PLL Semifinals Review
This is going to be the laziest blog I have written so far. I am reviewing 2 games while having only watched one of them. I had every intention of watching both playoff games yesterday and doing something similar to what I did last week. But I decided to go fishing instead of watching the Altas v Whipsnakes game 1 of the PLL semifinals. It was a perfect 68 degrees here in eastern Iowa. My kid went down for her nap, and once my wife got home from working out around noon, she had made plans to have a play date with my daughter and one of her friends all afternoon. Once I heard that, I had to take my chance. It’s hard to get out much lately, but fly fishing is a very big passion of mine. In fact, if I could make a living from fly fishing, playing music, and coaching a little lacrosse on the side, I would. But alas, only one of those things pay the bills and that’s ok. I was out on the water from about 1 to 5pm central time. By the time I got home, it was about 6pm, and half an hour from the start of the second game.
Looking back I don’t regret my decision to have a little me time, but I had wished I had seen the first game. Just from the score, it looked like a great game. I eventually saw the highlights and was able to watch how the game ended. Definitely seemed that the Atlas had plenty of opportunities to put the Whips away and just couldn’t capitalize. And a relatively unlikely hero for the whipsnakes emerged. You know, at the end of the day, it is what it is. I don’t want to take away the magnitude of Levi Anderson’s goal, because that must be a huge moment for that young man, but there was so much of that final play that bothered me. Sure, there is an obvious ward. Now, I see this play all the time. Some of my own guys do it, not so much on the offensive side, but you see it often from midfielders in the open field clearing the ball over the midline. If you are unsure what I am referring to, it is a one handed swim dodge, with the free hand pushing off the side or back of the defender to create separation. It reminds me of what Michael Jordan did to beat the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA finals game 7 (I think if MJ played Lacrosse he probably would’ve invented this move). It’s an athletic move, and it never gets called so I have never really given it too much thought. Maybe it’s good that it doesn’t get called, so at least we know it’s consistent across the board. But something about doing it on the offensive side just doesn’t sit right. I mean, I don’t know how based on the rules, it’s not a ward. You are pushing off with the free hand, plain and simple. But what bothers me even more about that clip was not the offensive display, but the defense. After watching it multiple times, I was pretty astonished on how there was no slide set up, as a talented O middie with an unguardable move had a great matchup vs a short stick D mid on the low wing. That defender had no chance, and needed help in that scenario. I mean he was left on an island. And maybe that was the game plan, but if so, that just doesn’t seem like a great strategy for success. I mean, there were defenders off-ball almost face guarding their matchups. Their bodies and heads were completely turned away from the dodging player. No one was in any type of position to slide, fill, or help off-ball. Once the Atlas defender was beat, a slide came from across the field very far away. He had no chance to get there in time. That is the main take away I have from this game.
My only other thought about game 1 of the semifinals was that what I said last week holds true. The Whipsnakes are great this time of year. I am not at all shocked that they won this game. I have seen a lot of blogs and articles on social media claiming that the PLL might need a dynasty in order for the league to push forward. I don’t disagree with that notion. But I’ll say it again, just as I had last week, the Whipsnakes are the closest thing to a dynasty in this fledgling league. I think if they win next week, you could have a serious argument for them as a legitimate dynasty (champs in 19, 20, and possibly 24). Three championships in the first six seasons of this young league would cement them as a certified dynasty, in my book anyway.
But there is another team playing for a championship too. The Archers have the same opportunity the Whipsnakes had in years 1 and 2. They could be only the second team in the PLL to win back to back championships. They are another team that are in the “dynasty” conversation. They have the potential to win 2 championships in the first 6 years of the league, and then the possibility of a “three-peat” would definitely crown the Archers as the new hegemon in the PLL. So I think there is a lot at stake for both franchises. I think depending on which team ends up victorious can most definitely affect the trajectory of the league moving forward in its first decade of existence.
So I did in fact watch the second game. I had to watch it on my phone because my toddler was not willing to turn off Bluey. The little battles we have to fight, am I right? And I really don’t have much to say about the second game, other than I wished that was the game I had missed. There are many takes you could apply to this one. You could say, that Carolina never had it, and they were lucky to even be in the playoffs, and their offense wasn’t going to get them to a Championship game, etc, and there is truth to all of that I believe. I don’t want to take away from the Archers performance, because they were dominant. They dominated the entirety of the ball game. They got control of the game early and did all the little things right. The game was over at halftime. You knew that the Chaos was not going to be able to overcome a 9-0 deficit with their offensive limitations. And once they started to play faster, the quality of their shots worsened, leading to a longer and longer scoring drought. But you couldn’t blame them, because that was the only choice they had at that point. And I believe if they had some more juice on O, they could’ve made it a game. They did what they needed to do on defense in the second half. The stats won’t lie to you. They edged the Archers at the faceoff dot, they held them to just 1 goal in the second half, and Blaze Riordan was still 50% in the net, which is actually remarkable given the first half he suffered. But it was not to be. And for a semifinal game, it was tough to watch. You want to reward dominance for sure, but at the same time, you just are not anticipating to see a complete blowout in a semifinal contest. I theory this should be 2 of the top 4 teams in the league playing each other. There shouldn’t be that much of a disparity.
So all in all, I think my assessment last week was pretty spot on. I mentioned that the chaos had a very slim chance based on their lack of offensive production, and the Whipsnakes are a team I wouldn’t want to come across at this point of the season. Not bad for a guy that didn’t watch much Premier League Lacrosse this summer. I am excited to see the championship game. I think the teams that are left are probably the 2 best teams in the league. Congrats to New York and Boston for having great seasons, but I think it will be a very evenly matched and exciting championship game. Announcers were great, on another note. Three guys in the booth seemed to work, and they did a great job keeping the levity up in a game where it would’ve been tough to stay locked in the whole time. Like I said, I’ll be interested to tune in next week. I got our first fall ball practice coming up this week, so its officially time to get back to the grind and start on the 2025 campaign. I like fall ball a lot. I like to get the freshmen going and acclimated to the team and our system. It’s always fun to see how they do. I often use an analogy of a kid on Christmas with a bunch of new toys to play with. Can’t wait to get back into practice mode and begin the march back to May all over again.
KASEY BURST
The HC at the University of Dubuque, Kasey brings all things college lacrosse to your inbox.