Archers vs. Chrome Game 1 Recap

It only took Archers LC face-off athlete Stephen Kelly 11 seconds to find the back of the net, but it took us more than 48 minutes to find a winner in the first-ever Premier Lacrosse League game. Archers LC attackman Will Manny (4G) buried the game-winning goal in overtime to defeat the Chrome LC, 13-12.

“No timeouts in overtime, we’ve never really been in that situation before,” said Manny. “That’s just our team in a nutshell. We just trust each other. Defense made three stops. We put it in the back of the net when we needed to.”

Despite the 52-second shot clock and the 100-yard field, this game was won in settled sets. The Chrome ran well -- countering the Archers’ attack-heavy lineup with transition goals from Will Haus, Mike O’Neil and Ty Thompson.

Chrome LC attackmen Justin Guterding (2G, 2A) and Jordan Wolf (4A) found some openings in the pick-and-roll game at X. Late in the fourth quarter, the Archers defense made some huge stops led by great on-ball defense by Matt McMahon (2CT, 3GB) and key saves by Adam Ghitelman (11 saves).

“You can’t put a price tag on the competition,” said Archers LC head coach Chris Bates. “We had a couple big stands defensively. Those games can go either way.”

Ultimately, the Archers were able to manufacture more assisted shots when the dust settled and teams played six-on-six. Bates’ offense shared the ball -- Marcus Holman (3G, 2A), Ryan Ambler (2A), Tom Schreiber (1G, 2A) and Dan Eipp (2A) all dished out multiple dimes. The Archers sharpshooting (33.3% as a team) helped overcome a possession disadvantage generated by Chrome face-off athletes Connor Farrell (11-for-17) and Drew Simoneau (7-for-11).

The Chrome LC (0-1) will play the Whipsnakes LC at 1:00PM on June 8 in New York; the Archers LC (1-0) will play the Redwoods LC at 4:00PM.

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