Holman Goes Airborne to Propel Cannons, Redwoods Rebound to Win

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Saturday’s anticipated matchup between the Boston Cannons and Utah Archers had overtime written all over it until Marcus Holman brought the ball into play with five seconds left.

After Cannons attackman Asher Nolting was pushed to the turf by defenseman Graeme Hossack, he flung the ball wide left of the net while on his back and the attempt was ruled a shot. That left Holman, who was guarded by Warren Jeffrey, with one option.

The veteran raced Jeffrey to goal-line extended, leaping over the side of the crease to backhand the ball off the left pipe and past Brett Dobson to clinch a 9-8 victory for Boston. After the game, Holman said that type of shot typically “never” cashes in for him, but it did when it mattered most.

The Cannons held a 7-5 lead entering the fourth quarter before three costly penalties helped Utah score three straight by the 2:49 mark. Archers attackman Matt Moore cashed in during Utah’s first power play opportunity with 8:05 remaining. The Archers got another chance at the power play with 4:31 left but weren’t able to convert, as their best look was a shot from attackman Mac O’Keefe that rang off the post.

O’Keefe was held to an 0-for-6 shooting day on Saturday after failing to find the back of the net last week, too. The Cannons were immediately penalized for too many men after the previous penalty, and Utah went back to the power play. This time, they scored after a tic-tac-toe passing sequence that started with Moore before Sam King bolted a pass across the crease that Connor Fields buried.

That was Fields’ only goal and point, which tied the score at 8. Defenseman Jack Kielty dominated the tough matchup on top of forcing four turnovers. With 2:39 remaining, King inverted to X before finding a wide-open Dyson Williams on the high wing to give Williams his first career hat trick and notch a 9-8 lead.

At that point, the Cannons offense was on an over-11-minute scoring drought.

“They take the lead with three minutes left, and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, what just happened,’” Holman said. “It just felt like … we needed someone to make a play and that person was Ben Ramsey in the middle of the field.”

After Williams dropped a pass from midfielder Tom Schrieber, Ramsey dashed to pick up the ground ball with a clear lane ahead of him. He absorbed a direct check to the arm from Williams and beat everyone to the hole, including Dobson, and the Cannons tied it at 9 with 1:14 remaining.

“Hang that in the d-middie hall of fame of running through a ground ball with two hands, eating a check and going down the heart of the defense and scoring a huge goal for us to tie it back up,” Holman said.

Faceoff specialist Mike Sisselberger won the following faceoff, and Archers head coach Chris Bates called a timeout with 1:08 remaining and 30 seconds on the shot clock. They had a play drawn up to retake the lead, but it was never run, as long-stick midfielder Owen Grant stripped Schreiber before he could set up his dodge.

He finished with a team-high four turnovers.

“The ball’s in my stick twice at the end of the game and it ends up with them two times,” Schreiber said. “I've been on the other end of those situations where things have gone my way, and today they didn’t. So, that’s something that I’ll try not to [let] weigh me down too much, but it hurts for now, and it’s something I gotta do a better job of.”

The Cannons’ also had a momentous performance from Colin Kirst, who slightly outplayed the talented Dobson, who registered 14 saves while playing through an ankle injury. Kirst finished with a career high 65.2-percent save efficiency with 15 saves. 

REDWOODS REBOUND

Despite winning a hard-fought three-goal game over the Outlaws just 24 hours before Saturday’s faceoff, the Carolina Chaos jumped out to a four-goal lead by the first quarter’s 5:33 mark over the California Redwoods — but it was all for naught.

The Redwoods responded quickly and forcefully, setting a new PLL record with 58 shots after starting 0-for-15. They significantly outpaced the Chaos’ 31 shots and cruised to a 16-10 victory after the slow start.

California now sits atop the PLL standings with the score differential tiebreaker over Boston. The Redwoods also lead the league with 31 goals despite the Chaos playing an extra game.

After the game, Redwoods head coach Anthony Kelly said they came to an agreement as a team that they can score 14 goals a game. A major reason California has had so much success scoring is its ability to operate in the abbreviated 32-second shot clock after faceoff wins.

The Redwoods had four points registered from the rope unit — defensive midfielder Chris Merle, long-stick midfielder Jared Conners and faceoff specialist TD Ierlan.

Kelly said he knew when he took the job that California would be a threat after the faceoff because of Ierlan, who scored off an assist from Conners with 3:16 left in the first half.

“Our mindset coming in was to really be aggressive and put a plan in place,” Kelly said about the shot clock. “And we have several different kinds of plans and ways that we approach that 32 seconds, and we value it.”

Rookie midfielder Andrew McAdorey sparked a 9-1 run until the end of the first half after scoring a goal around Mark Glicini.

Before the end of the half, Chaos goalie Blaze Riorden chased a deflected shot to the corner of the field but was pressured by attackman Chris Kavanagh. Riorden heaved the ball into the middle of the field, and it was snagged by attackman Dylan Molly, who ripped a two-pointer into the back of the empty net with just 7.7 seconds remaining in the first half.

Molly finished with five points, a game high. On the other side of the ball, defenseman Arden Cohen forced five turnovers and picked up four ground balls while limiting attackman Jackson Eicher to just a goal.

Chaos head coach Roy Colsey offered some tough love to the rookie after the game.

“It's hard to be a rookie in this league, but you’ve got to be one of the top players in the world, that’s how it is,” Colsey said. “So, Jackson Eicher didn’t back down from it. He’ll learn from it, but there is no easy way to get to the goal. Arden is a great defender, but the next guy that would have been covering him is just as good.”