Ryan Baker

It was a tough night for the Madison Radicals on Friday, who gave the Chicago Union their first win of the season in a 16-18 loss.

Madison lost the game in the first quarter. They put up porous numbers across the board, tainted from the first 12 minutes: a 22 percent break percentage, a 48 percent O-line conversion rate, just three blocks, and a 69 percent red-zone conversion rate. Those numbers are below what they had done in their first three games.

“Credit to Chicago, who came out playing hard,” Head Coach Jacob Spiro said. “We failed to come out with the energy needed to win at this level. Combine that with some basic execution errors, and it made for a tough start. I’ve never been a fan of the momentum timeout, but in retrospect, I should have used one.”

The game opened with a huck by Chicago on the second pass attempt, giving them a quick lead. Then, due to the windy conditions, the disc popped up on Anthony Gutowsky as he was making an undercut, resulting in a drop and a break for Chicago.

Two back-to-back turnovers by Eric Sjostrom, one a Callahan that the wind picked up, and the other a low throw to an outstretched Nico Ranabhat, gave Chicago two more quick scores. Within the first five minutes of the game, the Radicals were down 1-5.

The bleeding didn’t stop there. Two more turnovers by Madison gave them seven in just the first quarter, and they were down by five heading into the second quarter. A turnaround happened, but going down five against any pro team is an extremely difficult task.

“We had a lot of errors on the first throws on those offensive possessions,” Gutowsky said. “We believed that we could come back.”

A red-zone turnover by Gutowsky and a turnover by Jake Carrico added even more pressure, giving the Union a short field and a seven-point lead in the first two points of the second quarter. The Radicals made up a bit of ground before halftime, cutting the deficit to five, highlighted by a masterful cross-field huck from Sjostrom that landed in Jack Nelson's bucket.

The offense showed more discipline in the second half, but the defense couldn’t hold up its end, as it was continually beaten on up-line cuts by the Union. Going into the final quarter, Madison was down 10-14.

An Ian McCosky-to-Nelson score opened the fourth, but the defense then broke down, leaving Chicago’s Ben Preiss wide open in the end zone. The momentum started to build when Jeff Maskalunas got a massive layout block in the end zone, culminating in a Victor Luo-to-Pieran Robert break score.

The Radicals were down by two with just over five minutes remaining, but the rest of the game was back and forth. A two-minute point by the Union was the ultimate killer, putting them up three with 15 seconds left.

Madison started to play well about halfway through the second quarter, outscored the Union in the second half by three, but it was too little, too late.

“There was no specific messaging we needed,” Spiro stated. “Once we got our feet under us, we knew we were still in the game, just made it more difficult for ourselves. We had good chances to get the disc to bring it to a single-point game.”

The headliners for Madison were McCosky, who finished with four assists, one goal, one block, and over 400 total yards; Nelson, who had two assists and three goals after his breakout game last week; and Max Sample, who scored the final two goals, finished with three on the night, and added two assists.

In the first three games of the season, Madison’s handler-heavy set worked well, but the idea behind it is to eat up the clock and win the possession game. What it doesn’t allow for is the bigger chunk plays and getting the ball downfield. When you need to play with urgency, it becomes tough to get the production out of that particular offensive set.

“he first two games, we played against some defenses that didn't know what we were running,” Gutowsky remarked. “Now, they've had more time to prepare against us, and it’s been harder to find that open space in the end zone, or get a deep shot.”

It’s good to see McCosky, Nelson, and Sample produce in big moments, but Madison also needs more from its other top players. With Kainoa Chun-Moy out, Ranabhat still didn’t do much damage despite his strong season.

Gutowsky, their mainstay goal scorer, has also struggled over the last two games. He has four turns, two drops, a -3 plus/minus, and just three goals in that span, and he has had some difficulty adjusting to the new offensive game plan.

He and the rest of the team are going to have to figure things out and quickly. A game with Indianapolis looms next weekend, followed by hosting the Salt Lake Shred, then two more games against Indy.

“Indy is an extremely different team offensively than Chicago,” Spiro said. “Almost diametrically opposed, really. We were always going to have a significant shift in strategy between the two games.”

The Radicals are still in second place in the Central, but the playoff race got much tighter this past weekend. Beating Indianapolis on Sunday would be a big step toward earning a playoff spot. 

Opening pull on Sunday is at 5:00 PM. Get tickets here.