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🔥 3 TURNING POINTS IN ARCHERS' CHAMPIONSHIP REPEAT
Archers Def. Whipsnakes, 12-8, in 2024 PLL Championship | Three Game-Changing Moments That Defined Utah's Victory
The Utah Archers are PLL Champions once again.
After taking down the Maryland Whipsnakes, 12-8, at Subaru Park on Sunday, the Archers appear to be the PLL’s next dynasty. The player of the game was Archers goalie Brett Dobson, who made 17 saves (68% save percentage) en route to his second consecutive Championship Game MVP Award.
While Dobson was outstanding throughout the Championship Game, there are three moments in particular that are worth putting under the microscope. These moments were legitimate turning points that led to the Archers repeating as league champs.
This newsletter will dive into each of these three moments, with postgame quotes from both teams that will shed more light on how they defined the matchup.
Reply to this email with your biggest turning point from the 2024 PLL Championship!
1️⃣ The Mason Woodward Play
Early in the second quarter, the Archers trailed 4-1 and needed a spark on offense. That’s when rookie defenseman Mason Woodward stepped up and produced what would turn out to be the play of the game.
Watch the incredible individual effort here:
This was an INCREDIBLE long pole sequence by @PLLArchers rookie Mason Woodward 🔥🔥
(via @PremierLacrosse, ABC)
— TLN 🥍 (@LacrosseNetwork)
7:44 PM • Sep 15, 2024
The play started out with Woodward causing a turnover on Whipsnakes midfielder Ryan Conrad from behind.
“He hunted Conrad down,” Brett Dobson said in his postgame press conference. “I don’t know if Conrad used that stick again the rest of the game. That’s how hard he yard sale’d him.”
Once the ball was loose, Woodward kicked the ball out to himself and scooped the ground ball cleanly. He immediately started winding up and stepped into a two-point shot from well outside the arc. The shot beat Whipsnakes goalie Brendan Krebs and found the bottom left corner, cutting Maryland’s lead to 4-3.
“I felt like that was a big juice play,” Dobson said.
Woodward was a surprising first-round selection this spring, but the talented long pole out of Marquette turned out to be a key contributor during Utah’s championship run. After the game, Archers head coach Chris Bates explained what he saw in Woodward during the draft process.
“He had a highlight tape of his four years [at Marquette],” Bates said. “And frankly, once I watched that, I’m like, ‘This is the guy.’ … He sits down on-ball. He’s tough, he’s gonna fit with what we do. He can play up top and below, if need be. He’s really good on the ground. He just handles the ball.”
Woodward played in all 10 games for the Archers, finishing the regular season with five points (3 goals, 1 two-pointer), eight caused turnovers and 19 ground balls. In addition to his Championship two-pointer, Woodward added four caused four turnovers and scooped seven ground balls in two playoff games.
“He was awesome,” Bates said. “[He] gave us life.”
2️⃣ The Illegal Stick Two-Pointer
With 9:06 left in the second quarter, the Archers took their first lead of the game. Eleven seconds later, Whipsnakes long stick midfielder Alex Mazzone appeared to score a two-point goal that would have given Maryland a 6-5 lead.
The only problem? The head of Mazzone’s stick fell off during the shot motion. According to PLL rules, the play was dead as soon as the stick became illegal. Therefore, the two-point play was wiped off the board.
This goal would have given the Whips a 6-5 lead in the 2nd quarter.
“Things don’t always go your way,” Whipsnakes head coach Jim Stagnitta said during his postgame press conference. “A head falls off the stick. Like, when does that happen?”
There was some controversy on social media as to whether the goal should have counted, but the decision on the field was consistent with the PLL rulebook. PLL head of competition Seth Tierney explained the ruling during the broadcast.
“You cannot score a goal with an illegal stick,” Tierney said. “At that point in time, after he shot it — or during the motion of shooting it — the head of the stick popped off, which would make that stick illegal at that point in time.”
The Whipsnakes would score again to tie the game, 5-5, later in the second quarter, but they could’ve had a two-goal lead heading into halftime, if not for this freak occurrence. That lead could have changed the complexion of the game in the second half.
3️⃣ The Final Minute of Q3
With a minute left in the third quarter, the Archers only lead 7-6. The Whipsnakes had the ball with a chance to tie the game heading into the final frame. That’s when Dobson had his most dialed sequence.
THREE SAVES on one possession in the final minute of the third quarter... in a one-point game!? 🧱😤
This was the moment Brett Dobson secured MVP 🏆
@bdobson_45 | @PLLArchersx.com/i/web/status/1…
— TLN 🥍 (@LacrosseNetwork)
9:54 PM • Sep 16, 2024
Dobson made three straight saves against Zed Williams, TJ Malone and Adam Poitras over the span of 30 seconds. After the final save on Poitras, Dobson tracked down the ball in the corner and secured the GB before sending it the other way.
“Just Brett Dobson being Brett Dobson in the playoffs,” Archers midfielder Grant Ament said after the game.
With time winding down on the ensuing clear, Utah’s Ryan Ambler carried the ball down the left alley and threw a sidearm dime to a cutting Dyson Williams, who faked high and finished low with 0.8 seconds left in the third quarter.
“One guy that’s not gonna get a lot of credit for today is Ryan Ambler,” Ament said before mentioning his buzzer-beater assist to Williams. “Ryan Ambler is the reason why, when Tom [Schreiber] goes down, we didn’t miss a beat.”
The Archers didn’t pull away from the Whipsnakes until the fourth quarter, but the final minute of the third quarter felt like a back-breaking sequence where victory was within reach for Utah.
Archers attackman Mac O’Keefe (3 goals) would make it official by completing his hat trick on Utah’s 12th goal of the game with 0:49 left in regulation.