D3 HERO ➡️ PLL STAR

“You don’t want Cross Ferrara making this last play…”

Those were the unfortunate words that came out of ESPN Analyst Paul Carcaterra’s mouth moments before fourth-round rookie Cross Ferrara buried a shot with 4.7 seconds left, ultimately lifting the Chrome to a 12-11 win over the Whipsnakes on Sunday.

A week before making this play, Ferrara was leading Salisbury to a Division III NCAA Championship over Tufts. He showed up to Chrome training camp just days after winning the title, and he surprised many by making the 19-man active game-day roster for opening weekend.

Most non-Division I products will be met with some skepticism at the professional level, but we should have known Ferrara is different. He racked up 473 total points in college (362 goals, 111 assists), which is the second most in NCAA Men’s Division III history.

The points alone were worth the fourth-round flyer. After watching him in his PLL debut, we now know Ferrara also has the clutch gene.

Ferrara finished with two goals and two assists against on Sunday. The only other player who had multiple goals AND multiple assists on PLL Opening Weekend was Whipsnakes midfielder Mike Chanenchuk (3G, 2A).

On the game winning goal, Ferrara was isolated against Whipsnakes short-stick defensive midfielder Ty Warner (PLL All-Star in 2019, SSDMOY in 2020) and blew right past him. Was that D3 disrespect? Either way, expect Ferrara to draw more long-pole matchups moving forward.

🤯 The Ryder Garnsey Show

Did anyone ask Ryder Garnsey what he had for breakfast on Saturday morning?

The Redwoods attackman played outside of his mind in a 13-12 win over Atlas, finishing with a game-high six goals — several of which were of the highlight variety.

This goal was a vintage Ryder Garnsey play, rolling around on the turf and somehow managing to hold onto the ball before flinging it into the back of the net…

Maybe Garnsey was playing inspired. The Notre Dame product spent the spring as a volunteer assistant coach with the Fighting Irish and watched the Kavanagh brothers, Pat and Chris, pull off a ton of crazy plays en route to the program’s first-ever National Championship victory.

Garnsey scored more goals than any other PLL player this weekend, and yet none of his goals made SportsCenter Top 10 Plays. We’ll just chalk that up to yet another Notre Dame snub.

📊 PLL Power Rankings

Is one weekend of action enough to rank all eight PLL teams from top to bottom? Probably not, but let’s give it a shot…

1. Waterdogs (1-0) — As the defending champs, they stand on top of the hill until someone else can knock them off.

2. Chrome (1-0) — Between the Logan Wisnauskas/Brendan Nichtern last year and Sam Handley/Cross Ferrara this year, this team has drafted a lot of young and exciting talent on offense.

3. Redwoods (1-0) — So long as Ryder Garnsey plays like a man possessed, the Redwoods will be must-see TV.

4. Atlas (0-1) — This team has way too much talent on the roster to stay down; head coach Mike Pressler has to rally his troops for another game on ABC (vs. Whipsnakes) this weekend.

5. Archers (1-0) — They won easily this weekend, but the victory came against a Cannons team that is clearly in a state of rebuilding.

6. Whipsnakes (0-1) — In just one week, the Whips have already matched their regular-season loss total from last year.

7. Chaos (0-1) — They’ll be a different-looking team now that they have their Bandits back.

8. Cannons (0-1) — It might be a long year for Cannons fans.

🥍  Tom Brady: Lacrosse Dad

Recently retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady is making lacrosse headlines this week, thanks to his oldest son Jack’s interest in the sport…

Brady told PEOPLE Magazine that his son may not play football moving forward, opening the door for him to become a potential star in lacrosse.

“Yeah, he played [football] this last year and I don’t even know if he’s going to play next year,” Brady said. “And to be honest, whatever he chooses, I’ll be very happy. But he loves lacrosse…basketball’s probably his favorite sport, but he’s a very good student.”

We’re not sure if Tom watched his alma mater at all this spring, but Michigan lacrosse is coming off its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Maybe his son Jack can continue the family legacy with the Wolverines lacrosse team…