1. Archers and Redwoods clinched the final two Premier Lacrosse League playoff spots Sunday in Albany. Atlas, which upset a Chaos team full of Albany grads in front of a packed house at Casey Stadium on Saturday night, was the odd man out due to score differential.
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Jack Concannon made 18 saves to lead Atlas to a 12-9 win Saturday over first-place Chaos, spoiling the homecoming for former Albany standouts Connor Fields, Kyle McClancy, Troy Reh, Blaze Riorden and Miles Thompson. An announced sellout crowd of 6,472 turned out for the game, which saw the Great Danes quintet combine for five goals and 13 saves (Riorden).
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Needing to win handily after a blowout loss to Whipsnakes last week, Redwoods did just that, outscoring Chrome 10-1 in the second half of an 18-7 win Sunday. Ryder Garnsey led the onslaught with four goals and three assists. Matt Kavanagh, a game-time decision with an ankle injury, added four goals, including a 2-pointer. Joe Walters (one goal, three assists), Sergio Perkovic (three goals) and Sergio Salcido (three assists) provided the scoring punch out of the midfield.
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Facing a win-and-in scenario, Archers shook off a scoreless second quarter, outscoring Whipsnakes 7-1 in the second half for a playoff-clinching 11-8 victory Sunday. Tom Schreiber led the way with six points on three goals (including a 2-pointer) and two assists.
Now it’s time to see the PLL’s innovative postseason structure at work. It’s on to Columbus in two weeks. Top-seeded Chaos will meet second-seeded Whipsnakes, and third-seeded Archers will face fourth-seeded Redwoods.
The winner of the first game will earn a bye to the championship game Sept. 21 in Chester, Pa., with the loser getting another crack at it against the winner of the second game in the semifinals Sept. 14 in Harrison, N.J.
The consolation bracket, the reward for which is the No. 1 pick in next year’s college draft, will consist of Atlas, Chrome and the loser of Archers/Redwoods.
2. The Dallas Rattlers continued their unlikely surge from an 0-7 start with a weekend road sweep of the Boston Cannons and Chesapeake Bayhawks. Thus, no Major League Lacrosse team was able to clinch a playoff spot, though the Denver Outlaws did manage to eliminate the New York Lizards.
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The Rattlers defeated the Cannons 13-10 Saturday in Quincy, Mass., and edged the Bayhawks 14-13 Sunday in Annapolis, Md. Both the Cannons and Bayhawks were in first place before getting knocked off by Dallas, which has beaten every team in the league during its current six-game winning streak. Rookie goalie Sean Sconone made 16 saves in the win over Boston. Ryan McNamara scored two 2-pointers and finished with seven points in the win over Chesapeake.
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The weekend wasn’t a total loss for the Bayhawks, who defeated the Atlanta Blaze 16-13. Chesapeake spotted Atlanta a 6-2 leave before exploding for nine goals in the second quarter and then blanking the Blaze in the third quarter. Six Bayhawks had at least three points, led by two goals and three assists from Steele Stanwick.
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The Outlaws snapped a four-game losing streak with a 16-13 victory over the Lizards, thanks to a virtuoso performance by John Grant Jr. The 44-year-old attackman scored two goals and dished out five assists, surpassing Paul Rabil as MLL’s career regular season scoring leader.
With four weeks remaining in the regular season, five teams — Chesapeake (8-5), Denver (7-5), Boston (7-5), Atlanta (7-6) and Dallas (6-7) — are separated by just two games. Four will qualify for the playoffs.
3. New field markings have been proposed by the NCAA men’s lacrosse rules committee to help officials call the crease dive.
If approved by the NCAA’s playing rules oversight panel Sept. 11, there will be an arc with a 6-foot radius protruding from the midpoint of the goal line — more clearly and visibly defining the goal mouth that is off limits to attacking players, regardless of their launch point.
4. The Orangeville Northmen swept the Victoria Shamrocks in the Minto Cup, a best-of-five series to determine Canada’s national Junior A box lacrosse champion. Jonathan Donville (Cornell) earned Minto Cup MVP honors, as the Northmen won all three games while trailing for just 23:07 during the entire series.