Philadelphia Waterdogs 14, Boston Cannons 11
Mike Bolger: Offense continues to roll in early stages
It’s time to start the conversation: The Waterdogs’ offense is the best in the league.
Thirty goals in the first two games of the season. Fourteen of those came on Friday night against a rock-solid Cannons defense.
Michael Sowers is playing at an MVP level right now with his league-leading 12 assists and 15 points. His vision, his ability to switch as a feeder and scorer, and the amount of attention he steals from the defense open up the rest of the offense.
“I take what they give me,” Sowers said. “You look at what our guys are doing off-ball, and a lot of times I’m not even drawing a slide and guys are open. That’s a testament to our guys who are just constantly creating advantages off the ball.”
Seven different Waterdogs players scored a goal Friday night, including a hat trick from Kieran McArdle and four goals from the team’s leading scorer, Thomas McConvey.
“I’m just kind of going out there and playing my role, we got a lot of unreal players out there on offense,” McConvey said. “Just finding space and playing off-ball and doing what I can to get open. We got some unreal feeders in Michael and all those guys.”
The Waterdogs scored five times out of the gates and never looked back. Outside of sp,e second-quarter struggles, the offense and defense played great all around.
Alec Stathakis won 10 of 16 faceoffs to start the game, resulting in an overload of opportunities for the Sowers-led offense to score. Philly finished with 44 shots on the evening.
On the defensive end, Kenny Brower and Ben Randall accounted for seven of the Waterdogs’ eight caused turnovers. Goalie Dillon Ward got the starting nod and finished with nine saves and a 47.4% save percentage.
Philly is first in the Eastern Conference but has a quick turnaround for its second game of Homecoming Weekend against the Denver Outlaws on Saturday.
“[The Cannons are] a great team,” Sowers said. “Any time you get an Eastern Conference win, it means a little bit more in this league. The turnaround can be tough, but I think we have a professional group, and it starts with the vets in Kieran and Ward.”
Up next for Philadelphia: Saturday, June 14 vs. Denver Outlaws (7 p.m. ET)
Sarah Griffin: Boston’s rally falls short vs. Philly
The Cannons’ perfect start to the season came to an end Friday night with a loss to their conference rivals. Despite strong individual efforts and flashes of brilliance, particularly from new faces like Coulter Mackesy and Owen Grant, it ultimately was not Boston’s night.
It was a rough start for the Cannons, who struggled to match the Waterdogs’ tempo early on. Head coach and general manager Brian Holman acknowledged the slow start by his squad, admitting they looked “jumpy” and “not themselves.”
“We were kind of swimming upstream,” Holman said. “And against a team like that, it’s tough.”
Philadelphia’s offense operated with precision, led by another impressive performance from Sowers. The Philly native dished out five assists and added two goals of his own, with no answer from the Cannons defense. The Waterdogs leaned heavily on their two-man game and pick-heavy sets, exploiting Boston’s help defense and opening space for shooters like McConvey and Jake Taylor.
Holman also noted an uncharacteristic lapse in communication by his defense. Boston repeatedly burned itslef with some untimely slides. The off-day for the defense combined with an uphill battle for the offense — handicapped by Randall and the Waterdogs’ defense, who effectively shut out Asher Nolting as a facilitator — ultimately was a recipe for disaster for the Cannons.
“We just never got on a run,” Holman remarked. “We were always trying to claw our way back.”
Still, despite the loss, there were some positives to build on. Grant, whom the Cannons acquired the California Redwoods for the third overall pick in the 2025 College Draft, looked more comfortable than ever on the PLL stage as he notched a two-pointer and played a strong two-way game. Mackesy also scored the first two goals of his young career and seemed to be finding his rhythm in the pros in his second outing.
“I’m letting the game come to me,” the rookie attackman said. “I’m trusting the veteran playmakers around me.”
The Cannons now sit at 2-1 with another tough matchup on the horizon against the Maryland Whipsnakes. But for Holman and his team, it’s back to the film and back to the basics.
Up next for Boston: Saturday, June 21 vs. Maryland Whipsnakes (7 p.m. ET)
Utah Archers 12, California Redwoods 11
Zach Carey: Archers’ offense bounces back, makes enough plays late to win
A week ago, Tom Schreiber coughed up the ball on a crucial possession in the final moments of a one-point loss to the Cannons.
On Friday night, Schreiber made multiple game-deciding plays in the fourth quarter to lead the Archers to a massive Western Conference victory.
