Fueled by an offensive-heavy second half, three two-point goals, and a stellar performance in the cage by Kyle Bernlohr, the Whipsnakes handed the Atlas their first loss of the season and kept their perfect record in-tact improving to 3-0 on the season. 

One of the bigger storylines coming into this game was the matchup at the stripe betwen Trevor Baptiste and Joe Nardella. The two reside amongst the top of all faceoff stats in the league. While Baptiste had the edge over Nardella in the first half with a 71% faceoff percentage, Bernlohr and the Whipsnakes’ defense were able to control the fiery Atlas offense.

The first half was dominated by strong defense and goaltending on both sides. 

Bernlohr made seven saves in the first half and allowed only four goals. In his homecoming back at Hofstra, Jack Concannon shined as well for the Atlas in the first half, recording thirteen saves for an incredible 87% save percentage. 

Due to the strong defensive performances, offensively things were pretty quiet in the opening half. 

Koby Smith opened the scoring for the Atlas with his first professional career two-point goal to give the Bulls an early 2-0 lead. Dan Bucaro added on again minutes later, but ultimately the Atlas would only score once more in the half with a second quarter goal from Jeff Teat. 

The Whipsnakes also recorded a two-point goal in the first half thanks to Justin Guterding who cut the Atlas lead from 3-0 to 3-2. Matt Rambo added on in the late second quarter, and as the two teams headed into the second half it looked to be a defensive battle at 4-3. 

The second half was a different story for both teams. 

The Whipsnakes came out hot, scoring four unanswered goals to start the third quarter and put them up 8-4. 

“We just played faster [in the second half],” said Rambo. “We have to play the speed that we did in the second half for the full 48 minutes.” 

Denied thirteen times by Concannon in the first half, the Whips seemed to find an answer for him in the second. 

When asked what adjustments they made shooting wise to find more success against him, Rambo said, “We started shooting the ball towards the middle of the field instead of the low angle shots, and then also we changed the plane in the second half; we started making him move more to get him going.”