'Salt Lax City' helps defending champion Whipsnakes rally in PLL quarterfinals

SANDY — In the growing sport of lacrosse and with an eight-team league of traveling teams in the Premier Lacrosse League, no one can claim full territory of fans in Utah.

So Whipsnakes may have just as much of a claim to "Salt Lax City" as anyone.

Zed Williams scored five goals, including a 2-point goal, to go along with three assists, and Matt Rambo scored the match-winner in the final minute to help the two-time defending champion Whipsnakes rally by rival Redwoods 14-13 to close the PLL quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at Rio Tinto Stadium.

The Whips advanced to face top-seeded Waterdogs in the league semifinals Sept. 5 in Philadelphia.

After the comeback, where Whipsnakes trailed by as many as four goals, PLL management posted a graphic on the videoboard at the stadium that read: "Thank you, Utah."

It may as well have come from the Whips. A year after winning the Championship Series in a mini-season bubble tournament at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, the Whipsnakes rallied against an occasionally unfriendly crowd to stave off elimination.

"I guess I like coming to Utah now," Rambo said with a laugh. "We could hear the crowd, too. The crowd was loud. I felt like they were a bit on the Woods side, but that's OK. We like being the underdogs.

"Maybe we'll play out here more, too."

If Rio Tinto Stadium felt like "Redwoods territory" early, there was a reason for it. The Redwoods jumped out to a 5-2 lead en route to a 9-5 halftime lead on Jules Heningburg's third goal of the match. The 6-foot-2 attack finished with a team-high three goals and three assists for Redwoods.

A less-than-half capacity crowd propelled the Redwoods toward an upset of the two-time defending champion Whips, a team that steamrolled to the PLL Championship Series title a year ago in a single-site tournament in Herriman behind Wlliams' six goals and a standout performance from rising star Rambo.

But the Redwoods were lifted by the crowd, too — a mix of lacrosse-loving Utahns and traveling fans from around the country visiting their favorite clubs in the traveling league composed of eight teams with no geographic designation.

Many of the locals came not just for the two-match set that ended the two-day long quarterfinal weekend, but also brought their lacrosse-loving children to a small village of pop-ups, workshops and lacrosse activities on the plaza outside the Sandy stadium. Smaller in number than the average host match for hometown Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer, the fans were plenty loud.

"People of Utah love to cheer loud for their professional sports," said Archers midfielder and University of Utah assistant coach Marcus Holman in a video promotion from the Utah Sports Commission that cycled through the video board at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Behind that crowd — and a smooth verbal kick from Redwoods coach Jim Stagnitta — the Whips rallied.

"It's been a long time since I've had to talk to them like that. I just didn't feel like we were doing the things that were playoff-caliber lacrosse," Stagnitta said. "I felt like they were just playing faster than us. They were better prepared, and played harder in that first half. That's something that we can control. I said that we have to flip the switch; if we don't, we were in for a long day. I challenged some people, something I feel like I don't have to do often at this level. But they responded and played a really good second half."

Adopting teams seemingly on the fly, with only a smattering of Whips and Redwoods in the stands, the crowd roared as Williams tied up the match to end the third and fed Matt Abbott with the brief-go-ahead goal early in the fourth.

The match stayed tied into the final minute, when Rambo broke a 13-13 deadlock with his second goal of the match. Whipsnakes won the ensuing face-off, and sped up the clock to secure a spot in the semifinals Sept. 3 in Philadelphia.

Atlas 13, Cannons 9

Eric Law and Jeff Teat had three goals each, and Law added four assists for seven points as Atlas held Cannons scoreless after Paul Rabil's two-point goal to end the third quarter en route to the quarterfinal victory.

Trevor Baptiste had a game-high 12 ground ball pickups for the Atlas, and also won 17-of-24 faceoffs for a 71% winning percentage.

Then there was JD Colarusso, the team's backup goalkeeper recently pressed into action who finished with 14 saves and a 64% save percentage as the Atlas advanced to face sixth-seeded Chaos in the Sept. 5 semifinals in Philadelphia.

"Kid is as tough as nails. He's battled just to get here," Atlas coach Ben Rubeor said of Colarusso, the 5-foot-8 University of Albany product who his coach likened to a backup quarterback leading a team through the NFL playoffs. "I've never seen goalies take more hard shots than he took last year in the bubble. I thought his toughness stood out then, and that's why I picked him up.

"We have the added benefit that he's a pretty darn good goalie, too."

Cannon's Shayne Jackson led all scorers with four goals, and PLL MVP candidate Lyle Thompson added three goals and two assists for the expansion club Cannons, which was formed as a nod to the former Boston Cannons when the PLL merged with Major League Lacrosse.

Atlas led by as many as four goals in the third, but Rabil — who also co-founded the league with his brother Mike — scored on a two-point goal to cut the deficit as low as one before Cannons trailed 11-9 after three quarters.

Teat scored his third goal of the match during a two-goal, man-up power play, and Atlas' defense did the rest.

"We were playing from behind, and credit to them for extending well," Rabil said. "We were missing the net quite a bit. Lyle was getting great looks; we were all getting great looks. But by a combination of them playing great defense and us taking shots that we normally wouldn't, it led to that last quarter."

Chaos 13, Archers 10

Kyle Jackson scored four goals with two assists, and Dhane Smith added two goals and two assists to help Chaos take the wire-to-wire victory over the third-seeded Archers in the first quarterfinal Friday night.

University of Utah assistant coach Marcus Holman scored a goal to pull the Archers within three, 8-5 at the halftime buzzer. Ryan Ambler added a power-play goal from Utah assistant Will Manny midway through the third, and Tom Schreiber dropped one of his two goals to pull Archers all the way back within one.

But Jackson set up Dane Schmidt's two-point goal to help Chaos go back up 10-7 and pull away for good.

Grant Ament led the Archers with five points, including three assists. Holman finished with one goal on five shots, and Manny had one goal and one assist on three shots.

Fellow Utah assistant Adam Ghitelman made 10 saves for a 45% save percentage in goal for the Archers.

PLL MVP candidate Blaze Riorden made 13 saves for a 57% clip in goal for Chaos.

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