Utah Becomes Second PLL Team to Repeat as League Champion

CHESTER, Pa. — Utah became just the second team in Premier Lacrosse League history to repeat as league champion by defeating the Maryland Whipsnakes — the last team to repeat — 12-8 Sunday at Subaru Park.

“You just never know if you’ll get there again, and we just did a nice job,” Archers head coach Chris Bates said. “We did enough to win a game that wasn’t pretty, but it feels great to be a two-time champion.”

Second-seeded Utah fell behind the fourth-seeded Whipsnakes 3-0 early but repeat title-game MVP goalie Brett Dobson made 17 saves, and the Archers scored seven of the final 10 goals to seal it.

“Brett Dobson being Brett Dobson in playoffs,” Archers veteran Grant Ament said. “It was just awesome to see, just everybody making plays.”

Mac O’Keefe had a hat trick, Matt Moore scored twice and assisted on a goal and Tre Leclaire scored a pair. Connor Fields and Ament both had two points on a goal and an assist. Beau Pederson had four ground balls and Mason Woodward and Graeme Hossack each had three ground balls.

“Part of our game plan was to make other guys beat us, to be able to control Connor as much as you can control him and make Grant just a scorer and not a scorer and a feeder,” Whipsnakes head coach Jim Stagnitta said. “And the difference for them was those other guys stepped up. [O’Keefe] was one of them. He’s a goal scorer; he’s a good player. He had a good game today.”

Ryan Conrad, a midseason acquisition from Philadelphia who lost in last year’s title game to the Archers, led the Whipsnakes with a hat trick. TJ Malone had four assists, and Adam Poitras scored twice. Joe Nardello won 14 of 22 faceoffs for the Whipsnakes, and Matt Dunn caused two turnovers. Brendan Krebs stopped 12 shots.

“I’m proud of these guys and how we turned the season around and how we stuck together the whole year,” Whipsnakes attackman Matt Rambo said. “Even the part of the season where we could have crumbled and we came together and never fought and everyone in that locker room always believed, and that was one of our mottos.”

Maryland began the year 0-2 and was 2-4 before winning six straight games to reach the championship game. Utah had its own adversity, but it came late. The Archers played without Tom Schreiber during the playoffs after the he broke his clavicle the final weekend of the regular season. The Archers overcame that major loss to win a second straight title, something that’s proven very difficult in the PLL.

“We’re targeted,” Dobson said. “Everyone wants to beat the champs. We got everyone’s best punch in the season. It’s extremely hard to repeat. You look in the crystal ball, and we won last year and want it to be exactly the same, but we faced a lot of adversity. Just based on the culture in the locker room, we were able to grow and find a way to pull on each guy.”

Utah allowed only one goal in its 10-1 semifinal win over Carolina, but Maryland scored twice in barely four minutes to open the title tilt. Rambo opened the scoring 26 seconds in. Conrad made it 2-0 just 4:09 into play.

Utah’s apparent first goal by O’Keefe was overturned after a coach’s challenge during the ensuing timeout. Maryland gained more momentum when Poitras scored 19 seconds later for a 3-0 lead.

Moore’s goal with 46 seconds left in the first quarter finally eased the Archers’ frustration. The Archers had eight turnovers in the first quarter, which contributed to Maryland’s 17-4 shot advantage.

The second quarter began with Poitras scoring 11 seconds in by going overhand and over the shoulder of Dobson for a 4-1 Maryland lead. Utah held a 10-3 scoring edge the rest of the way, though, and the Whipsnakes felt they missed chances to build their early lead.

“We could have been four or five or six and we either missed, hit the pipe, or Dobson made a save,” Stagnitta said.

Woodward gave the Archers a shot of adrenaline. The rookie hustled from behind to strip Conrad as he was trying to cross midfield, picked up the loose ball and then skipped a 2-point shot low past Krebs to cut the Archers’ deficit to 4-3, and Utah generated more momentum when Leclaire’s missile 36 seconds later tied it.

“I thought Mason Woodward’s two-point goal really got the boys going,” Dobson said. “I felt like it was a big juice play, especially the way he hunted Conrad down.”

Utah took its first lead on its third straight goal when Ament spun from the right side and fired through the legs of Krebs for a 5-4 lead.

“We just had so much faith in our defense and that guy over there to hold it down for us,” Ament said while motioning at Dobson. “And I think we took ownership of it offensively to make some plays and have to pull ahead because we knew that they were going to do their job and we just needed to do ours.”

Conrad’s second goal came off a feed across the field by Malone to tie it at 5 with under three minutes left in the first half.

Nardella won 7 of 10 faceoffs in the first half for the Whips. Dobson had 10 saves in the first half, while Krebs had seven.

The second half began with Maryland failing a clear and O’Keefe twisting and slipping through the defense for a 6-5 Utah lead. Conrad finished off his hat trick as he caught and quick-sticked a feed from Malone to tie the score again.

Twenty seconds later, Moore gave the Archers a 7-6 lead — a lead they would not lose.

After Dobson made a big save, Utah went in transition and Ryan Ambler found a wide-open Dyson Williams at the goal mouth for a goal with 0.8 seconds left in the third quarter to take an 8-6 lead.

“One guy that’s not going to get a lot of credit for today is Ryan Ambler,” Ament said. “Ryan Ambler was made a captain once Tom went down, and he didn’t miss a beat.”

The lead grew less than a minute into the final quarter with Utah’s third straight goal, a rocket by Leclaire into the top-right corner from the left wing after a pass from Moore.

Less than a minute later, O’Keefe dodged and finished his second goal for a 10-6 lead with 10:36 to go. That felt like more than enough with the way Dobson was playing in front of a crowd that included a huge contingent from his alma mater, St. Bonaventure, the lone Division I school to offer him.

“I felt like they were giving me energy all week, and to have them here and be able to share that moment with some of my roommates that are alumni now and guys that were freshmen when I was a senior and are seniors now was huge,” Dobson said. “Coach [Randy] Mearns talks about having a dream. My dream was to be a professional lacrosse player and play in the PLL.”

O’Keefe’s goal in the final minute gave him a hat trick and sealed the repeat title.

“It was very hard,” Ament said. “But at same time, our confidence never wavered. That’s something I love about this group.”

No PLL team has ever won three straight titles. That will be the goal for the Archers in 2025.