Woods Roll Past Chaos in California Homecoming; Boston Clinches

SAN DIEGO — The Premier Lacrosse League is making a stop in “America’s Finest City” this weekend and on a sparkling Saturday afternoon at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium, the California Redwoods and Boston Cannons emerged with victories.

The Redwoods (2-4, 1-3 West) are the homecoming team this weekend and certainly looked California comfortable while putting together their best performance of the season with a 10-8 win over the Carolina Chaos (3-4, 2-2 West).

Playing in front of a partisan crowd and in a stadium decked out in the team’s green and gold colors as well as signage and logos, the Redwoods jumped out to a 5-1 first half lead thanks to a goal from Rob Pannell and a pair of 2-pointers off the stick of Romar

Dennis

The lead swelled to 10-4 before Carolina made things interesting by scoring the game’s final four goals.

The Chaos, who won the first meeting between the teams 12-11 back on June 7 in Charlotte, had one potential game-tying 2-point shot attempt blocked by defenseman Arden Cohen and another gamely scooped up and secured by goalie Jack Kelly, who finished with 13 saves.

Kelly also moved into 14th place in pro field lacrosse history for career saves. In a game that had its chippy moments, seven different Redwood players scored with the highlight of the game provided by Jared Conners, who made an interception and raced coast-to-coast before ripping a shot past Carolina goalie Blaze Riorden to make the score 8-4 California in the third quarter.

The Redwoods finished with a 24-22 edge in shots on goal, had a three-minute possession advantage and won 14 of 19 faceoffs thanks to the nifty stick work of TD Ierlan.

Carolina received another big game from rookie Shane Knobloch, who finished with three goals (including a 2-pointer) one week after scoring the game-winning goal in the team’s 10-9 overtime victory over the Maryland Whipsnakes.

Fourth-quarter goals from Knoblach and Kyle Jackson kept some pressure on the Redwoods but they held on for a victory that kept their playoff hopes alive.

“Big win, needed that one,” Redwoods coach Nate St. Laurent said. “Proud of our guys. Executed as well as we have all season. Want to work on tightening some things up there in the second half, but this is one we had to have.”

The Redwoods will get a shot at another win Sunday when they face the Whipsnakes (2-4).

And that’s what Pannell said he was focused on when asked about the fact that passed Brendan Mundorf on the pro field lacrosse career goals list with 317.

“It’s cool,” said Pannell, who netted his goal to open the scoring in the first quarter. “We’re more focused on wins and losses right now. We know our team came in 1-4. Now we’re 2-4. We want to leave here 3-4.”

Boston clinches playoff spot

The day’s first game was a tale of two halve as the Boston Outlaws (6-2, 4-1 East) clinched a playoff spot after erasing a 9-5 halftime deficit to emerge with a 12-10 victory over the Denver Outlaws (3-3, 2-1 West).

The Outlaws broke a 5-5 second quarter tie with a 4-0 scoring run that covered just over two minutes of game clock.

Carlos Ferrera sparked the push with a 2-point goal from the point while Graham Bundy and Ryan Terenko followed with goals of their own to send the Outlaws to the halftime locker room with a seemingly commanding four-goal lead.

Boston responded emphatically, scoring six consecutive goals in the third quarter before holding off several strong Denver pushes in the fourth.

Asher Nolting’s two third-quarter goals helped Boston get rolling, Marcus Holman finished the game with three goals and an assist and Matt Campbell hit the Cannons’ 15th 2-point goal this season, tying the league record.

Six different Boston players netted goals, Zac Tucci won 14 of 23 faceoffs and goalie Colin Kirst finished with12 saves.

The game’s highlight play was made by Boston’s Marcus Holman, who raced in from the wing, laid out and snapped a diving shot as he flew past goalie Owen McElroy in the second quarter.

“We came in at halftime and made a couple small adjustments but nothing crazy,” Cannons coach Brian Holman said. “We had three or four good chances in the first that we just missed on.  It was about, stay the course. Play a full game. Nobody won a game at halftime ever, I think.”

Boston has been the PLL’s best 2-point shooting team all season but managed to score only one in this game — Campbell’s first-quarter tally. The Cannons were outshot 40-38 yet became the first PLL team to wrap up a postseason spot anyway thanks to that strong third quarter.

Denver made things interesting in the fourth with some solid attacking play. Notably, Bundy (one goal) had a pair of shots glance off the post and talented rookie Brennan O’Neill had to be tackled (by Marcus Holman) to prevent a point-blank shot attempt.

The Outlaws also missed the presence of defenseman Jesse Bernhardt, who left the game in the second quarter with a left shoulder injury and did not return.

Denver coach Tim Soudan did not have an update on Bernhardt’s condition immediately after the game.

“It changed the tone and kind of took some energy from everybody,” Soudan said. “In the second half, they moved the ball better than we rotated.”

O’Neill (12 goals on the season) finished with a goal and an assist but was shut out in the second half and swarmed as he attempted to free himself for a potential game-tying 2-point shot in the game’s final minute.

Said Denver’s Eric Law: “One goal in the second half is not going to win you many games.”