California Redwoods 9, Utah Archers 8
Phil Shore: Chayse Ierlan has breakout game; team rallies behind Dylan Molloy
Chayse Ierlan has come up with some big saves in his first season as the Redwoods’ starter, but the statistics haven’t matched the effort. Coming into the game against the Archers, he was the only starter in the league with a save percentage below 50%.
That changed Friday night, however, when Ierlan made 14 saves – one shy of the season high he set last week – and posted a 66.7% save percentage to help the Redwoods beat the defending champion Archers.
“The numbers might not be as great, but I never lost confidence in myself. I know the team never lost confidence in me, and I think that’s more important,” Ierlan said. “I felt good. I felt good the whole year, but sometimes the bounces aren’t going your way, but you’ve got to stay in the fight and stay together. My defense has helped me out all year.”
After allowing four goals in the first quarter, Ierlan and the Redwoods defense allowed two or fewer goals in each of the final three quarters, including one apiece in both the third and fourth. They also held the Archers to a 17:16 scoreless drought between Utah’s two second-half goals.
Ierlan now has three consecutive games with a save percentage of 50% or better, increasing his save percentage to 50.8% on the season.
Utah head coach Chris Bates gave credit to Ierlan for making big saves. Perennial Goalie of the Year candidate and back-to-back Championship Game MVP Brett Dobson was also complimentary.
“I thought he played a hell of a game,” Dobson said. “I know this year he’s been up and down a little bit. It’s not easy to be good in this league. You’re going to have your nights where you get shelled. It happens. I thought he played great. It sucks it was against us, but I’m glad he had a breakout game today.”
The Redwoods came into the game with the worst shooting percentage in the league at 23.7%, and they had an even worse shooting percentage against Utah (15.7%). Despite those shortcomings, California had its highest-scoring second half (six points) since its loss to Denver in the fourth game of the season. This also was the first time all year the Redwoods outscored the opposition in the fourth quarter.
Dylan Molloy was the first to score for California in both the first and second halves, and finished the game with two goals and one assist. It wasn’t an easy night for Molloy. Not only was he locked in a physically demanding matchup against Archers defender Graeme Hossack, but he also blew through the bottom of his cleats. According to head coach Anthony Kelly, those cleats were the same ones he’s played in for 10 years.
“That’s why he’s called ‘Gramps,’” rookie Chris Kavanagh quipped.
Prior to the game, the team pranked Molloy by all dressing in the new Dylan Molloy T-shirt from Sidewall Lacrosse, which Ierlan – whose shirt wasn’t delivered in time – said also showed their love for the oldest player on the team.
“The guys have really rallied around him. I’ve enjoyed getting to know him and play with him,” Ierlan said. “He’s a funny guy. We like to play a little prank on him, and that’s where the shirts came from, but they might be good luck, so hopefully, we keep wearing them.”
Up next for California: Saturday, Aug. 2 vs. Maryland Whipsnakes (8 p.m. ET)
Zach Carey: Archers’ offense continues to fall flat
The 2025 Archers season has been defined by a stout, borderline all-time defense consistently being let down by an offense that struggles to hit double digits.
That trend continued Friday night in front of a home Utah crowd as the Archers offense scored just eight points and only one goal in the last 26:11 of the game.
“Eight goals is not going to cut it for us,” Bates said after the loss.
Utah’s offensive performance was not helped by Tom Schreiber leaving the game early in the fourth quarter. Schreiber came up limping twice and was ruled out after the second occasion.
“He came up with a little bit of a limp,” Bates said. “He’s had a couple issues with his knees. Cross our fingers that he can take care of himself and get back out [there] tomorrow.”
For the second consecutive week, the Archers did get production in transition and early offense from their defensive midfield. Hometown hero Beau Pederson hit a first-quarter two-pointer while Piper Bond (1G) and Mason Woodward (1A) also got in on the action.
“We want to get up and down and run,” Bates said. “With our personnel, with Beau, Woody, Pipe does a nice job.”
But outside of early offense, Utah couldn’t get much going. The Archers scored a pair of power-play goals. Six-on-six was a different, difficult story.
“If we’re not scoring in half-field 52[-second possessions], we’ve got to do it in early offense, off a faceoff, early in possessions, and we’ve got to try to manufacture goals in any way we can get them,” Bates explained.
The Archers defense was its typical dominant self, headlined by Dobson’s 17 saves and 68% save rate.
“We’re not playing winning offensive lacrosse. That’s clear,” Bates said. “If you give up nine goals, consistently … we have one of the better defenses in the league. We’re not doing our job offensively.”
Utah has a tight turnaround ahead of a critical matchup with the hottest team in lacrosse, the Denver Outlaws, on Saturday night.
