'The Total Package': The Journey and Impact of Eli Gobrecht

The defending champion Waterdogs practiced in Seattle on the eve of their August 19 matchup with the Chaos. Many of the players were dealing with the jetlag effects of a five- or six-hour flight. Not Eli Gobrecht, who was leading the stretches and zipping around.

Gobrecht moved from Ithaca, New York, to Seattle in the fall of 2017. He’s taken to the city well. He loves going out on Lake Washington and spending time outdoors in the summer. He also has fallen in love with the sports scene. Getting to take in the Mariners, Seahawks and the Kraken has been an exciting change of pace for Gobrecht, who grew up with the Cornell ice hockey and lacrosse teams as the biggest tickets in town. So, when the Premier Lacrosse League makes a stop in the Pacific Northwest, he not only is glad to have a game in his time zone, but the Bellevue High School associate head coach also feels like an ambassador for lacrosse in the city.

That role, along with two professional field championships and two All-Star appearances at two different positions, as well as a successful box lacrosse career, is quite the accomplishment for a player that came out of Division III and landed on a pro roster through the supplemental draft.

“I was a business major, and I’m not sure that I’ve fully used that degree, but I knew that I didn’t really want to be in an office setting. I knew I wanted to be involved in sports, and most likely lacrosse,” he said. “As I was trying to figure that out, I got an opportunity to move out to Seattle and start coaching with CitySide Lax out here, and with O’Dea [High School] with Drew Snider. I was really, really lucky to be taken under their wing by Drew and by Chris O’Dougherty, two guys who had a lot of success both in indoor and outdoor, and I decided at a certain point that my goal was to make this full time probably before I should have, before I was on a pro roster.”

O’Dougherty, originally from Newark, New Jersey, and a four-year starter at Rutgers who would go on to play in the MLL, NLL, and with the U.S. men’s team in the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, was living in the Seattle area when Gobrecht made the cross-country move. He reached out to Snider, who was the head coach at O’Dea, and informed him that Gobrecht could be an attractive coach to add to the staff. Snider said quality coaches in the Pacific Northwest could be hard to come by, especially gritty players from New York, so he was excited to bring him on.

As their friendship quickly grew, Snider — who was playing in Major League Lacrosse for the Denver Outlaws — reached out to Denver’s assistant coach and assistant general manager Jon Cohen and told him he had been working out with Gobrecht. He told Cohen that Gobrecht was a good athlete and that he could help the Outlaws, a veteran team that was coming off a loss in the championship in 2017 to the Ohio Machine. Denver took a flier on Gobrecht, selecting him in the seventh round of the 2018 MLL Supplemental Draft (a shrewd evaluator of talent, Cohen had also selected goalie Dillon Ward in the second round of the same supplemental draft).

Gobrecht went to training camp as a defensive midfielder, but Cohen wanted him to switch back to a long pole. Gobrecht played in 14 games, picking up 29 ground balls, causing 14 turnovers, and adding a goal and an assist. The Outlaws won the 2018 MLL title.

The 2018 Outlaws team was supported by future All-Stars like Gobrecht, Ward, Mikie Schlosser, Matt Kavanagh and Zach Currier, but they were also led by a core of accomplished veterans such as Snider, Josh Hawkins, Eric Law and Matt Bocklet. Gobrecht credits the Outlaws organization and those veterans for doing what was necessary during the week to be at the top of your game on the weekends.

“There was a feeling, just from that first training camp my rookie year, that the expectation was to win a championship and nothing less,” Gobrecht said. “I think just learning from the veterans on that team the way that you need to take care of your time during the week, making sure that you’re fully committed to your teammates and trusting that they’re doing the same, putting in the work during the week, and once you get to game day, just kind of believing that everything that you’ve done on your own, everything that your teammates has done, is all going to come together and no matter what situation you end up in, you feel confident that you can come out with a win and be successful.”

Gobrecht played for the Outlaws again in 2019, picking up 19 ground balls and causing 13 turnovers in only six games. The Outlaws lost in the championship game to the Chesapeake Bayhawks.

The following season, Gobrecht moved from the from the MLL to the PLL. At that time, the league held an Entry Draft for players moving from one league to the other, and the expansion Waterdogs, led by head coach Andy Copelan, who had previously coached collegiately at Fairfield, held the top. There was a lot of talent to choose from. Gobrecht’s Outlaws teammates Currier, Ward and defender Finn Sullivan were available to select, as were Rob Pannell, Jesse Bernhardt and Zed Williams.

Snider, who had won a championship with the Whipsnakes in 2019 and was now on the Waterdogs due to the previously held expansion draft, remembered Copelan leaning on his veteran players for advice. Wanting to build a strong defense, Gobrecht was a player the team considered with its top pick, but the team eventually selected Currier. They would have loved to take him with their top pick in the second round, but Gobrecht was picked up by the Archers with the fourth overall selection; the Waterdogs drafted LSM Ryland Reese.

Once again, Gobrecht was on a veteran team with championship aspirations, as the Archers featured professional lacrosse mainstays like Tom Schreiber, Marcus Holman, Will Manny, Adam Ghitelman and Scott Ratliff. Gobrecht was appreciative of how welcoming they were to a new player with only a couple seasons under his belt.

“A bunch of them were living out in Utah at that time, so we did kind of a week where a bunch of guys came out just to hang out, workout, spend some time golfing and just away from the field to get to know each other,” he said. “They did a really good job of kind of just bringing me in from the start and making me feel comfortable with the new team.”

