp and did not factor in the final frame.
With less than six minutes to play, Aidan Danenza picked up a groundball on the sideline and, aided by a collision that the commentary team deemed interference on Chris Kavanagh that went uncalled, got to the middle of the field and canned a shot in an unsettled sequence, finally extending the lead to 13-11. Shane Knobloch cut it to one off a nice two-man game but, after two good Carolina defensive stops, Blaze Riorden and Mark Glicini misconnected on clearing pass with 2:40 to go led directly to Bertrand’s second goal to make it 14-12.
While it didn’t have an effect on the outcome, another 'Woods goal was taken off the board when it was deemed McAdorey stepped in the crease on an empty net attempt with :15 to play. Chaos again failed to clear, setting the final margin.
For Carolina, Knobloch finished with three goals, Justin Inacio won 15-of-26 and picked up 13 GBs and Riorden made 10 saves.
“Our guys just never stopped believing. We’ve been down a bunch this year and just never stopped fighting, fighting, fighting,” Redwoods coach Anthony Kelly told the broadcast postgame. “At halftime made a couple adjustments, I don’t think we played our best first half, and came out and closed out the game.”
For California, Chris Fake caused a turnover and scooped four groundballs, TD Ierlan won 14-of-28 and picked up five groundballs and Chayse Ierlan finished with a career-high 18 saves.
“[Chayse] was unreal,” Kelly said. “It was one of those games, they came out and scored on the first shot and he turned it around. He’s mentally tough, he’s really coming into his own and I’m really proud of him. Proud of my whole team.”
