By | Kieran McArdle accepted his Golden Stick Award with a deadpan expression. When asked what the award meant to him, he answered, “Not much.” “We came here for one reason, and that was to win the championship.” As he left the field, having not cracked a smile since the game’s end, McArdle handed the…

By | Sixes can be tough on goalies. They see a massive volume of shots in a fraction of the time they would in a field game. More often than not, they come out of it battered and heavily bruised. But in the second pool play game against the California Redwoods, a smile split Matt…

By | Kieran McArdle shattered just about every single-game Champ Series scoring record in the Philadelphia Waterdogs’ sixes debut.  Before the tournament, McArdle said he’d pull up from 13 yards “if I get my hands free.” But that doesn’t do his range justice. Among Champ Series players, McArdle ranks sixth in 13-yard goals since 2019…

By | Two yards is a lot. Imagine Ryan Conrad lying down perpendicular to the cage, with his head at the top of the arc – his feet would mark the top of the Championship Series’ 2-point line. That significantly changes how teams treat 2-point shooting. In the inaugural Championship Series, every winning team produced…

By | The most significant statistical difference between winners and losers in last year’s Championship Series was 2-point percentage. Winners converted at a 46.2% rate, while losers shot 23.3% from beyond the arc. The 13-yard arc is “a shooter’s dream,” said Philadelphia Waterdogs midfielder Jake Carraway, and the initial impulse is to take advantage of…