College Women

12:00 PM

May 16

FLA
MD
College Women

02:30 PM

May 16

YALE
SYR
College Women

05:00 PM

May 16

MICH
BC
College Women

07:30 PM

May 16

PENN
NW
College Men

12:00 PM

May 18

GTOWN
ND
College Men

02:30 PM

May 18

MD
DUKE
College Men

12:00 PM

May 19

DEN
SYR
College Men

02:30 PM

May 19

UVA
JHU
Full Schedule & Scoreboard

Sign up for the latest news & updates

© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.

The Whips have finally been toppled.

Whipsnakes, the last undefeated team in the Premier Lacrosse League’s first season, was handed its first loss thanks to a late push by Redwoods. The Woods went on a 3-0 run in the final four minutes — with goals coming from Kyle Harrison, Matt Kavanagh and Brent Adams — to break an 11-11 tie and secure a 14-11 victory Saturday.

Harrison’s goal, the eventual game-winning tally, was his long-awaited first in the PLL.

“The Whips are so good in transition,” Harrison said of the team’s strategy. “So Coach [Nat St. Laurent] said to just stay on that. That was a big part of our game plan. We were just fortunate to make big plays at the end of each half.”

Fueling Redwoods’ comeback was faceoff specialist Greg Gurenlian, who played through noticeable pain, reportedly in his left hamstring.

“I’ve seen some pretty wild things throughout my career, but what @GregBeast32 did today was remarkable. Roll ‘Woods,” Harrison tweeted after the game.

Chrome comeback falters

On the flip side of things, Chrome came back from down 7-1 early but still couldn’t get that last goal to give it its first victory of the season.

Chaos got a powerplay opportunity about a minute into overtime thanks to a Chrome offside. Deemer Class made Chrome pay, burying a shot off a skip pass from Myles Jones to secure a 15-14 victory Saturday and the fourth straight triumph for his team.

As NBC color analyst Ryan Boyle explained afterward, Chrome defenseman Ryan Flanagan was forced to respect Connor Fields up top beyond the 2-point arc, pushing him up field and opening the passing lane to Class. From there, all Class had to do was shoot on target.

“Like we always say, ‘Passer makes the shooter,’” said Class, who had a hat trick.

Don’t be surprised if Chrome makes a change in net next week. Head coach Dom Starsia pulled John Galloway for Brett Queener to spark his team, and Queener went on to have an outstanding game and played a big part in the comeback effort.

Atlas win second straight

Atlas has gotten back in the saddle, winning two of the last three after defeating Archers 13-12 on Friday to force a tie between the two teams for the fourth position in the standings.

Atlas scored the final two goals of the game, with Joel Tinney tying it with 3:30 left and John Crawley netting the game winner off a run from X with 2:44 remaining. Crawley scored twice in Atlanta after failing to record a point in his first two games in the league.

Archers had a desperate opportunity to tie the game in the closing seconds, with Tom Schreiber nearly snagging a high rebound and redirecting it on cage. Tucker Durkin threw himself into the crease to secure the win.

Ryan Brown notched a hat trick, while Paul Rabil, Tinney and Eric Law each had two goals and an assist.

Playoffs announced, All-Star Voting opened

The PLL made two major announcements last week, introducing the league’s playoff format and opening voting for the league’s first ever All-Star Game.

The playoff setup is an untraditional one, with four teams qualifying for a chance at a title in the Battle for the Championship bracket.

Week 1 in this bracket will feature two games: the No. 1 vs. 2 seeds and the No. 3 vs. 4 seeds. The winner of the No. 1 and 2 matchup advances to the championship, while the loser will play the winner of the No. 3 vs. 4 battle for a chance to meet them.

The loser between No. 3 and 4 will move to the other bracket, a battle for the first pick in the 2020 draft. Designed to mitigate tanking, teams need to win in this bracket to earn the coveted top selection.

The draft bracket kicks off in Week 1 with a battle between the two teams that did not qualify for the championship bracket, seeds No. 5 and 6. Just like in the other bracket, the team that wins this game advances to the draft bracket title game, with the loser playing the loser of the No. 3 and 4 matchup for a chance to play them.

As for all-star voting, fans can vote for their favorite players at each position, with a handful listed on the ballot and the rest having a path through the write-in option.

Los Angeles will host the PLL All-Star Game on July 21 at Banc of California Stadium.

Play of the Week

It’s not the usual flashy goal or electrifying stick check this week. Chaos’ Mark Glicini deserves recognition for laying his body on the line for his team, turning around to block a shot while playing without a stick. I can’t imagine there are too many people out there who would do the same.

Noteworthy

The Ringer’s Katie Baker wrote a lengthy piece about the PLL last week, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the first few months of the league and assessing the professional lacrosse landscape as a whole. …

… Defenseman Joe Fletcher made his PLL debut with Chrome, who picked him up from the player pool earlier in the week. Defenseman Michael Simon made his Archers debut against his old team, Atlas.  … There were two trades last week: Chrome sent faceoff specialist Brendan Fowler to Archers for a fourth-round pick, and Archers sent Joe McCallion to Whipsnakes for a fourth. … Chaos’ Myles Jones hung out and played some hoops with fellow former Duke Blue Devil and Atlanta Hawk draft pick Cam Reddish this week.

Up Next

The PLL heads to Washington, D.C. for the final trio of games before the All-Star Game. Archers and Redwoods kick things off at 5 p.m. ET Saturday (NBC Sports Gold), while Whipsnakes and Atlas close out the opening day at 8 p.m. on NBCSN. Chrome and Chaos meet for a second week in a row on Sunday at 3 p.m. on NBCSN.