Chrome came into Sunday’s game with a big task on hand. 

The winless side was looking to snap the two-time reigning champion Whipsnakes’ 672-day undefeated streak at Homewood Field in Baltimore, MD. 

Tim Soudan’s club has loved playing the role of spoiler in the past, and they did the same to end Week 3, pulling out a massive 16-6 win.

Jackson Morrill (4G, 2A) led the way for Chrome offensively while Colin Heacock (3G, 1 2pt) and Jordan MacIntosh (1G, 2A) also had solid performances. 

John Galloway was also fantastic in the cage, stopping 21 shots on the day. 

“I think there was an emotional attachment to all the guys that we lost in the locker room. The locker room felt different today,” Soudan said post game. “Just being resilient enough to be able to say, ‘We’re going to move forward,’ we played really good portions of those games and we just had to put it all together.

“I’m super happy with the way the guys played and I like our young guys and how they contribute. I think that’s just going to get better.”

The Whipsnakes were the first team to get on the scoreboard, but following the opening marker from Chris Aslanian, the momentum swung fully in the Chrome’s favor. 

Colin Heacock quickly tied it up before Chrome closed the quarter scoring six straight goals, highlighted by a pair of 2-pointers from Heacock and Justin Anderson. 

The usual potent Whipsnakes offense hit a snag in the first half, scoring just two goals. Reigning MVP Zed Williams was forced to watch from the sidelines with an injury, and 2019 MVP Matt Rambo was battling through an injury suffered early in the game. 

However, Galloway was also a wall through 24 minutes, turning away 14 shots. 

“I was eager to get back in there for myself. I feel like I can still be in there,” Galloway said of his performance. “Defensively, James Barclay was playing in a different spot. Eli Salama did the same, and for us to play as cohesively as we did with the short-time prep, they made my job really easy today.”

Chrome added a pair in the second half to carry an 8-2 lead into the locker room.

After trying to battle through the injury, Rambo headed to the sidelines in the third and wasn’t able to finish the contest. 

Despite Connor Kirst scoring a pair to pull the Whips closer, Chrome pushed their lead to nine at the end of three quarters, adding another five goals to start the second half. 

From there, Chrome cruised to a win, with three more tallies in the fourth to put any doubt to bed. 

The Whips have won two championships since their last loss to the Archers in 2019. Despite that, they knew that a loss would come at some point. 

“We’ve grinded through a lot of games over the last couple of weeks. We come back in games and won overtime games so we’re clearly vulnerable,” Matt Dunn said. “I think this is a great learning opportunity to just remind us that if we don’t come out prepared and come out to play that week, we can lose to any single team in this league. Chrome played great today, we didn’t match their intensity and it showed. 

“You’d rather have this happen in June than September, so I think it’s on us to bounce back and respond and show some resiliency.”

With their big offensive outing, Chrome now holds the distinction of having the two highest-scoring games against the Whips in history. Their 20-goal outing in 2019 is still the most against Jim Stagnitta’s side. 

Chrome lands their first victory of the season and will try and make it two straight against the surging Archers in the opening game of Week 4.

The Whipsnakes still sit second in the league standings despite the loss. They’ll have a game of the year candidate on tap in Long Island next weekend. They take on the Archers in the second half of their weekend doubleheader.