The Archers showed at-home viewers the synchronicity of their offense. Despite the absence of Grant Ament, the team played textbook lacrosse, spacing themselves evenly and moving the ball quickly. The Archers had nine different goal scorers on the day. 

“I think at the end of the day we share the ball well,” coach Chris Bates said. “We pride ourselves on being an ego-less team.”

The Cannons failed to find a groove on offense and were often flat-footed. The Boom Squad won 66% of faceoffs but rarely ended up with the ball in the Archers' end. The Cannons also had 21 turnovers compared to the Archers’ 13.

“After the faceoff game, [we have to] limit turnovers,” coach Sean Quick said. “We just had too many all over the field. Going back to defense, we gave up a lot in transition. At times, we made it easy for the Archers. They took care of the ball, created offense and took good shots on [Nick] Marrocco.”

The Cannons were too quick or not quick enough to the slide on defense.

“We got out of rhythm early and it started with the timing of our slides,” Brodie Merrill said. “It’s tough to find that good rhythm and I thought we were chasing that throughout the game.”

Lyle Thompson had three goals and Stephen Kelly and Ryan Tierney each had two for the Cannons.

The Cannons didn’t have a go-to quarterback facilitating at the top of the arc like the Archers do in Schreiber, who was quick to draw, dump or find the open man.

“Tom [Schreiber] created a lot of the tension and then either finished or fed,” Bates said. “Anytime the quarterback up top is doing that, it’s dangerous.”

The Cannons struggled to connect all game, but hung around in the first half, heading into the third period down 9-6. A six-goal Archer third period and scoreless Cannon fourth period put the game out of reach, and the Cannons drop to 1-2 on the season. They battle an undefeated Chrome during Week 4 in Baltimore, M.D.

The Archers are 2-1 heading into Week 4 when they take on Atlas.