(Inside Lacrosse Photos: Chris McNulty)
By; Kevin Brown
CHESTER, Pa. — The Utah Archers became the second PLL club to successfully defend their crown with a 12-8 victory against the Maryland Whipsnakes, the only other team who has back-to-back titles.
“It’s what you set out to do,” Archers head coach Chris Bates said postgame. “It’s a goal accomplished with an awesome bunch of dudes. Some ups and downs throughout the season, but we climbed the mountain and we get to celebrate and job well done. I’m really happy for our guys.”
“It wasn’t easy, but last year wasn’t easy either…It takes everything and it takes a collective group of 19 guys all on the same page doing their job, and I think we did that on an outstanding level today,” said Grant Ament, who finished with a goal and an assist.
Brett Dobson finished with 17 saves (68%) and was named the game's MVP for the second-straight year. Mac O'Keefe (3G) and Matt Moore (2G, 1A) both produced three points each to lead the second-seeded Utah to victory at Subaru Park on Sunday afternoon.
“Best feeling in the world, it’s why we do it,” Ament said. “What a performance by the defense. They definitely swung first, I thought we settled in really well and then offensively it started to click in that second half for us.”
“It just gives everybody confidence,” Bates said of Dobson’s saves. ““On the sideline can feel the energy when he makes saves…He’s showing himself to be a primetime championship goalie. Couldn’t be happier for him.”
In 2023, Dobson earned Championship MVP honors with his 18 saves against the Waterdogs, none more important than his 2-pointer stop at the end of regulation to clinch the one-goal win. Now, he’s the first player in 10 years to repeat as the Championship MVP (when John Grant Jr. did so with the Bayhawks and Outlaws in 2013-14). No matter who was shooting for Maryland on Sunday, Dobson was almost always there to meet the ball with an eye-catching save.
“It’s how you prepare. I love watching lacrosse. I deleted my social media this week after last week [allowing just one goal in the semifinals, a pro lacrosse record] I didn’t want to see all the stuff so my head could fit in my helmet,” Dobson said. “As a lax rat, you’re going to watch a lot of film. I went through every single game they played this year and watched a lot of tape for some of the guys from last year and I think that’s in my blood. I was raised that way to be a student of the game. That’s kind of why I’m here: hard work and being able to put a lot of man hours in watching film and all the other little things no one else would know. Just loving everything you do with it.”
While Dobson stood on his head in the early stages, his offense began to reward him in the second half, scoring three of the third quarter’s four goals. Then another good defensive start to the final quarter of the season saw Utah take a commanding four-goal lead, but like all season long, the Whipsnakes never gave up.
After going 2-4 in their first six games, Maryland rode a six-game win streak valiantly into the championship. First-year starter goalie Brendan Krebs finished with 12 saves, Joe Nardella faced off at 63%, Rookie of the Year TJ Malone tossed four assists and Defensive Player of the Year Matt Dunn had two caused turnovers and a groundball.
A nice set play out of the timeout for Maryland had Matt Rambo find Malone popping off the crease, then Malone turned and sent it to Mike Chanenchuk cutting backside to cut the deficit to three at 11-8, but it wasn't to be for the Whips' fourth title game appearance.
Another O’Keefe goal put the game to bed.
“When you have a goaltender like Brett Dobson and a defense that gives you confidence on the offensive side, it makes things easy,” O’Keefe said. “You never really feel out of a game with those guys and it felt good towards the end of the game.”
The first half reflected just how even these two teams are. First, it was the Whips jumping out on the front foot via a 3-0 start and a Rambo topside take reminiscent of his 2019 heroics.
Malone’s throwback assist to Ryan Conrad gave Maryland its second after Dobson and Krebs traded saves, then a few sloppy Archer turnovers later and Mac O’Keefe thought he had opened the scoring. But Stagnitta successfully challenged the play and after a video review, the officials deemed O’Keefe to be in the crease.
Rookie Adam Poitras instantly capitalized off the ensuing restart, clearing from inside his own half and snaking his way right into the middle for his first strike of the day.
Moore spun past his man and finished underneath to officially get Utah on the board, trailing 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.
But Poitras opened the second quarter scoring in a similar manner to his first tally, scooping a groundball off the face-off and finding space at Dobson’s near post, making it 4-1.
But like flipping a switch, rookie close defenseman Mason Woodward took back momentum for the Archers, stripping Conrad at the midline and crow-hopping his way for a huge 2-pointer to bring it back to 4-3.
“I tried to hustle back and I guess I just made a play, it was awesome,” Woodward said postgame of his strip on Conrad. “It was super fun to celebrate with my teammates — they give me the confidence all week and all year to shoot it.”
Utah fed off Woodward’s play and Fields carried up the left wing and found Tre Leclaire to tie it up. The very next possession, Ament rolled left at GLE and scored low to give the Archers’ their first lead of the afternoon.
Whipsnake LSM Alex Mazzone thought he had answered Woodward’s pole goal 2-bomb with one of his own, but after review it was called back as the head of his stick flew off before the ball was released. Although that took the Whips’ lead away, Malone again connected with Conrad to tie it up at 5-5 heading into halftime.
O’Keefe got his second goal driving right and through the teeth of the defense at the end of a lengthy possession after a Krebs save reset the clock. Nardella nearly had the perfect response, but Dobson stood tall.
But Malone’s third connection of the day to Conrad tied it back up at 6-6, only for another assertive Moore maneuver made it 7-6 halfway through the third frame.
Dobson was up to 15 saves to keep the Archers ahead at the end of the third quarter, stuffing Poitras’ backhander coming around the right side of the net from X before getting a strong foot to keep Conrad’s unassisted effort out.
Ryan Ambler, named the Archers’ captain for the playoffs when Tom Schreiber suffered a broken collarbone in their penultimate regular season game, rewarded Dobson’s shot-stuffing on the other end. Ambler carried past the midline and sent a well-timed pass to Dyson Williams for the buzzer beating dunk in front to give Utah a two-goal advantage at 8-6 heading into the final frame.
A perfectly executed offensive set saw Moore drive up the hash around a Leclaire screen and threw back to Leclaire for his second righty hammer of the game for a two-possession lead. Moments later, O'Keefe scored his second goal, too, cutting down the left alley and faking out Krebs to extend their lead to 10-6.
Zed Williams muscled his way onto the scoresheet to end a 13:23 scoreless drought for Maryland and cut the deficit to three. But it ended up as just the second goal out of 27 shots from the Whipsnakes attack line.
Hossack matched Williams’ physicality throughout, Warren Jeffrey put the early Rambo goal behind him quickly and didn’t let him get an inch the rest of the game while Woodward didn’t allow Malone to score, just the second time this season the Rookie of the Year had been held goalless.
“It feels amazing. We have a great group of guys. I hope we get to stay together for as long as we can,” said Hossack, who is set to be a free agent this offseason. “[Playing with Jeffrey] has been great, but I think the biggest statement is Woody stepping in there. He’s been phenomenal this year as a first year rookie coming into the league, he made his mark and I think he’s going to be great for years to come.”
Utah’s 11th goal was a wild one as SSDM Beau Pederson stormed upfield in transition and his pass ahead found Moore, but Krebs came out of his net and made the stop. But when Krebs got the ball back, Fields picked off his flip pass and sent it home at 11-7.
“It feels awesome. Obviously last year felt great too so I can’t say one was better than the other,” said Fields, who missed last year’s title game with a shoulder injury suffered in the semifinals. “I think one of the hardest things in sports is to go back-to-back so to do that with this group, it’s a really special group just like last year. I can’t even describe the feeling. It feels so good.”