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The Utah Archers bounced back from two consecutive losses with a dominant all-around performance Friday night in Chicago, beating the New York Atlas 16-5
The Archers offense won matchups at a high rate, with just five of their 16 goals being assisted. Connor Fields (4G, 1A) was the leading initiator, but Sam King (2G, 2A), Ryan Stines (3G) and Leo Johnson (2G) also had success attacking their individual matchups.
“Fieldsy got hot early, which always helps, helps everyone settle in,” team captain Tom Schreiber said on the ESPN2 broadcast.
The 16 points Utah scored were the most they had put up in a game in over two years, since July 6, 2024.
Critically, the Archers had success in transition, the most they’ve had all season. Brett Dobson hit Mac O’Keefe (3G) on an absurd outlet pass before O’Keefe scored off his own rebound. Connor Maher buried a goal on a left-to-right split after clearing the ball. Aidan Maguire tallied his first career score and pieced together the best game of his young career.
“Tonight, he showed why he was the No. 1 pick,” Piper Bond said. “He was dominant all over the field defensively. Great finish. … That was awesome to see. I think that’ll be great for his confidence.”
Defensively, Utah put together a complete performance. Dobson saved 64.3% of the shots he saw, but he only faced 14 on goal while the defense in front of him locked down the Atlas. Their attack did not have answers for the Archers close defense, nor their stable of short-stick defensive midfielders for the majority of the night.
“Our shorties were really good. Our close guys were good,” head coach Chris Bates said postgame. “They gave Dobber a relatively easy night.”
Faceoff specialist Mike Sisselberger won 79.2% of his draws, further limiting the Archers’ defensive possessions. His final percentage was helped by Atlas faceoff man Zac Tucci going down with an injury after taking 16 faceoffs. Yet Sisselberger was dominant even before Tucci left the game, winning 19 of 24 faceoffs and picking up 17 ground balls, the fourth-most of his career.
Sisselberger is up to a 58.8% win rate on the season, far improved from his 35.6% mark in 2025 and more in line with his 63.3% average through his first two seasons in 2023 and 2024.
“If you’re gonna get the ball 80% of the time, then you’re gonna typically do pretty good things,” Bates said. “He had a tough year last year and he’s got it on his mind to make his mark, and he’s doing that, so we’re thrilled for him.”
The win boosted Utah’s playoff probability all the way up to 71%. Much of that is thanks to the 11-point win that increased the team’s score differential to plus-12, the highest in the league. That could prove to be a particularly valuable Western Conference tiebreaker down the stretch.
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