PLL Week 9 Recap: Archers, Waterdogs Claim Top Spots in Standings

The Archers and Waterdogs became the first two teams to reach six wins thanks to each sweeping their doubleheaders in Denver.

The Outlaws fell to both teams during their homecoming and an 0-2 finish to the weekend along with a Carolina win made the West’s playoff race a lot more interesting.

Philadelphia’s back-to-back wins allowed them to leap frog Maryland and put New York’s playoff hopes in severe jeopardy.

ARCHERS TAKE CONTROL OF  WEST

Score: Utah Archers 16, Denver Outlaws 11

Stat of the Game: It was a career day for Beau Pederson, who matched his single-game high in points and caused turnovers with two each. His three ground balls were also just one shy of his career high. He and his fellow Utah short-stick defenders Aidan Maguire and Piper Bond now all have six points each.

Recap: “[Beau Pederson] is the real deal. We feel comfortable on his matchup and his game has continued to expand,” Utah coach Chris Bates said. “He’s an alpha out there and he’s part of a really good unit… He’s taken the next step and is as good as anybody in the game right now.”

Pederson has played a large part in Utah’s dominant run, which continued on Friday in the Archers’ 16-11 win over the Outlaws. It was a group effort on offense with eight different Archers recording at least a point.

“From D to O, we’re playing fast and subbing well. That gives us energy,” Bates said. “We’re preaching ‘share the ball.’ Nobody cares who scores.”

Tre Leclaire led the way for the second straight week, notching six points on three goals (including a 2-pointer) and two assists. Mac O’Keefe also had a pair of goals from beyond the arc and an assist for five points. Sam King and Ryan Stines also each had two goals, with Stines recording four points for the third time this year and adding to his now rookie-leading 28 points.

“These two dudes are making big plays in big moments,” Bates said while pointing towards Stines and King at the postgame press conference following their Saturday win. “That’s made a difference for us. That’s stemmed the tide and, at times, given us that next big goal… It’s been fun to see the evolution.”

WATERDOGS PUT ATLAS ON LIFE SUPPORT

Score: Philadelphia Waterdogs 11, New York Atlas 10

Stat of the Game: Following a game where he was held to just one point, CJ Kirst recorded another five-point performance. The MVP favorite had an assist early in the game, but his four goals all came in the second half, tying the game at 7, 8 and 10. After this weekend, he's had five points in all but one of seven games this season and is just one goal away from tying Marcus Holman's PLL single-season record of 30.

Recap: The Philadelphia Waterdogs secured an 11-10 win over the New York Atlas with Kirst leading the charge once again. However, Michael Sowers was the hero, scoring the game-winning goal and recording his fifth hat trick of the season.

Sowers’ goal came during a five-on-five set that was a result of penalties on both teams. Silas Richmond was called for goalie interference on a crease dive attempt, but Philadelphia retained possession because New York’s Max Krevsky cross-checked Richmond in the crease well after the play had ended.

“This was a tough one, and to persevere through four quarters of even lacrosse with two teams battling, I'm just really proud of our guys to come out on top,” Philadelphia coach Bill Tierney said after the game.

In his first career start, Philadelphia goaltender Sean Byrne stopped 50 percent of the shots he faced and made nine saves, including a crucial one on Matt Traynor with three minutes remaining that led to the eventual game-winning possession.

“He saved us in big moments,” Tierney said about Byrne’s performance. “Sean was in a tough spot… He came through. He has all the confidence in the world. The defense believed in him and he got the job done.”

The Waterdogs’ performance between the lines played a big part in their win. Faceoff specialist Alec Stathakis started the game winning 10 straight faceoffs against Trevor Baptiste and finished the game at 69.6 percent with four ground balls. Midfielder Zach Currier also collected four ground balls, blocked a shot, scored a goal and had the assist on Kirst’s game-tying goal that made it 10-10.

"I think the difference tonight was just the ground balls and how hard we played for those ground balls. Guys are selling out… so it's special to watch, special to play with those guys,” Stathakis said. “We battled on the wings. You see a guy like Currier out there diving at ground balls and poking it around, and it inspires you to play a little harder.”

For New York, it was the team’s sixth loss of the season and third defeat by one possession. According to the PLL’s playoff predictor, the Atlas have just a 13% chance of making the postseason after this weekend.

Connor Shellenberger called the defeat a "devastating loss,” but felt that Atlas fought for 48 minutes. New York coach Mike Pressler also reiterated that the team wasn’t ready to quit on the season.

“There’s a lot of pride in that locker room. That group’s won a lot of games in the past,” Pressler said. "We're going to keep battling. You never know in the PLL. ... We've got three more games until we get to the finish line, and we're going to continue to prepare and play our butts off in the last three."

CHAOS SURVIVE OT THRILLER

Score: Carolina Chaos 13, Boston Cannons 12 (OT)

Stat of the Game: Blaze Riorden made 20 saves for a 64.5 percent save percentage in Carolina’s victory over Boston. It was Riorden's 10th career game making 20 saves or more — no other PLL goalie has made at least 20 saves in a single game more than three times. Riorden also became just the sixth pro field lacrosse goalie ever to pass the 1,300 career saves mark.

Recap: Carolina entered Saturday’s game desperately needing a win to maintain pace in the West. What it got was a 13-12 overtime victory thanks to a vintage performance from Riorden and breakout game from rookie Teddy Malone.

“Blaze is one of one. He’s an outstanding human being. He stays grounded at all times,” Carolina coach Steven Brooks said. “You saw a typical Blaze performance today. He was in the zone.”

“It helps when you have the best goalie in the world on your team. [Blaze] held it down in net,” Malone added.

The aforementioned Malone started on attack and exploded for six points, including scoring the game-winning goal in overtime.

