…plus, what needs to happen for these shots to start falling. Better luck? An alpha presence like Michael Sowers or Jeff Teat? Both?

Read the full breakdown with more film and more stats here.

4. Joe Nardella: The ‘Most Elite Guy in the League’

Faceoffs. Offense. Defense. Joe Nardella does it all. US Lacrosse Magazine’s Nelson Rice profiled the 2020 Paul Cantabene Faceoff Athlete of the Championship Series and his journey to the pros. 

Recruited as a regular midfielder, Nardella did not devote himself to the faceoff position until he arrived at Rutgers – and he has never lost his love for the rest of the game.

“He’s not one of those typical faceoff guys who just stands to the side the whole practice and faces off,” Michael Ehrhardt told Nelson Rice. “He gets in every drill with us, and he’s a very skilled athlete and player.” 

Read Nelson’s article here.

5. The Stripe

Greg Gurenlian’s recap episode covered everything that happened at the stripe, including:

• Why Chaos should coordinate routes and send Mark Glicini or Sergio Salcido to specific spots in a full sprint on the whistle in order to save Tommy Kelly some wear and tear
• The benefit of “blitzes” to neutralize clamp losses by creating three-on-threes
• Love for Chrome LC’s wings, especially rookie Reece Eddy, who filled in for Joel White, an all-time great wing
• Hunter Forbes’ neutral grip, and whether he’ll try to maximize it by standing up rather than taking a knee
• Joe Nardella’s MVP-worthy performance and his bottomless bag of counters, including a perfectly legal butt end lift

Listen to Greg’s full thoughts on Spotify.

6. PLL Assists

Zoom hangouts with PLL Assist partner programs. Over $36,000 raised for charity. Over $46,000 of equipment donated. Kyle Harrison recapped the work done by players and partners over the last four months in this thread.

If you can, try to get involved with the team partners: City Lax NYC, Bronx Lacrosse, WINNERS Lacrosse, Bridge Lacrosse, OWLS Lacrosse, Brooklyn Lacrosse Club, and Charm City Youth Lacrosse.

There are so many ways to help – donating gear, coaching, or scheduling these clubs to play against (or with) your town’s programs. When I coached with Metro Lacrosse in Dorchester, scheduling was a struggle. Buses are expensive. Milton would regularly travel to the city. I always wished more teams would make the trip, so we could have played more games. We could afford one road trip per season, usually to Weston, where we’d combine our player pools, throw sticks, and create two teams between our program and theirs.

It was a great experience for our U13 and U15 programs. I encourage more coaches to follow Weston’s lead.

7. What if?

The NBA Draft lottery made me think of the ripple effect of the 2020 PLL Entry Draft order.

Flash back to March. The Whipsnakes had one ping pong ball out of one hundred. When Paul Burmeister pulled the ping pong ball for the fifth overall pick, there was a 60% chance it’d belong to Chaos, 30% chance to Redwoods, and only 10% to Whipsnakes.

The ball? Belonged to the Whipsnakes. 

The pick? MVP Zed Williams.

How would the Championship Series have played out if Chaos had selected Zed? Dude scored six goals in a six-goal Championship win. He was the difference. Put him on the other team, and maybe the Whipsnakes don’t repeat in 2020.

The NBA is full of “what if?”s from draft lottery luck (or lack thereof) to trades to draft day decisions. In the early history of PLL, this has to be a top-five “What if?” 

What are your other “What if?” moments? Let’s hear ‘em.

8. Crease Collapse of the Week

Eddy Glazener’s positioning on this play is perfect. He can damn near simultaneously see his man, the ball, and the crease. As Garrett Epple slides, Glazener moves on a string, burying Epple’s man into the turf as he receives the pass.