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Jones’ two-pointer lifts Redwoods past Atlas, 16-15, in back-and-forth battle

By Lauren Merola | Jul 24, 2022

Myles Jones sank a two-pointer on an empty net to edge the Redwoods past Atlas in a 16-15 victory in Fairfield, Conn. on Saturday.

Tied at 14, Jack Concannon’s hustle and momentum caused him to leap over the field barricade chasing a shot behind the net. The Redwoods came up with the ball and got it to Jones on the arc before Concannon could run back into the goal. Jones made it 16-14 with 3:30 left to play and Atlas couldn’t recover.

Jones had four points (1G, 1 2G, 1A) to surpass 100 career goals (88G, 13 2G) and end the one-goal losing streak for the Redwoods, who lost by one point in Weeks 4 and 5.

“We dropped a one-goal game to the Archers and the Whipsnakes, so coming out with a one-goal win against these guys feels really good,” Eddy Glazener said. “On the other side, just like looking at the glass half empty, we have to understand we’re not going to get away with that all season. We need to tighten stuff up. We have to win 50-50 ground balls.”

The Redwoods grabbed 35 ground balls to Atlas’ 30 and the Woods improved to 2-4 as the Bulls drop to 4-2. 

Sergio Perkovic had four points (1G, 1 2G, 1A) and Charlie Bertrand three (3G) for the Redwoods. On Atlas, Chris Gray posted five points (2G, 3A) and Bryan Costabile had four (3G, 1A).

In goal, Concannon had 16 saves. Jack Kelly, who had only three saves against Atlas in Week 1, made 15.

“On our end, Jack Kelly was lights out,” Glazener said. “He made a ton of saves. We didn’t give him very good shots and he made the most of it.”

The Redwoods ran out of the gate blazing, with four goal scorers tallying five goals in the first quarter. After the first ten minutes of play, Dan Bucaro stopped the bleeding for Atlas, finding twine to make it 5-1.

A trio of goals from Costabile, Gray and Eric Law closed the gap to one, and a two-bomb – nearly three yards past the arc – by Cade van Raaphorst with 3:41 left in the half tied it at six. Atlas went into the third quarter up 9-6.

“I thought we had a lot of goals in these unsettled situations,” coach Ben Rubeor said before halftime. “I thought we rode really well and picked up some ground balls. This is a Redwoods team that showed us what they’re capable of in the first quarter.”

The Redwoods went on a run in the third. Three goals from Perkovic brought the Woods within two and a two-point shot from Glazener in the fourth quarter – and another 3-0 run by the Woods – tied it at 13 with six minutes to play. 

It was tied again at 14 before Jones called game. There were three ties and three lead changes on the night.

At the stripe, Trevor Baptiste was out with an injury, so rookie Jakob Phaup suited up for Atlas. He went 11-of-29 and grabbed five ground balls. TD Ierlan hit his stride again, posting his best performance of the year so far. He won 20-of-30 faceoffs (67%) and grabbed 15 ground balls. 

Rubeor said he has full confidence in Phaup as Atlas’ second faceoff specialist. He also noted Baptiste could’ve played in Week 7, but wanted to be “conservative” in Baptiste’s return.

“I expect him to be back here sooner rather than later,” Rubeor said.

In Week 8, Atlas takes on the Archers and the Woods suit up against Chaos in Dallas.

“We’re looking to keep, keep, keep rolling,” Jones said. “I think we can put together two games, and the back half of the season might be ours.”

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