Andrew McMeekin, who won 82.1 percent of his faceoffs on Saturday, scooped up the ground ball following his 23rd win of the day. It appeared that Boston would get the first attempt at winning the game, but Ben Ramsey turned the ball over on the clear attempt following McMeekin’s faceoff win.

Carolina’s Owen Hiltz intercepted the pass and started a fast break on Boston’s defensive end. Hiltz passed to Ross Scott who then connected with Malone on the victory-clinching goal.

"It felt like a Chaos win. We want to be the grittiest, toughest team in the league,” Chad Palumbo said. “The harder the circumstances, we like to think that’s Chaos ball. We played a brand of Chaos ball that we’re proud of."

After dealing with key injuries last weekend, Carolina had to deal with another on Saturday with Justin Inacio went down early in the game. Inacio won three of five faceoffs before exiting with an injury, which caused Chaos to use a committee of Christian Scarpello, Ray Dearth and Ty English.

“I challenged them going into this game. That levy is about to break; we’re knocking on the door. We just have to continue to believe, and it showed today,” Brooks said. “As soon as we lost J.I., they didn’t blink. They didn’t quit. That gas light went on and they continued to go until they hit empty.”

The loss ended Boston’s three-game win streak, keeping the Cannons in third in the East with a score differential of plus-one.

“I can think of a lot of examples where we shot ourselves in the foot and lost that game,” Jeff Trainor said. “I don’t want to take any credit from the Chaos, but I thought we gave them a lot of opportunities to stay in the game.”

ARCHERS TOP WHIPS FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT

Score: Utah Archers 13, Maryland Whipsnakes 8

Stat of the Game: The Archers held their opponent to single digits for the seventh time this season and are allowing an average of just nine scores per game through 10 games. Utah has now held every PLL team except Boston to under 10 this season and will get a chance to make that seven teams next week when the team takes on the Cannons.

Recap: The Archers snapped the Whipsnakes’ two-game win streak and held Maryland to eight goals for the second time this season — this time in a winning effort. Utah’s 13-8 win moved the team to 6-4 and the top position in the West by two wins. Its plus-32 score differential is also the best in the entire PLL.

“Couldn’t have scripted it much better, honestly. This is a big-time weekend for us. [We faced] two really good opponents and high-caliber teams that are likely playoff-bound,” Bates said. “I thought we locked it down defensively again. Great weekend. I’m proud of our guys.”

Utah goaltender Brett Dobson made 18 saves and recorded a season-high save percentage at 69.2% in the team’s fourth straight win. He leads the PLL in save percentage at 60.5% and is well on his way to winning his first goaltender of the year award.

Dobson’s consistency has also been particularly notable during Utah’s highs and lows this season. Archers beat reporter Zach Carey pointed out that Dobson has never posted a save percentage lower than 40%, which is something none of the other PLL starters can say.

“[Dobson] lets the guys on the offensive end play a little more free because you can make a mistake and know you’ll likely get a save on the other end. We feed off his ability and his energy,” Bates said. “We have a confident defense. [Coach] Tony Resch is the best in the business. Starting with Dobson and the close defense out, it’s a hell of a unit.”

With just two more games to go for Utah, Bates knows that his team has put itself in a position to make another championship run.

“Three weeks ago we were 2-4 and now we’re 6-4. We’re starting to see the crest here,” Bates said. “We’ve been there. We have 13 dudes who have won a championship. This organization knows what it takes.”

The Whipsnakes trailed by only a goal heading into halftime, but the offense struggled to find a rhythm following an injury to faceoff specialist Petey LaSalla midway through the third quarter. The Archers scored four of the five goals in the third period and Maryland was never able to recover.

WATERDOGS TAKE SOLE CONTROL OF EAST

Score: Philadelphia Waterdogs 18, Denver Outlaws 8   

Stat of the Game: Zach Currier recorded four assists and 10 ground balls in the Waterdogs’ win over the Outlaws. Joe Keegan pointed out that 147 players have scooped 10 ground balls or more and 86 players have had four or more assists in a single PLL game, but Currier became the first to do both in the same game.

Recap: “Zach Currier is far and away the most courageous, hard-working, successful — whatever word you want to throw out there, you name it,” Tierney said. “This is my 53rd team I’ve coached over the years. I’ve never seen a guy with four assists and 10 ground balls.”

Tierney and the Waterdogs entered the weekend at 4-3 with a minus-14 score differential, but came away with a 6-4 record, minus-three score differential and sole possession of first place in the East. Their 18-8 win over the Outlaws helped their score differential the most and was their largest margin of victory so far this season.

The Waterdogs’ dynamic duo of Sowers and Kirst led the team with six and five points, respectively, but it was a balanced effort from Philly. The Byrne-led defense held its opponent to single digits for the first time this season and the offense had 10 different players score a goal.

"They're willing to share the ball. They're willing to be excited for the defense when they make a stop," Tierney said. "You have to let these talented young men have a blueprint. But because they care the way they do, most especially about their teammates,  they make those plays."

For Denver, the loss was its second straight defeat and first time losing back-to-back games since June 6, 2025. The Outlaws now find themselves with a 4-5 reacord in a tight playoff race with California and Carolina.

“It was a disappointing weekend, especially the way we lost. There were some spurts of good stuff in the second half, but we have to figure this out,” Denver coach Tim Soudan said. “We need to be better from top to bottom and it starts with me.”

Also of note was Denver’s decision to sit Brennan O’Neill on Saturday after he suffered a minor knee injury on Friday. Soudan said O’Neill’s absence was just a precaution and that he’ll be evaluated early this week.

Jared Bernhardt also appeared to reaggravate his hamstring and is questionable heading into next week’s game with the Whipsnakes.

With three games remaining, Denver will need to regroup quickly if they want to make the postseason and defend their Western Conference title.