“We play a game in about 24 hours,” Pederson said. “So, gotta flush this one quick and start looking at the number one team in the West tomorrow. Try and use home-field advantage and get a big win tomorrow.”
Up next for Utah: Saturday, July 26 vs. Denver Outlaws (9 p.m. ET)
New York Atlas 11, Maryland Whipsnakes 8
Paul Lamonaca: New York clinches playoff berth behind stellar goalie play
With their win over the Whipsnakes on Friday night, the Atlas extended their winning streak to five games and became the first team to clinch a playoff spot this season.
It was a slow start for the Atlas, who found themselves in a quick hole, down 2-0 just 30 seconds into the game. New York managed to crawl back to gain a 4-3 lead with 45 seconds left in the first quarter and never looked back.
New York co-captain Trevor Baptiste touted the team’s response to adversity throughout the season, especially when getting off to slow starts.
“I think being on this team and the effort we bring every week, we have shown that we are a resilient group,” Baptiste said. “I’m just really pumped about our effort. We didn’t have the start that we wanted, but we got the job done.”
The hero for New York was goalkeeper Liam Entenmann, who saved 71.2% of the shots he faced in a 20-save performance — just two stops shy of his career best.
Offensively for the Atlas, Jeff Teat finished with a team-high five points (2G, 3A), and Xander Dickson and Connor Shellenberger each tallied three points.
New York won despite its faceoff performance of the season, with Baptiste winning just 31.8% of his draws against Joe Nardella. This was Baptiste’s lowest faceoff win percentage since July 30, 2020 — which came also against Nardella and the Whipsnakes.
The Atlas played down one long pole after All-Star close defenseman Brett Makar suffered a head injury in the second quarter. Makar briefly returned to the game, but was then ruled out by New York’s medical personnel.
Atlas head coach Mike Pressler needed to adjust his defensive game plan to ensure his remaining long poles would be well-rested throughout the third and fourth quarters.
“You have to get creative with only five poles in the lineup,” Pressler said. “I thought a guy who really stepped up was Michael Grace. He played [Matt] Rambo there in the third quarter, and then we moved [Tyler Carpenter] over to close defense when Michael came up. We kind of ‘ham and egg’ that a little bit to keep those guys as fresh as possible.”
Shellenberger and Teat ended the night as the league leaders in points this season (35 and 33, respectively). New York boasts two serious contenders for the Jim Brown MVP Award as the regular season begins to wind down.
Up next for New York: Saturday, Aug. 2 vs. Denver Outlaws (6:30 p.m. ET)
Miles Jordan: Whipsnakes can’t pull off a fourth-quarter comeback
The Whipsnakes were down 11-5 early in the fourth quarter before scoring three straight to cut the Atlas’ lead to three. But it was not enough to recover from New York’s 3-0 and 5-0 runs in the first three quarters.
“If these games were 24 minutes, I think we’d be pretty good, but we haven’t been able to put them into that time frame this year,” Whipsnakes head coach and general manager Jim Stagnitta said. “Just looking at the stats, we had our opportunity, particularly early, and we got put the ball in the cage. … Great second half by our defense, good first and fourth quarter by our offense. But, you know, four quarters — it’s what you need to win at this level.”
Aidan Carroll (3G, 1A) was the spark on offense in the first half. The rookie scored in the first eight seconds of the game, picked up his second goal midway through the first quarter and assisted Colin Heacock (1G) in the second.
Matt Rambo (1A) started in place of Rob Pannell for the second straight game and assisted Carroll’s second goal, but Rambo has still not found the back of the net this season.
The Whipsnakes went scoreless for the final 20:22 of the first half before Matt Brandau took matters into his own hands and finished through contact on the doorstep after charging Entennman.
Brandau finished with four goals for the third time this season and second in two weeks after his five-point (4G, 1A) performance against the Philadelphia Waterdogs in Fairfield.
TJ Malone (1A) played a quiet game until late in the fourth quarter, when he assisted Brandau’s fourth goal of the game. Malone went 0-of-5 shooting.
Nardella went 15-of-21 (71%) against Baptiste, outdueling the five-time Faceoff Specialist of the Year for the second time this season.
“I felt pretty dialed in,” Nardella said about his confidence at the stripe. “And I didn’t pick up very many of those balls. So I think it really comes down to a three-out-of-three battle, and I centered all season. I’ll say it again, I think I’ve got two of the best guys out there with me [on faceoff wings], and it shows when we get in some of these tight matchups.”
Emmet Carroll finished with 12 saves (52.2%) and recorded his fourth consecutive game with a save percentage above 50%, but he couldn’t find a way to shut down the league’s top offensive unit completely.
“I think that Emmett certainly held his own and has done a real nice job for us,” Stagnitta said. “You know our young guys have really stepped up.”
Up next for Maryland: Saturday, Aug. 2 vs. California Redwoods (8 p.m. ET)
