(Photo Courtesy of Premier Lacrosse League)
With it being the one year anniversary of the PLL’s official announcement, dubbed PLL Day by the league, and the opening day of the 2019-20 NBA season, let’s take a look at which NBA team is each PLL team is most like. Continue reading “Which NBA Team Is Each PLL Team Most Like?” →
(Photo Courtesy of PLL)
The Premier Lacrosse League has announced that John Paul has stepped down from his post as head coach of the Atlas LC following the leagues inaugural season. Continue reading “John Paul Steps Down as Atlas LC Head Coach” →
(Photo Courtesy of PLL)
The PLL has announced that Chrome LC head coach Dom Starsia will be moving on from his position as head coach with the club. Starsia will remain with the league in a leadership position on the PLL’s Lacrosse Advisory Board- which is headed by current Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. Continue reading “Dom Starsia Moving From Chrome LC Head Coach to PLL Advisory Board” →
(Photo: LCC Radotin)
Over the past few years, the presence of major professional sports leagues in North America playing games outside of the countries they have franchises in has become quite common. The NBA, NHL, and NFL have all done this. Whether it is a pre-season showcase or a regular-season tilt, each of those three leagues have played a game outside of the United States or Canada at some point in time over the past five years. Continue reading “Will Pro Lacrosse Ever Go Global?” →
(Penn State attackman Grant Ament (Photo: Penn State Athletics))
The inaugural season of the PLL is in the books, Whipsnakes LC have been crowned champions, and Archers LC is now on the clock with the first pick in the 2020 PLL draft. Continue reading “What Does Archers LC Do With The First Overall Pick?” →
In what was the most insane game of the year, Whipsnakes LC was able to overcome a huge second half Redwoods LC comeback to force overtime and win the game to claim the title of PLL Champions for the first time in league history.
Continue reading “Rambo’s Late Game Heroics Help Whipsnakes LC Claim PLL Title” →
In the championship bracket, Redwoods LC blew out Chaos LC to pick a fight with Whipsnakes LC in the inaugural PLL Championship game next week in Philadelphia. It was an impressive display of defense and a big second half run that helped lift Redwoods to victory.
Redwoods saw Jules Heningburg, Ryder Garnsey, Joe Walters, Brent Adams, and Sergio Perkovic all score two goals in the win. In addition, Garrett held Connor Fields scoreless and Tim Troutner made 12 saves with a 63.1% save percentage.
Myles Jones and Miles Thompson led Chaos with three points (2G/1A) each. Kevin Buchanan and Dhane Smith each had one goal and one assist, as well. In goal, Blaze Riordern made 16 saves with a 59.2% save percentage.
Sergio Perkovic got Redwoods going early with a diving goal just thirty seconds into the game. Josh Byrne answered for Chaos, tying things up early on. The rest of the quarter was all Redwoods as they went on a four-goal run that included two goals from Brent Adams and a two-pointer from John Sexton.
Down 5-1 entering the second, Chaos was pumped up after a very hard hit from Garret Epple on Connor Fields to end the first. Epple was penalized two minutes.
Myles Jones got Chaos started in the second, finding the back of the net twice in 27 seconds, including intercepting a pass from Tim Troutner and putting the ball right in the back of the cage. Redwoods was able to gain some control again late in the quarter with Jules Heningburg getting them their first goal of the quarter.
Redwoods stepped up on both ends of the field in the third, holding Chaos scoreless and scoring four straight. The Redwoods offense got started in the third with Joe Walters getting them on the board about three minutes in. Jules Heningburg and Ryder Garnsey followed up with two more to keep the Redwoods offense rolling.
In addition to their offensive dominance, Tim Troutner kept shutting the door to help anchor the hot Redwoods defense. In the fourth, Miles Thompson put in a feed from Myles Jones to end Chaos’ scoring drought, but that proved to be all they had left in the tank.
Redwoods’ defense stood stout through the fourth, helping them secure the 12-7 victory. They will now move onto the championship game where they will face Whipsnakes LC.
Archers LC midfielder Tom Schreiber will miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury sustained in the Archers loss against Redwoods LC on Friday night.
