Sowers Continues Scorching Start, McConvey Breaks Out in Waterdogs Win

The Philadelphia Waterdogs continue to look like a completely different team in their second season under head coach Bill Tierney — winning the first game of their doubleheader this weekend Friday at Villanova Stadium.

After rattling off a five-goal run that stretched the Waterdogs’ lead to 6-2 by the 11:10 mark of the second quarter, they never lost control of the game, winning 14-11.

Boston Cannons long-stick midfielder Owen Grant responded from that stretch with his first 2-point goal of his career, which brought Boston’s deficit to 6-4. Grant finished with three points, two ground balls and a caused turnover.

By the 6:40 mark of the second quarter, Philadelphia was outshooting the Cannons 21-9 and added two more goals from midfielder Thomas McConvey on just another four shots. McConvey finished with four goals on six shots and 13 touches, which doubled his career goal total.

After the game, Tierney said that having McConvey back for his third season is a “blessing for us,” as the crafty off-ball finisher was in free agency after dealing with injury last season.

“I made a mistake last year,” Tierney said. “He was banged up early and [I] didn’t give him the chance he should’ve gotten toward the end of the year, and he could’ve walked away as a free agent.”

Cannons attackman Asher Nolting was able to sneak a goal past Dillon Ward with one second remaining after Boston executed a play from offensive coordinator Alec Jernstedt to perfection. The Cannons swung the ball around the arc before midfielder Matt Campbell found a wide-open Nolting, who buried his shot from just inside the arc.

After Waterdogs attackman Michael Sowers scored his first goal of the night to open the second half, Philadelphia outscored Boston 4-1 in the third quarter — securing a 13-8 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Attackman Kieran Mcardle scored back-to-back goals before McConvery converted his fourth goal off an assist from Sowers.

The Cannons outscored Philadelphia 3-1 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Waterdogs’ run earlier in the game. Boston attackman Marcus Holman scored his 350th career goal off a behind-the-back shot in the first quarter but was held scoreless the rest of the way by defender Kenny Brower.

Veteran goalie Dillon Ward got his first start of the season after Matt DeLuca started last week against the Whipsnakes. Ward finished with nine saves on a 47-percent save efficiency. Sowers, who finished with seven points, leads the Premier Lacrosse League with 15 points through his first two games of the season. His 12 assists at least double every other player in the league.

“What I’m trying to develop into as a player is if they’re going to slide, I can feed. If they’re not going to slide, I can run by somebody and turn the corner,” Sowers said. “If you look at what our guys are doing off ball, a lot of times I’m not even drawing a slide, and guys are open.”

Philadelphia hosts Denver in the second game of its homecoming weekend Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern (ESPN+).

Archers Outlast Redwoods in Physical Matchup

For the second straight week, the California Redwoods fell into an early hole and could not quite dig out of it. The Utah Archers scored five unanswered goals to start the game held off the Redwoods for a 12-11 victory.

The Redwoods answered the Archers’ opening salvo with a four-goal response, sparked by a goal from faceoff specialist TD Ierlan. From there, the game was neck-and-neck until the final whistle. Both sides combined for seven goals in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter only for the Archers to maintain a one-goal advantage.

Utah goalie Brett Dobson, who the Redwoods found rare success against earlier in the game, made five saves in the last four minutes, including a doorstep stop on midfielder Josh Balcarcel with 1:30 left. Dobson finished with 12 saves while stopping 54.5 percent of the shots he faced. He hasn’t had a game below 50 percent since Aug. 4 of last season.

Attackman Matt Moore scored the first two goals of the game and finished with a hat trick, his first since 2023. Attackman Mac O’Keefe scored his first goal of the season on a low-to-low shot that was set up by midfielder Grant Ament in the first quarter. Faceoff specialist Mike Sisselberger finished with a goal and an assist while winning 10 of 22 of his faceoffs.

After Moore got into a shoving match with his former Virginia teammate, Chris Merle, early in the first quarter, the game became increasingly more physical throughout. Moore was given a 30-second penalty for pushing but defenseman Arden Cohen’s retaliation was deemed more serious, which gave Utah possession.

Merle suffered a non-contact knee injury later in the first quarter and came back to the sideline on crutches. That forced the Redwoods to use Carter Rice and Brian Tevlin as their only defensive midfielders.

After the game, Redwoods head coach Anthony Kelly said that it’s “unlikely” that Merle will return this season.

Late in the second quarter, Archers’ defenseman Graeme Hossack blatantly slashed attackman Chris Kavanagh on the helmet, which broke his own stick. That allowed for newly acquired Sam Handley to score on a jump shot from behind the 2-point arc to level the game at 6 before the half.

“I’m not a complainer. I don’t like to make excuses,” Kelly said. “But when you two-hand smash a stick across my attackman’s head, I got a problem with that. When they get a penalty, it should be the only penalty, and they call us for secondary stuff. You should take two guys there and we should actually be man up.”

Archers rookie midfielder Sam King continued to prove his worth early in his career. The explosive dodger scored two pivotal goals, including a 2-pointer as the shot clock hit zero during the fourth quarter, which sprung a 10-8 lead for Utah. The assist came from Schreiber on an inbound play after he raced both Cohen and Chris Conlin to the sideline.

Kelly challenged the ruling that Conlin hit the ball out of bounds last but the original call was upheld.

“That was a backbreaker,” Kelly said about King’s goal. “If we clean a couple things up, realistically, we are winning this game by two.”

Kelly added that it’s hard to say that California is in a good spot after a loss, but they are. The Redwoods are still in first in the western conference because of their plus-eight goal differential.