While the Archers reached the semifinals in the playoffs, the Waterdogs went 1-3 and lost in the quarterfinals. Copelan then went about reshaping the team’s roster. During the offseason, the team acquired Ryan Brown and Ward through trades. In a larger Entry Draft due to the MLL and PLL merging, the team selected Schlosser as well as defenders Liam Byrnes and Ben Randall. Finally, on the day of the collegiate draft, the Waterdogs added attackmen Michael Sowers and Ethan Walker. The team did not have a third-round pick, however, as it was traded to the Archers in exchange for Gobrecht.

“Coach [Chris] Bates had reached out,” Copelan said. “I think it was a sheer numbers thing from their end. They probably just didn’t have much room for him. They were trying to get value for him.”

“Once Bates came to him and said, ‘Hey, we’re looking to maybe trade Eli,’” Snider added, “Copelan was like, ‘Damn, well we were considering taking this guy number one in that [Entry Draft], so that checks out for me.’”

Bates called Gobrecht before the draft to thank him for his time with the team, and while the trade caught him by surprise, Gobrecht said he should have had somewhat of an idea something was brewing.

“At the time, [Snider and I] were coaching O’Dea High School out in Washington together, so I remember that day before, maybe the day I got traded, I think he kind of knew something was happening, so he was kind of like messing with me on the bus like, ‘Oh, Waterdogs making moves.’”

Gobrecht now found himself as one of the veterans on the team, but his time learning from veterans at his previous stops helped prepare him to take the next step. He was also reunited with Snider, Currier, Ward and Schlosser, people he called his best friends, making for a comfortable transition.

The payoff was immediate. In 2021, the Waterdogs finished third in ground balls (330) and second in both scores against average (10.9) and caused turnovers (94). The Waterdogs finished tied for the best record. The following season, the Waterdogs navigated the season through myriad injuries and won the championship.

“He has presence, but in a very unassuming Upstate, New York, kind of way. There’s not a lot of pumping his chest bravado going on,” Copelan said. “He picks and chooses when he speaks up, but when he does, he has the attention of the entire locker room. He’s fiercely competitive. He’s a good communicator. He’s honest. He really cares about the sport and his teammates. He just really is the total package.”

Much like when the Outlaws moved him from defensive midfield to long-stick midfielder, he’s also willing to do whatever his team needs.

When the Waterdogs took on the Atlas in the third week of the 2023 season, reigning PLL MVP Trevor Baptiste was dominating faceoffs; going up against rookie James Reilly, Baptiste won eight of the first 10 faceoffs, and the Atlas were ahead 8-2.

With the installation of the new shot clock rule that teams winning faceoffs would only have a 32-second shot clock, Copelan wondered about using Gobrecht at faceoffs during training camp but wanted to see how things would play out in real-game scenarios first.

Copelan turned to Gobrecht and Byrnes looking for a solution.

“We thought Eli could maybe change the pace, maybe change the momentum, maybe slow those guys down a little bit,” Copelan said. “Honestly, the rest has been history. We like that formula. We’re comfortable there.”

Gobrecht went 2-for-20 on faceoffs, but the Waterdogs came from behind to win a 19-18 thriller. The following week against the Chrome, the Waterdogs didn’t dress a faceoff athlete. Instead, Gobrecht took 19 of the team’s 20 faceoffs and the Waterdogs won 10-7.

Much like other pro sports, when one team has success with something, other teams try to replicate the strategy. At varying times throughout the season, the Cannons and Chrome have also not dressed a faceoff athlete, instead using defenders to try and force the opposition to go backwards and either turn the ball over or have a very limited time remaining on the shot clock by the time the team is ready for the offensive possession.

While the rule and corresponding strategy have caused controversy, Gobrecht was rewarded for his efforts. Baptiste was unable to play in the All-Star Game, so the league selected Gobrecht to be his replacement at the faceoff position, earning his second All-Star selection.

“Eli is as deserving a defender as he is a faceoff player,” PLL co-founder Paul Rabil said in a media call prior to the All-Star Game.

“The initial reaction was this is kind of funny because, going into the year, if anybody even thought I would be taking more than like 10 faceoffs, I’d probably say they’re crazy,” Gobrecht added. “It’s just one of those things with the new rule that has come up, and we’ve just tried to embrace it as much as possible. Whatever Cope needs me to do, I’m happy to do it.”

Since the Atlas game, the Waterdogs have won five of seven and entered the final week of the regular season tied with the Cannons for the second-best record. In Seattle, the Waterdogs beat the Chaos 13-8. Gobrecht said Seattle was the longest he’s ever stayed on the field postgame signing autographs and talking to friends, adding it was special to have what he called a home game.

Snider has been by Gobrecht’s side throughout his entire journey, from moving out to Seattle and teaming with him as an Outlaw and Waterdog. He said Gobrecht has been vital in helping develop the defensive curriculum CitySide wants to run. He couldn’t be prouder of the growth Gobrecht has made over the years.

“I’ve watched him develop as a player. I’ve watched him develop as a coach,” Snider said. “It’s special to be a part of that ride. He’s one of the best defenders in the world right now.”

Looking back on his journey, Gobrecht gave credit to his very first lacrosse coach with the Ithaca Lacrosse Association, former Cornell faceoff specialist Brian Lasda, who he said coached him from second grade through middle school and taught him to be a complete player and play the game the right way.

It’s something he strives to do with the players he coaches at the many summer clinics he works as well as with Bellevue. And similar to how the team at Bellevue played in the state championship game in 2023, Gobrecht is hoping he’s ending the Waterdogs season playing for a championship as well.

“It feels good just to be playing well and playing confidently as we get into this home stretch of the season,” he said. “I think [the Chaos game] was one of our better defensive performances in the year this past weekend, but I still don’t think that we’re a complete team that we will need to be, so it’s really just about trying to get one percent better each day and, hopefully, keep this momentum rolling into the playoffs and do a deeper run.”