In Friday’s game, Schreiber dislocated his shoulder at the end of the first quarter after taking a hard check from Garrett Epple. Schreiber proceeded to take a 40-yard shot as time expired and then ran to the sideline. Schreiber didn’t return to the game after being worked on by the PLL medical team.
Schreiber ended the regular season as the second leading scorer in the league, tallying 37 points (17G/18A). He was also the highest scoring midfielder during the regular season, as well. Schreiber had two assists before leaving the game on Friday.
Back in February of 2018, Schreiber suffered a knee injury while playing with the Toronto Rock in the NLL. That injury sidelined him for a big portion of the season, but he did return for the Rock at the end of the year. He also suited up for Team USA and the Ohio Machine that summer before having surgery on his knee last September.
Schreiber will miss Archers final gam of the season against Atlas LC to determine who gets the first overall draft pick in 2020. While a timetable for Schreiber’s injury is not known at this time he shouldn’t miss any time with Toronto in the NLL because of it.
Whipsnakes LC absolutely burned Chaos LC, exploding in the second quarter and never looking back. They took over on both ends of the field, pushed the issue in transition, and came out with the 15-7 win.
It was a very defensive heavy battle early on in this contest, but both offenses slowly woke up. Chaos got the offense going with Dhane Smith and Connor Fields scoring two straight, giving Chaos an early 2-0 lead. Ben Reeves finally broke the ice for Whipsnakes, scoring in the final minute of the quarter after multiple possessions that saw Whipsnakes fail to create anything.
Connor Fields found the back of the net once agin early in the second to help stretch the Chaos lead back out to two. The back-and-forth play ensued through the early part of the first with both sides taking shots at the other. Near the end of the second Whipsnakes found a heap of momentum that started with a Connor Kelly and grew into a four-goal run. Drew Snider, Joe Nardella, and Ben Reeves all scored for Whipsnakes during that run, as well.
Leading 6-4 at the half, Whipsnakes continued their dominance, extending their run to nine goals to take a 14-4 lead into the fourth. In the third, Mike Chanechuck stepped up big with two two-point goals to really help push the lead even further. In addition, Whipsnakes dominated on the defensive end and in transition, disrupting Chaos any chance they had.
In the fourth, Chaos finally got it together again but it was too late. Jake Froccaro scored twice and Dhane Smith found the back of the net once. Whipsnakes got the last goal of the game and walked away with the blowout win, advancing to the championship game in Philadelphia. Chaos will face Redwoods in the semifinals next week in New York.
In the first overall pick bracket, Atlas LC defeated Chrome LC 17-8. Atlas will move on to face Archers LC next week to decide who gets the first overall pick in the 2020 draft.
This win for Atlas can be heavily credited to Connor Buczek who put on an absolute show, breaking the PLL single game scoring record with nine points and really leading the offense in a multitude of ways. In addition, their defense stood stout for most of the game and made it difficult for Chrome to get many settled possessions.
Atlas got on things started fairly quickly with Connor Buczek letting one fly from beyond the arc early in the first. Chrome finally got the board midway through the first with Jordan Wolf finding the back of the cage. Eric Law answered for Atlas, starting a six-goal run that lasted through the early portion of the second.
Atlas held a 5-1 lead heading into the second and continued to grow it. They were simply dominating on both ends, playing aggressive defense and really moving the ball efficiently on the offensive end. Chrome did find some momentum late in the quarter with Justin Guterding and Connor Farrell scoring just eight seconds apart, but they still trailed 10-4 heading into the half.
It was much more back-and-forth in the third as Atlas and Chrome went back and forth for most of the quarter. Paul Rabil and Eric Law scored back-to-back early on, pushing Atlas’ lead to 12-4. Chrome answered in a sizable way, going on a three-goal run to cut the lead to just five.
A Connor Buczek two-pointer, his second of the game, late in the third pretty much put this one out of reach as Atlas led 15-7 heading into the fourth. While Chrome was able to score early on Atlas capped off the game with two straight goals from Kieran Mcardle and Connor Buczek to secure the win.
