This past weekend was week one of the Premier Lacrosse League! Notre Dame continues to be well-represented in the pros, and they all performed amazingly! It is very exciting to see Irish of different generations getting to play together!

Week one was advertised as the Battle of the Kavanaghs. Brothers Pat and Chris, the best of friends and teammates at Notre Dame, were facing off against each other for the first time. It did not disappoint. It felt like watching an old Karate movie (or as the younger generation would see it, Kung-fu Panda), as sensei Ryder Garnsey and his new student CKav team up to defeat his old trainee PKav.

The Players

For those who don’t know, here are the Irish players that have continued their lacrosse careers into the PLL and were on opening day rosters:

Boston Cannons: Garrett Epple, Jack Kielty, and Ben Ramsey

California Redwoods: Ryder Garnsey, CKav, Brian Tevlin, Arden Cohen, Chris Conlin, and (masquerading as a Yale player) Chris Fake

Chaos: Sergio Perkovic and Eric Dobson

Denver Outlaws: PKav

New York Atlas: Bryan Costabile and Liam Entenmann

Philadelphia Waterdogs: Jake Taylor

Utah Archers: Devon McLane 

This leaves the Maryland Whipsnakes as the only team without a former member of the Fighting Irish, so it is always safe to cheer against them!

Battle of the Kavanaghs

By far the most prominent match-up for the Irish fans this past weekend was Redwoods vs Outlaws featuring a whopping 7 former Irish. The most important of which being the Kavanagh brothers who faced-off against each other for the first time ever.

The league certainly hyped this match-up, and for good reason. We couldn’t help but find the UFC-like pregame staredown between the two very funny to see.

Both players played very well, PKav had 2 goals with 4 GBs to go along with it, and CKav had 4 goals 1 assist, which puts him at the second most points on the week and tied for first in goals on the week. As if fate would have it, Garnsey had the assist for CKavs first ever goal after coaching him for so long. It was a play 11 years in the making.

The rest of the boys also had a great game. Garnsey had 2 assists (including the previously mentioned one to CKav), Tevlin was assisted by CKav, and all of the boys on defense played very well.

The Dominant Force on Every Defense

As many know, the Irish have always been a defensive force. From the legendary (un)Holy Trinity of Landis, Epple, and Glazner in the mid-2010s to the more modern players like Arden Cohen and Chris Fake. 

After week one, five of the top 25 players with the most caused turnovers were from the Irish.

Topping this list is rookie Ben Ramsey. After a disappointing end to his season this year, he came to play in his pro debut, racking up 3 CTOs and 3 GBs. Not far behind him are Garrett Epple and Arden Cohen, each with 2. 

It is at this point we would like to remind everyone of a graphic the PLL released about the career caused turnovers of active players. We want to give a huge congrats the Garrett Epple who was #1! He also just happened to be almost 50 CTOs above second place on the articles list. This is insane. Epple also made headlines by putting the fear of God into MCLA training camp invitee and influencer “The Drip King”.

We can’t mention defense without shouting out the goalies. Entenmann racked up 30 saves across his 2 games this past weekend. His insane performances led the Atlas to a win over the Chaos, and kept them competitive in their second against the Cannons. As Irish fans we come to expect the miraculous from Enti, but he already had his first SportsCenter Top-10 save this weekend.

As we look forward to this weekend in Charlotte, we get to see Jake Taylor’s first pro game as the Waterdogs take on the Whipsnakes. Jake’s game is tailor made for the PLL, no pun intended. Dobson and Perkovic have a double header, playing PKav and the outlaws followed by the Redwoods and their 6 former Irish. And in the final match-up of the weekend, the Irish defensive trio on the Cannons get to take on the Archers. All games will be on the ESPN network of channels.

#GoIrish

ND-Atl 2.o