ALBANY - Two teams with title aspirations faced off in the final game from PLL opening weekend. Chrome, with highly touted rookie Sam Handley, would send their high powered offense against one of the league’s best defenses, led by Matt Dunn and Michael Ehrhardt. As time wound down, it looked like overtime might be needed. But Cross Ferrera, an all time great at DIII Salisbury, scored with 4.7 seconds left to deliver the victory for Chrome.
It was a Chrome pole goal that got the game started as Mike Manley scored in transition. Justin Anderson would score midway through the first on an assist from Logan Wisnauskas to push the Chrome lead to 2-0. The Whips answer would come from rookie Tucker Dordevic, who dusted his man on an alley dodge to his left and fired a low shot past Sconone. Another new Whipsnakes face scored the second of the day, as Will Manny got his first.
Chrome rookie Sam Handley would answer with a step down shot after bulldozing his defender to the ground from 12 yards.
The slow pace of the first game was cast aside. Teams battled back and forth with remarkable pace, piling up goals, with Anderson capping the first quarter with a buzzer beater and giving the Chrome a 5-4 lead with 1.9 seconds left. Chrome extended their lead in the second with goals from Wisnauskas, Colin Heacock, and Jackson Morrill, taking an 8-6 lead into the break.
Chrome would continue to push the lead wider in the third. Goals from Cross Ferrera and Anderson make it 10-6 before Garrett Leadmon stopped the bleeding with a shot that just snuck inside the far pipe off a nice face dodge to make it 10-7. Ty Warner would add another in transition to make it 10-8.
In the 4th, an early penalty sent the Whips to the power play, where Chanenchuk scored to pull the Whips within one. A timely Anderson goal stopped the run and made it 11-9. Teams battled for looks but defenses held, before an offsides penalty put the Whipsnakes on extra man with 1:24 to play. A quick conversion from Keegan Khan brought the Whips to within one with 1:14 to go.
Connor Farrell committed a turnover on the ensuing faceoff, allowing the Whipsnakes to call a timeout and set up a look at net to tie it. Dordevic dodged left to right and fired past Sconone low to tie it with just over 30 seconds to go.
In the end, it was Ferrera who decided it. Overtime was not needed, as Ferrera dodged from the low wing up to his right, and fired high past Bernlohr as he got to the middle of the field, putting the Chrome 13-12 with 4.7 seconds.
Ferrera finished with four points on two goals and two assist, while Morrill had a goal and four assists and Anderson added four tallies. For the Whipsnakes, Mike Chanenchuk added five points on a hat trick with two helpers, while Dordevic finished with three points in his debut. Both goalies finished over 50%, with Bernlohr making 15 stops while Sconone had 14 for Chrome.
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