Two teams looking to secure their spots in the PLL postseason will square off Saturday night in Denver.
Here’s what our beat writers will be watching when the California Redwoods and Maryland Whipsnakes match up at 8 p.m. ET:
Redwoods: While fighting for their season, is the team turning a corner?
After last week’s matchup with the Utah Archers, Redwoods rookie Chris Kavanagh talked about some of the keys from the game, and they echoed the same takes he had during the team’s five-game losing streak.
“You’ve got to take care of the ball, take care of your possessions, be smart up and down the field,” he said. “It was a battle. We were fighting for our season, fighting for our lives.”
After weeks of saying the team shot itself in the foot and made uncharacteristic mistakes at the end of games, the Redwoods executed and, for the first time in the 2025 season, outscored the opposition in the final quarter en route to a 9-8 victory.
While both contests between the Redwoods and Archers were decided by a single point, California walked off the field much happier the second time around. Instead of rookie midfielder Sam English running down the field in a last-second attempt to tie the game, like he did in the first matchup between the two teams, it was rookie midfielder Andrew McAdorey running away from the defense and running out the clock to end a five-game skid.
“Going into the fourth, it seemed like that’s been the same scenario the last three, four, five, six weeks,” goalie Chayse Ierlan said. “But our belief never wavered. We knew [to] keep plugging away, keep believing, and eventually, it’s going to turn out our way. … We’re looking to keep it going.”
While all problems aren’t solved, the team not only showed growth but moved a step closer to making the playoffs, and they did so with key performances from a variety of players.
Ierlan posted a career-best 66.7% save percentage. His brother, TD, won more than 65% of his faceoffs for the second straight game. Romar Dennis scored his fourth two-point goal in four games. Aidan Danenza – who was inserted into the lineup when English was ruled out hours before the previous week’s game against the New York Atlas – scored for the second consecutive game. Rookie Carter Rice caused two turnovers, and Cole Kastner continued to impress after being moved from long-stick midfielder to close defense.
“I couldn’t be prouder of these guys who keep fighting week in and week out,” head coach Anthony Kelly said. “It’s been a long time coming, five in a row over seven weeks. … It definitely feels good to get this one.”
The Whipsnakes are also 3-5. They’ve lost two of their past three games with an offense that failed to score double digits in both of those contests. Like the Redwoods, they’re fighting for their playoff lives.
The battle will begin at the faceoff stripe, where the Whipsnakes sit first in the league in winning percentage (61.1%). Joe Nardella is the only player with a better winning percentage than TD Ierlan this season. Maryland has also gotten excellent play from its wings; Colin Squires leads all non-faceoff specialists in ground balls while Adam Poitras is first among midfielders in ground balls.
There’s a lot of history between these two teams. The Whipsnakes beat the Redwoods in the first PLL championship game, and they knocked the Woods out of the playoffs in each of the league’s first three seasons.
Last year, Maryland’s 18-13 victory over California kick-started a three-game winning streak at the end of the season that carried over into the playoffs, where the Whipsnakes went all the way to the championship game.
The Redwoods would like to see a victory help spark a similar run this season. – Phil Shore
Whipsnakes: Rob Pannell returns to the lineup against his former team
Pannell returns to the Whipsnakes 19-man roster to face a familiar foe for the first time.
The 35-year-old was inactive with an excused absence in the Whipsnakes’ 10-7 victory over the Philadelphia Waterdogs two weeks ago, then was on the protected roster but did not dress in Maryland’s 11-8 loss to the New York Atlas last Friday in Salt Lake City.
”Rob came in on his own, which I have a ton of respect for. He practiced, and maybe had his best practice of the year, and showed a ton of leadership,” Whipsnakes head coach and general manager Jim Stagnitta said. “We felt like even after last game, where I thought that we performed well enough to win the game, but just didn’t put the ball in the cage, that Rob deserved an opportunity.”
Matt Rambo returned to attack in Pannell’s place and tallied two total assists against Philly and New York, one in each game, but has yet to score a goal this season after notching five more shots in those two games.
“Rambo stepped it up and gave us something that we thought we needed down there [against the Waterdogs], some direction and a little bit more leadership,” Stagnitta explained. “So it was kind of a week-by-week thing. Matt had a week, and I don’t feel like he, you know, he solidified that spot.”
Pannell has 14 points (3G, 11A) to Rambo’s four (4A) on the season and is second on the team in assists behind TJ Malone (13A). However, he has struggled to find the cage, shooting just 10.3%. Over his last four seasons with the Redwoods, he averaged 23.55% shooting.
“It’s been tough because I think both of those guys will admit they haven’t had the type of seasons that you know, that you expect from guys like that,” Stagnitta admitted.
Rambo will be inactive Saturday night, with Pannell taking his spot alongside Malone and Aidan Carroll against a team and fanbase that got to reap the rewards of Pannell’s talent from 2021 to 2024.
Pannell tallied an impressive 131 points (59G, 72A) during his time with the Woods and earned First- and Second-Team All-Pro recognition in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
“I believe that he is capable of making us better,” Stagnitta said. “I know he hasn’t done it on a consistent basis yet, but down the stretch, I think it’s nice to have someone like him with his experience and his level of success, and hopefully he’ll help us to organize and balance out all these young guys down there.”
This is the first time Pannell has faced the Redwoods since August 2020, when he played for the Atlas. – Miles Jordan
