Carolina Chaos vs. California Redwoods
Hayden Lewis: Ross Scott, Owen Hiltz and Blaze Riorden will Carolina to another win
Ross Scott had three goals entering Saturday night’s contest against the Redwoods and has primarily been a distributor in head coach Roy Colsey’s offense. He was held pointless in the first matchup against California in Charlotte, but everything changed with 1:38 remaining in the third quarter when Scott scored a circus around-the-world goal.
“I’m just trying to do my job every time I’m out there,” Scott said postgame. “Sometimes my job is dodging and moving it forward, and sometimes the guys are getting me in a good spot, and I gotta shoot and score. I was happy to be there, but any other night, it could be someone else.”
While Scott was torching the Woods from all over the offensive side of the field, Owen Hiltz turned on his flamethrower after starting the game 0-for-5 shooting, and got to work from “Hiltzy Island.” A large factor in Hiltz’s two fourth-quarter goals was California matching him with a short-stick defensive midfielder.
And, as soon as the Chaos sniffed out his mismatch, they let him take over.
“Owen, he’s a tough matchup, he’s a phenomenal shooter, he’s crafty, he’s slick, he’s quick when he needs to be and he’s been an incredible addition for us,” Colsey said. “We knew right out of the gate he was going to be a great player, the way he plays the game, he makes it look easy. He’s making some incredible plays for us as a first-year player.”
Both Chaos wins prior to Saturday night came off the heels of 20-plus save performances from Blaze Riorden. Riorden had 18 stops against the Woods, but was a remarkable 69.2% (second-best of the season) and helped steal multiple defensive possessions.
“When you have an even-matched game and a guy like that stealing an extra half dozen on the day, you can’t afford to be off in any aspect of the game,” California Redwoods head coach Anthony Kelly said.
Riorden gave Carolina confidence by making multiple big saves throughout the game and kept the team calm through adversity.
The Chaos are shaping into a scary team to face, and if the train keeps rolling in the right direction, they might be the most-feared team to play in Minneapolis during the quarterfinals in August.
“I don’t think we played our best lacrosse today, and I think there’s still a lot to improve on,” Troy Reh said. “We found a way to win, which is the most important part.”
Up next for Carolina: Friday, July 18 vs. Utah Archers (9 p.m. ET)
Phil Shore: Mistakes, cold offense continue to leave Redwoods searching for answers
Coming out of the All-Star break, California’s offense seemed to be shot out of a cannon, scoring three goals in the first five and a half minutes, and a Jared Conners two-pointer at the end of the first quarter had them feeling good with a 5-2 lead.
In what’s becoming a regular occurrence, however, mistakes, long scoreless droughts, and another rough fourth quarter resulted in the team’s fourth consecutive loss. The question for the Redwoods was what happened to the offense that looked so sharp early on.
“If you’ve got the answer to that one, give me a call,” head coach Anthony Kelly said. “I feel like guys were executing, and then things faded off. Whether it’s lack of focus, or the D making changes, I don’t really see that. I think it’s on us. It’s an us thing. We need to continue to execute. You can’t do it sometimes. It’s got to be an all-times thing.”
California went 10 minutes and 11 seconds between Romar Dennis’s two-point goal at the 6:54 mark in the second quarter and Ryder Garnsey’s highlight-reel worthy, Air Gait-style goal at the 8:43 mark in the third quarter. Not only was that Garnsey’s only goal of the game, at that point, it was only his second shot of the night.
Kelly complimented Garnsey’s effort on the night and added that he was happy the team had seven different goal scorers.
“We just need to score more,” he said. “We don’t play a style where we’re focused on one guy getting points. We’re trying to get points no matter how we can get them. We play a team-style offense.”
While the Redwoods took more shots and had more shots on goal than Carolina, California had a 19.5% shooting percentage. Part of that was due to the brilliant play of Riorden in the opposite cage.
The reigning Goalie of the Year’s 18 saves was the fourth highest total in the league this season.
“You can’t afford to have unforced turnovers. You can’t afford to have subbing errors. You have to value the ball every single possession,” Kelly said in reference to his offense going up against a player of Riorden’s caliber. “My hat’s off to Blaze for playing a great game.”
“Blaze gives you an incredible amount of confidence as a team,” Chaos head coach Roy Colsey said. “He’s going to make plays, and if a couple goals go in, and we make mistakes, he’s going to bail us out plenty of times tonight.
Looking at the game statistics, the Redwoods held the advantage in two-point goals, ground balls, shots, shots on goal, faceoff wins, touches and passes. They also committed fewer turnovers than the Chaos. Carolina outscored California 10-5 from the second quarter through the end of the game, however, and 7-3 in the second half.
“Coming out of halftime, we want to play with energy and think [it’s a] 0-0 game,” Conners said. “The ball just doesn’t bounce our way. We make a couple dumb mistakes. I don’t think we’re complacent at all. Everyone is saying the right things. It just comes down to executing our game plan and not making dumb mistakes and being smart all around, whether it’s clearing the ball, whether it’s staying onsides or playing defense like we know how to play defense.”
The Redwoods fell to 2-4, tied with the Utah Archers for the worst record in the Western Conference. But they do currently hold the goal differential tiebreaker thanks to a minus-three score differential compared to Utah’s minus-nine mark.
The margins have been razor thin for California, but it’s been the team’s inability to close games that has plagued them in recent weeks. California has now been outscored 27-13 in the fourth quarter this season and 15-4 in the final frame in its past three losses.
