This past weekend was week eight of the Premier Lacrosse League! Irish lacrosse alums led two teams in playoff-clinching wins. The last 4 spots are still up in the air as we close in on these last two weeks of the regular season.

Tickets Punched

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the first two teams with secured playoff spots were the best two teams in the league, the Outlaws and Atlas. Both teams won in dominant fashion, showing they deserved it.

The Atlas’ clinch game was led by our own Liam Entenmann! He put up a ridiculous 20 saves on the night at 71.4%. We like to imagine this number would have been higher if the fourth quarter hadn’t been filled with the Atlas simply trying to burn the clock. To our recollection, this was Enty’s second 20-save game this season. Insane.

Offensively, Costabile had a goal and an assist on the day. Just like Entenmann, he showed up in the clutch putting up both of his points in critical moments of the game. Costabile’s goal gave Atlas their first lead of the game, while his assist helped the team pull away. 

For the Outlaws, this was another piece of PKav perfection. He and O’Neil led Denver with a crazy 6 points each, with Pat’s being divided into 2 goals and 4 assists. During the broadcast, it was great to hear Pat finally get some of the recognition he deserves. Both commentators of the game agreed that he is a front runner to win the MVP.

However, the announcers brought up a valid point in regards to the MVP conversation: PKav and O’Neil will be stealing votes from each other. This is a consistent problem across all sports with having two or more MVP frontrunners on the same team, especially when they are connecting as frequently as these two do. With the different view points you can have on the game, the value placed on the goal vs the assist will be the deciding factor into who a person votes for. And with the vote and credit split between them, there is a serious chance a third player wins.

While our totally unbiased opinion is that PKav is the more deserving, there isn’t a good argument against O’Neil. And knowing Pat, he would probably be happier to see his teammate win. PKav is only interested in championships, that’s one of the many reasons why we love him.

The Revised Perkovic Plus Rule

We have long joked about the fact that Sergio is either 5-5 or 0-5 on shooting. This past weekend was no exception as we went exactly 0-5. But giving credit where it is due, he did have an assist. We waited on Sergio’s comeback from injury a long time, so even in slower weeks like this it is great to see him out there.

In other news, it has been brought to our attention that there is another former Irish who follows a similar pattern to Perkovic, that being Jake Taylor.  The slight difference between them being that Taylor is normally 1-5 or 5-5 rather than 0-5. While we weren’t entirely ready to make the same connection, this week followed the rule. Taylor tallied one goal on his four shots. While not exactly the same (Taylor has another very critical role on the team), it is great to have another Notre Dame alum have this wildly entertaining tendency.

Next, the league moves to Denver for the Outlaws homecoming. The match-ups will be Chaos vs Outlaws, Waterdogs vs Cannons, Atlas vs Outlaws, and Whipsnakes vs Redwoods. Tune in!

Finally Trending Up?

This week was the much needed change of pace for the Redwoods. They broke their 5 game loss streak with a win over division-rivals Utah Archers. This win also gave the ‘Woods the inside lane to the playoffs.

It felt as if all the parts that were working early in the season were finally back. The Irish lead defense was clicking, and CKav and Corrigan Family Men’s Lacrosse Assistant Coach Ryder Garnsey showed up when it was game time. 

The Kav-Garnsey duo hands down won this for the Woods. Corrigan Family Men’s Lacrosse Assistant Coach Ryder Garnsey (yes, we are going to celebrate Ryder’s new title) had a goal and assist, and CKav had 2 goals and an assist. But it isn’t the numbers that were so important, it was the timing.

Corrigan Family Men’s Lacrosse Assistant Coach Ryder Garnsey’s goal came mid-way through the fourth and gave the Redwoods their first lead of the game. His goal put the pressure on the Archers, who now had to make up ground against a defense that was playing lights out. When they were finally able to tie it back up, Chris scored the game winning goal to ice the game.

The clutch moments that have been a struggle for this team in recent memory finally were a strong point for this team.

With two games left in the season, the Redwoods have a few paths to the playoffs. If they win both they are guaranteed to go. But it is still possible with just one or no wins but is not entirely up to them. 

The team they are fighting for a spot is also the Archers who only have one game left. Just one more win SHOULD get them to the playoffs, but it relies on the Archers not making a huge comeback in goal differential. The only guarantee left is to win out which is what they need to aim for.

 

Next up, the league moves to Denver for the Outlaws homecoming weekend. The match-ups will be Chaos vs Outlaws, Waterdogs vs Cannons, Atlas vs Outlaws, and Whipsnakes vs Redwoods. Tune in!

#GoIrish

ND-ATL 2.0