The Premier Lacrosse League brought the fireworks for its first weekend of existence.

Two overtime games and a third that came down to the wire. The league couldn’t have scripted its debut much better.

Will Manny of the Archers and Drew Snider of the Whipsnakes were the most obvious heroes at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, with each scoring their team’s respective overtime winner.

Manny had the difference maker in the first game, helping the Archers complete a comeback that required them to score the last three goals of the game. Daniel Eipp ran past the 2-point line on the right side and passed it to an open Manny once a slide came, allowing Manny to get off a one-time slide-arm shot to defeat the Chrome 13-12.

“Dan Eipp’s the fastest guy on our team and he had a short stick,” Manny said on the broadcast after the goal. “I told Coach, ‘Let’s get Eipp out of the box, a long dodge, and see what they do. Draw a slide and try to create some offense.’”

THE GOAL⠀
THE CELLY⠀
THE PLAY BY PLAY⠀@WillManny_1 from @goodmoneysniper for the OT Game Winner @PLLArchers pic.twitter.com/GfBRvGmk0G

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 1, 2019

A slide from Chaos also led to the Whipsnakes’ winner, as Jules Heningburg’s pick behind the net forced the top defenders to help down low on Matt Rambo. That left Snider with room up top to rip the shot that made it 15-14.

Regulation was just as dramatic as the ending since each of the victors got out to early 4-0 leads only to have their counterpart storm right back. With the level of talent and rule changes, frenetic play is the norm.

Kelly gets historic first goal

It seems fitting with all the discussion about the future of the faceoff, spurred by the dominance of Yale’s TD Ierlan in the college game, that a FOGO would score the first goal in league history.

Archers’ Stephen Kelly won the initial draw and after circling around in his own zone ran straight through the Chrome zone and took the shot. Paul Rabil had the historic ball on the sidelines during the game and said it would go to Kelly once the opener was over.

OPENING FACEOFF AND FIRST GOAL!

Stephen Kelly puts @PLLArchers up 1-0! pic.twitter.com/c07Ob8Qfj1

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 1, 2019

Unexpected goalie battle

The top-billed Sunday matchup between the Atlas and Redwoods featured a pair of goalies filling in for bigger-named starters, but you wouldn’t know it based on their performance.

Atlas’ Scott Rodgers is dealing with pancreatitis, as detailed in the league’s training camp documentary, while the Redwoods are without injured Jack Kelly.

That set up for a battle between Atlas’ Jack Concannon and Redwoods rookie Tim Troutner, and neither backed down. Troutner made 17 saves and Concannon 20 as Redwoods was just barely able to pull away in the closing minutes with an 11-9 victory.

On the broadcasts

The PLL pulled out all the stops for its broadcasts on NBCSN and NBC Sports Gold, bringing the sport to a level of television production it’s never seen before.

The skycam gave an outstanding angle to watch transition, especially with the shorter field, and the ability to interview players straight from their helmets after goals, though there were a few technical kinks, is next-level thinking that will likely be copied in the future by other sports.

Chrome goalie John Galloway and Atlas attackman Eric Law were among the players who were mic’d and at the ready to respond to questions from the booth.

.@JohnGalloway15 explains to @Ryan_Boyle14 live what he saw on the play. pic.twitter.com/3gdYmDJ5f2

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 1, 2019

Listen into Eric Law breaking down his goal, live on the field pic.twitter.com/rQksSR9VER

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 2, 2019

We talked to @ELaw_15 LIVE on the field

Listen in pic.twitter.com/1555G8U68F

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 2, 2019

The graphics packages and introductory videos are clean and extensive, likely benefitted by nearly the entire league being in one place to shoot them during training camp.

All-in-all, a casual fan stumbling upon the game for the first time will have no qualms when it comes to the presentation.

Noteworthy

Sunday’s matchup saw the return of Redwood Greg Gurenlian to the professional game and a matchup between master and apprentice with him lining up across from Atlas’ Trevor Baptiste. The battle went to Baptiste, who won 61 percent of his faceoffs compared to the Beast’s 52 percent.

The 2 best faceoff athletes ever.@GregBeast32 vs. @trevorbaptiste9

LIVE on @NBCSN right now pic.twitter.com/dAC48Dbs29

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 2, 2019

A handful of other rookies outside of Troutman also made their professional debuts this week: Atlas’ Ryan Conrad (Virginia), Chaos’ Jack Rowlett (North Carolina), Chrome’s Chris Sabia (Penn State), Connor Farrell (LIU Post) and Max Tuttle (Sacred Heart) and Redwoods’ Clarke Petterson (Cornell). … Archers’ Marcus Holman and Whipsnakes Matt Rambo led the weekend with five points each. … A couple New England Patriots greats were interviewed during the games, Teddy Bruschi on Saturday and Bill Belichick on Sunday. Bruschi said his son has gotten him into the sport, while Belichick’s history with lacrosse goes back to his own playing days.

"Tom Brady would play goalie in lacrosse"
- Bill Belichick pic.twitter.com/pdWLkVX9ll

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 2, 2019

Front row seat to history @TedyBruschi pic.twitter.com/kyJrWIES1J

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 1, 2019

Highlights

Who likes highlights?

Here's 7 minutes from the thrilling @PLLWhipsnakes OT win over @PLLChaos!@NBCSports pic.twitter.com/9HbbIdWZVo

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 1, 2019

Recapping an historic opener, as @WillManny_1 scored the OT game winner to lead the @PLLArchers 13-12 over @PLLChrome

Archers vs Chrome | Week 1 NBC Sports Highlights pic.twitter.com/NyPhGDPeLC

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) June 1, 2019

Up Next

The PLL heads to New York, the only stop it will hit twice this season. Red Bull Arena will host Chrome vs. Whipsnakes and Archers vs. Redwoods on Saturday (both games on NBC Sports Gold) and Atlas at Chrome on Sunday (NBC).