Mac O Keefe stole the show last Friday, tying a PLL single game record by recording 7 goals in a 15-7 win over the Carolina Chaos. O’Keefe gave the homecoming team a huge problem, doing a great job of getting himself open and making nice drives to the Chaos net. Tre Leclarie was another problem, putting up 6 points on 2 goals and 4 assists. Add in 2 goals and an assist from Connor Fields, and the Archers offense became an absolute nightmare for Carolina’s defense, showing the league their versatility in scoring options. As for Utah’s defense, they gave Chad Palumbo and most of the Chaos attackmen all they could handle. Palumbo likes to bully his way down low to score goals, but he found out the hard way that production doesn’t always come easy, dealing with some big defenders on the Archers. Utah now moves up to 2 wins and 2 losses on the season. We’ll see if they can keep up the pace when they face the California Redwoods in two weeks.
O’Keefe steals the show in Carolina’s first Homecoming game
For the Carolina Chaos, this was a “wake up and smell the coffee” game. Outside of Ross Scott recording a hat trick, there wasn’t much offensive production for the Chaos. They were held to just one goal in both the second and fourth quarters. Army alums Jackson Eicher and Brendan Nichtern were held to a combined two points on two assists from Eicher. Faceoff specialist Justin Inacio had a rare off-day, going just 7 for 24 on draws. Lastly, the Archers peppered goaltender Blaze Riorden with 32 shots, with Blaze recoding 17 saves.
Carolina was able to salvage a weekend split by beating the Denver Outlaws the next night. However, the defense will need to step up as the season goes on, and try to minimize the amount of rubber that Riorden has to stop. And the offense will need to show a balanced and consistent production from everyone to give them a chance to keep pace with the other teams in the Western Conference, including the Archers, who they will face again near the end of the regular season.
