Wounded Whipsnakes Show Bite in 15-12 Loss to Archers
By Adam Lamberti
Jul 11, 2023
Once again, the Whipsnakes were not at full strength for a battle against the Archers and fell 15-12 on Sunday afternoon.
Matt Rambo and Michael Ehrhardt were sidelined after winning gold at the World Games while Joe Nardella and Brad Smith have still yet to play a game in 2023.
Despite the injuries, the Whipsnakes offense went blow for blow against the top team in the league for the majority of the game.
Zed Williams was his usual self, scoring another spectacular goal in the 1st quarter en route to four points.
Tucker Dordevic and Mike Chanenchuk had big days, tallying hat tricks from the midfield position.
Keegan Khan stepped up with two timely goals while rookie Jack Myers had two points in his PLL debut.
On the defensive end however, the Whipsnakes struggled to slow the Archers high-powered offense. Kyle Bernlohr kept the Whipsnakes alive with 12 saves, but second-chance opportunities and penalties hurt the Whipsnakes.
“I don't think we played nearly well enough to make up for some of the mistakes that we made,” Head Coach Jim Stagnitta said.
Additionally, the Whipsnakes struggled again at the faceoff X. Rookie Petey LaSalla went 22% against fellow rookie Mike Sisselberger and seemed to have no answers.
But the turning point in the game may have been Roman Puglise’s two-minute penalty halfway through the 3rd quarter. The Whipsnakes led 9-7 at that point, but Puglise’s late hit on Archers attackman Connor Fields resulted in two Archers goals and extended defensive possessions.
“We had finally fought back, I thought we were playing some of our better lacrosse at that point,” Stagnitta said. “We were forced to play a lot of defense, go right back to the [faceoff] X where we did not have a lot of success today. I felt like it had an impact at that point in the game because, you know, coming out of those man downs we were tired and that impacted us for sure.”
Following the penalty, the Archers went on a 6-0 run that continued into the 4th quarter which proved to be too much for the Whipsnakes to overcome.
A frustrating loss, the Whipsnakes are still 6th in league standings with a +2 score differential playing without some of their top players.
They will look to build some positive momentum heading into the All-Star break when they play the defending champion Waterdogs on Friday at 6:00 p.m. in Fairfield.