“Maybe it does weigh on some guys’ heads,” Kelly said. “You need to learn how to win, and you need to learn how to win at this level. I think having that confidence comes with time. At the end of the day, we have to figure it out, one way or another.”
Kelly emphasized that growing pains are expected for such an inexperienced group. California’s 19-man gameday roster featured six rookies and three players in their second seasons.
“We’ve got to put a full game together, and we haven’t done that in a long time,” Kelly said. “We’re a young group. We’re going to make young mistakes. That’s part of building. That’s part of growth. It’s part of figuring it out at this level. That’s not an excuse. That’s just part of us and putting this team together.”
Up next for California: Friday, July 18 vs. New York Atlas (6:30 p.m. ET)
Denver Outlaws vs. Maryland Whipsnakes
Topher Adams: Brennan O’Neill goes Goliath as super friends dominate
Brennan O’Neill took over the Lexus All-Star Game, taking home MVP honors and reminding the lacrosse world why he’s one of the top talents in the sport. That momentum carried into the second half of the regular season, with O’Neill turning in his best performance of the year.
Things started slowly against the vice grip of Matt Dunn, but a two-point hammer in the second quarter freed O’Neill up the rest of the way. He flexed his on-ball scoring ability soon after, and provided a pair of pinpoint feeds across the field to finish with six points (2G, 1T, 2A).
But O’Neill’s breakout was only part of Denver’s blowout victory, the entire cast got a chance to shine.
Logan McNaney continued his record-setting rookie campaign. The Outlaws remain undefeated with the rookie between the pipes, as McNaney saved 16 shots at a season-best 71.4%. He’s averaging an unreal 15 saves at 64.5% through four games.
The non-O’Neill Tewaaraton winners showed up, as well. Pat Kavanagh continued his MVP push with a casual four-point night, Jared Bernhardt scored a hat-trick and Logan Wisnauskas added a goal off a crisp off-ball action.
The cherry on top for Denver is the continued excellence of the defensive midfield, both in the defensive end and in transition. Jake Piseno stuffed the stat sheet, setting a new career high in caused turnovers (4) and tying a high for ground balls (6).
The Outlaws have a clearly established identity, an understanding of roles and now all of the pieces are executing at the highest level. Against the Whipsnakes, Denver was elite in every phase of the game and showed why they’re among the title favorites at the halfway point of the season.
Up next for Denver: Saturday, July 19 vs. Boston Cannons (3 p.m. ET)
Miles Jordan: Whipsnakes struggle to shake off the rust after double-bye week
Call it rust, but the Whipsnakes did not look like the same team that took a league record 14-point win over the Chaos in Baltimore on June 22.
After a 20-point performance against Carolina, it felt like Maryland would come out of the gate swinging against the No. 1 team in the league. But what seemed to be a scoreless first quarter for both clubs was wiped away as Kavanagh snuck one past Emmet Carroll in the final seconds. That sparked a 5-0 run from the Outlaws that was capped off by an O’Neill two-pointer.
“We looked like we hadn’t played in three weeks. We didn’t have the discipline in the off-ball game that we had in the Carolina game,” head coach Jim Stagnitta said postgame.
E. Carroll was dialed against the Chaos just a few weeks ago, which earned him the start against the Outlaws. But Denver’s offense was a completely different beast than Carolina’s. The rookie recorded 16 saves (57.1% SV%) but let up 13 goals and didn’t have an answer for the Outlaws’ persistent offense.
The Whips showed spurts of offense in the first half, with Adam Poitras (1G, 1A) and Colin Heacock (1G) finding the back of the net within 26 seconds of each other; those seemed to be the only positive offensive signs from Maryland in the first two quarters.
Matt Brandau (2G) opened up Maryland’s scoring in the second half, but the Whipsnakes just didn’t have an answer for Denver’s Tewaaraton quartet.
Brandau led the Whipsnakes in scoring alongside Levi Anderson (2G), which was not the positive sign it was last week against the Chaos.
Maryland’s attackmen, TJ Malone (1A), Aidan Carroll (1A) and Rob Pannell (1A) had extremely quiet games and were completely locked down by Denver’s defense.
Malone, who was held to just a single point in his matchup against Jack Rowlett and the Chaos just 20 days ago, played a near mirror image game against Denver. The reigning Rookie of the Year recorded another one-point game (1A) and was completely marked out of the game by JT Giles-Harris.
Pannell was replaced by Brandau at attack midway through the third quarter and ran out of the box for the remainder of the game, after tallying a game-high four turnovers.
“We weren’t winning matchups. We felt like Brandau gave us a little younger legs, a little more speed running against that matchup. We thought we could get Rob on a short stick,” Stagnitta said.
A. Carroll, who was building a campaign for the 2025 Rookie of the Year, had his worst showing in his young career, and had three turnovers, and Malone racked up three turnovers as well by the end of the game.
“There were a bunch of turnovers in that first half that felt uncharacteristic,” Stagnitta said.
The one positive for the Whipsnakes is that Joe Nardella is still one of the top faceoff specialists in the league. Nardella went 16-22 (72.7%) from the stripe, but just like Week 1 against the Archers, faceoff wins did not translate to goals for Maryland.
Up next for Maryland: Saturday, July 19 vs. Philadelphia Waterdogs (8 p.m. ET)
