Philadelphia Sneaks into Playoffs, Maryland Punches Ticket

Saturday afternoon’s action between the New York Atlas and the Philadelphia Waterdogs was nothing short of explosive.

The Atlas’ 20-19 victory marked the highest-scoring game in Premier Lacrosse League history and featured 15 different goal scorers. A Waterdogs win, or loss by two goals or fewer, would have clinched them a spot in the playoffs.

So, even after losing a nailbiter, they’re in.

“Any time it’s a win-and-in moment, you want to win … but that’s a championship caliber team and we were right down to the wire with them,” Watersdogs attackman Kieran McArdle said. “We didn’t win, but we got a little momentum and some things to look forward to going into the playoffs.”

Rookie Waterdogs attackman CJ Kirst notched six points for the second week in a row, while McArdle scored five. Atlas attackman Connor Shellenberger led the game with seven points and kept himself as the league’s top scorer at the end of the regular season.

Shellenberger’s 46 points, which is five more than any other player in the PLL, should make him a favorite for the MVP. The balanced playmaker finished with a 23-23 split in goals and assists.

Philadelphia attackman Michael Sowers is right behind Shellenberger with 41 points. He finished Saturday’s game with two goals and an assist.

The matchup was a pure shootout throughout, as neither Dillon Ward nor Liam Entenmann stopped more than 40 percent. They also struggled to stop shots from beyond the two-point arc. The game featured four two-pointers with both sides notching two.

Waterdogs midfielder Connor Kelly scored a two-pointer with 4:44 remaining to cut their deficit to 20-18, which led to a power play opportunity with 3:14 left. McArdle capitalized off an assist from Kirst, but Philadelphia turned the ball over on both of their next possessions, and New York prevailed.

The Atlas finished the regular season with the PLL’s highest-scoring offense, averaging 13.7 goals per game. New York will face the winner of the Waterdogs and the Maryland Whipsnakes in Philadelphia on Sept 1.

Maryland punches ticket to the playoffs

After a tough loss to the Atlas just two weeks ago, Maryland was on the outside looking in of the playoff picture. They still were before facing off against the Boston Cannons on Saturday night, but a 8-1 run in the second half changed that.

The Whipsnakes dominated the second half of the pivotal matchup, which worked essentially as the PLL’s first playoff game of the season. Whichever team won was heading to the playoffs, and the other was going packing.

Maryland used that run to secure a crushing 15-8 win over the Cannons.

After a back-and-forth first half which never had a team separate itself by more than two goals, the Cannons offense went quiet — and so did their playoff aspirations. Boston had two chances to clinch playoff berths at home this weekend, losing the first game in a one-goal loss to California on Friday.

Boston struggled to earn possession, and goalie Colin Kirst stopped just 42 percent of his shots faced. Maryland faceoff specialist Joe Nardella dominated his matchup with Zac Tucci, winning 16 of 26. Nardella finished the regular season third in the PLL with a 59.8-percent faceoff efficiency.

Whipsnakes attackman Rob Pannell became the first field lacrosse player to cross the 300-assist threshold with his helper to Adam Poitras in the second quarter. He had previously surpassed Ryan Boyle for most career assists during Maryland’s loss to Boston on June 21.

Pannell and Matt Brandau led the Whipsnakes with four points, while Cannons attackman Asher Nolting led the game with five. Nolting finished the season as the PLL leader in assists with 26, three more than any other player.

After only being used sporadically on the Waterdogs roster last season, Brandau finished the year as Maryland’s goals leader with 22. Rookie first-round pick Aidan Caroll led the team with 29 points.