Utah’s offense, which was last in the league in scoring through two weeks, came to life in the win over the Redwoods. The team jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, sputtered in the second quarter but then refound itself in the fourth as a number of effort plays made the difference in the final minutes.
Schreiber (3G, 2A) led the way, playing with energy from the jump. With the game tied at eight apiece in the fourth, he made a momentum-flipping hustle play to win possession back and then hit Sam King for a two-pointer with mere seconds left on the shot clock. He followed that up with the deciding goal in early offense at the 6:52 mark in the fourth quarter.
“A lot of times those invisible hustle plays, where it’s not necessarily a goal or a caused turnover, save or assist, [are] kind of those intangibles,” Schreiber said postgame. “I think we made a string of those today that led to the win.”
King continued his clutch streak in his third career game. Through three weeks, the third-round rookie has six fourth-quarter points, including that two-point rip in the final 12 minutes against California.
“He doesn’t back down from the challenge,” head coach Chris Bates said after the win. “He does not shy away from the moment. From Day 1, he’s been shot out of a rocket and goes at guys and makes plays. Frankly, he’s better than we thought.”
Brett Dobson and the defense deserve plenty of credit, particularly in the fourth quarter. While playing with a sprained left ankle, Dobson made eight saves in the final 7:08, including another game-winning save in the final seconds.
“He makes big ones when you need ’em,” Bates said. “That’s our guy, and at the end of the game, he’s making big saves.”
The win drew the Archers even with the Woods atop the Western Conference, both at 2-1. They’ll have the opportunity to do further damage in the West against the Outlaws next weekend.
Up next for Utah: Sunday, June 22 vs. Denver Outlaws (noon ET)
Phil Shore: Redwoods can’t overcome another slow start
In Charlotte, the Redwoods found themselves down 4-0 at the end of the first quarter, but a 9-1 run in the second quarter propelled them to victory.
For the second week in a row, California fell into an early hole Friday night, going down 5-0 in the first eight minutes of its game against the Archers. When Schreiber scored with 4:10 remaining in the first quarter, Utah’s win probability jumped to 61.36%.
Once again, though, the Redwoods clawed back into the game. The defense held the Archers scoreless for the next 16 minutes until Schreiber scored with 29 seconds remaining in the half, and California went into the break tied with the defending champions at six.
“I give those guys a lot of credit,” Bates said. “That’s a different team. There’s no quit.”
The Redwoods never allowed the Archers to get more than two goals ahead after halftime, but they spent the remainder of the game keeping the deficit close instead of pulling ahead.
Despite eventually coming back from the first-quarter deficit, Redwoods attackman Dylan Molloy said the slow start proved to be a difference-maker.
“Those slow starts are real tough, especially against a team like that,” Molloy said. They have a lot of senior dudes that know how to wind the clock down and play, so they’re not going to make stupid mistakes and let us get in a couple real quick. I think just settling down. Coach said we’ve got a lot of new guys, but all of us are frantic a little bit. It’s just the nerves, so just settling in and letting our guys know we’re going to get the next one I think goes a long way. We just had to take a breather, and second quarter, we were fine.”
Eight different players scored for the Redwoods, including the recently acquired Sam Handley, but it took the attack some time to get going. Ryder Garnsey didn’t score until the final 10 seconds of the third quarter, and rookie Chris Kavanagh, who was leading the league in goals coming into the game, didn’t score his lone goal of the game until the fourth quarter.
The offense wasn’t as sharp as it was in the first two games of the season – the 20% shooting percentage was its lowest total this season – and Bates said the Archers tried to crowd the Redwoods’ offensive players and be physical with them to slow them down.
California was able to stay in the game despite the challenges on offense, and Molloy and head coach Anthony Kelly praised the effort of the defense throughout the night. That defense lost a key piece, however, with co-captain Chris Merle suffering a lower-body injury that Kelly said likely will sideline him for the rest of the season.
“[General manager Joe Spallina and I] felt really comfortable with that group,” Kelly said. “I think those guys have done an incredible job. We need to collectively be better for those guys at the start of the game, but if you look at that group, I think Arden Cohen had an amazing week last week. [Chris] Fake again this week. Losing Merle changes things. It changes that dynamic down low, and I think those guys did a great job eliminating some of that down-low pressure. We just need to do a better job in transition and between the lines with our D.”
Up next for California: Bye week
