New York has been one of the top teams in the league, but questions about its ability to win big games are getting louder. Carolina has become one of the league’s hottest teams while Boston looks like it may have found something with an offensive tweak.
Here are my power rankings heading into Boston Weekend:
1. Denver Outlaws (7-3)
It’s really hard to stop the Outlaws.
Why? They always have another player step up when they need it most offensively.
With Brennan O’Neill hobbled and Pat Kavanagh held without a point, it was Jared Bernhardt who stepped up last week against the Atlas with four second-half points, including the overtime winner.
But the game before that against Utah? It was the O’Neill show while Bernhardt was held scoreless.
And the game before that? Kavanagh and Dalton Young had five points apiece.
Not only does Denver have the most talented offense in the league, but its superstars are stepping up when they need to, and any one of them can go off in any game.
The only question is: Can they keep the momentum going? The Outlaws have back-to-back bye weeks after clinching the top seed in the Western Conference, so they don’t play another game until their semifinal on Sept. 1.
If they can manage the break and play like they’ve been playing for two more games, the Outlaws will be PLL champions.
2. New York Atlas (6-3)
My biggest concern with the Atlas was how they would handle adversity when the games started to matter.
And in their first big game of the year with massive seeding implications, they didn’t rise to the occasion, giving up a big halftime lead and failing to lock up the top seed in the East. The loss to Denver dropped the Atlas to 0-5 all-time in overtime games.
Sure, that statistic might not be fair to this current roster, but I still think it speaks to New York’s inability to get over the hump.
It feels like at times, when teams start gaining momentum on them, the Atlas have a tough time gaining it back, and it messes with their usual high standard of play. That’s what we saw happen this past Saturday.
The concerning part? Only one player, Connor Shellenberger, was making plays in the second half.
Shellenberger had a hand in all three goals and even should have had the game-winning assist to Xander Dickson in overtime, but Dickson hit the pipe on a point-blank look.
It felt like the rest of the offense just hung around waiting for Shellenberger to save the day, and that’s a little concerning. Because unlike the Outlaws, who’ve seen multiple players step up in big moments, it seemed like the Atlas’ other offensive weapons disappeared under the pressure.
New York’s performance had shades of its June 14 loss to the Whipsnakes, during which the Atlas were outscored 11-3 in the second half.
Can you guess who had a hand in all three of the second-half goals in that game? None other than Shellenberger.
It’s good to see him step up when he needs to. But we have been talking all year about how many weapons the Atlas have outside of Shellenberger, yet they’ve lacked timely plays from those other players when they need them most.
They have the pieces to win it all, but the question still remains: Can they handle the postseason pressure and finally rise to the occasion?
Next game: Saturday, August 9 at Philadelphia Waterdogs (1 p.m. ET; ABC)
3. Carolina Chaos (5-4)
Midfielder Shane Knobloch summarized this 2025 Chaos team perfectly in the press conference after the win over Denver:
“People overlook us, but no one really wants to play us.”
Both things are true.
People definitely overlooked the Chaos (myself included) especially after their 20-6 loss to Maryland on June 22. Since then, the Chaos have won four of their last five games, clinched a playoff spot and certainly seem like a team no one wants to see in September.
So what has changed? For starters, the rise of Owen Hiltz.
Hiltz is averaging 4.3 points per game on the season, which is on pace for one of the best rookie seasons of all time; for context, Jeff Teat averaged 4.3 in 2021. It feels like Hiltz has elevated every single aspect of his game since his time at Syracuse, and I like to think of him as the offensive equivalent of fellow rookie Logan McNaney. When Denver inserted McNaney into the starting lineup, not only did he perform at an elite level for a rookie, but his presence also brought a new energy for everyone around him.
It feels like the same is happening for Hiltz. Carolina knows it has a guy who will make all the right decisions and make plays in crunch time. And speaking of crunch time, the Chaos have been excellent in high-leverage moments; their last four wins have come by a combined six scores.
One could see this as a concern that the Chaos can rarely pull away in a game, but I see it as an asset; they just know how to win games.
That bodes well for them in the playoffs.
Next game: Friday, August 8 vs. Utah Archers (9 p.m. ET; ESPN2)
4. Boston Cannons (4-4)
This was the first full game of lacrosse Boston has played since Opening Weekend.
Propelled by a selfless offense, turnover-causing defense and 20 saves from Colin Kirst, the Cannons’ win over the Waterdogs was more like what we expected from Boston coming into the season.
“We didn’t really change anything [during the bye week],” head coach Brian Holman said following the win. “We came out of that Outlaws game knowing we could’ve won. We elevated what we did well from that game and cleaned up the mistakes.”
But there was a minor change: putting both Will Manny and Coulter Mackesy in the lineup together for the first time.
All year, the debate has been over who should start at the lefty attack spot. Playing both certainly makes that decision easier – and makes the offense more dangerous.
Why? The two-man game.
One of Manny or Mackesy will draw a short stick, and they ran the big-little pick game to great success on the lefty wing.
