Teat’s bouncer pushes Atlas past Chrome, 14-13
By Lauren Merola | Jul 2, 2022
Chris Gray had five points (2G, 3A) and Danny Logan four (1G, 1 2G, 1A) to push Atlas past Chrome 14-13 Friday night in Minnesota.
With about one minute left to play, Jeff Teat muscled his way around Jesse Bernhardt to create enough separation to score a bottom-left bouncer and give Atlas the one-goal lead over Chrome.
Justin Anderson took the final attempt for Chrome with less than 20 seconds left, but a Jack Concannon save iced the game.
Jeff Teat with the shovel!
— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) July 2, 2022
The Bulls are back on top with just over a minute left. pic.twitter.com/3aP9QGU5G2
With the win, Atlas moved into first place at 4-1 and handed Chrome its first loss of the season.
For Chrome, Logan Wisnauskaus led the way with six points (4G, 2A), while Dylan Molloy had four points (2G, 2A) and Jordan MacIntosh three (1G, 1 2G).
At the half, Chrome was losing 11-6, but the team went on a 6-0 run starting in the third period to tie the game at 12. Jake Carraway stopped the bleeding for Atlas about halfway through the fourth period with a bottom-right bouncer. Wisnauskaus quickly countered, equalizing the game at 13 and Teat put it to bed with his game-winning goal.
“It’s a lot of our guys’ character: to fight and work together,” Chrome coach Jacques Monte said. “We’re never out of it and we kept pushing the positives and problem solved. That’s what the guys do. It’s just their effort. They’re great guys and have great energy.”
At the end of the third, Chrome had five caused turnovers and 14 ground balls, doubling the number of ground balls grabbed from the second period.
“It’s all hustle,” Jackson Morrill said on the broadcast. “We’ve kind of made an identity out of it.”
The matchup of the weekend took place at the stripe.
Trevor Baptiste went 16-of-25 at the faceoff and grabbed 12 ground balls. Connor Farrell went 12-for-23 and came up with four groundballs. Baptiste started strong, dominating the clamp and winning his first 12 of 15 faceoffs. Farrell found a groove in the second half, forcing more 50-50 battles after the clamp and coming up with the ball on the ground.
To counter Baptiste, Chrome put Will Haus and Ryan Terefenko on attack to try and get in Baptiste’s way and fight for the ball because Baptiste turns counterclockwise on a won faceoff. But as a player entering his prime, Baptiste is hard to stop.
The regular season resumes July 23 after the All-Star break when Atlas takes on the Redwoods.
“The momentum that this win brings going into the All-Star bye week is huge,” Jack Concannon said. “We’ll try our best to stay communicated and we’ll watch film. We did great today. We’ll watch back and learn from what we did wrong. We’ll continue to build that way. This is a tight-knit group and I think we do a great job staying connected.”
Chrome plays the Waterdogs on July 24 in Fairfield, Conn.
