📺 FRIDAY NIGHT PLL WATCH GUIDE

The Premier Lacrosse League is in Charlotte, N.C. this weekend, and they’re kicking things off with the first Friday Night Lacrosse games of the year.

Tonight’s games will be broadcast live on ESPN+, but on Saturday evening the New York Atlas and Carolina Chaos will square off on ESPN2 for the Game of the Week. Keep scrolling for five key storylines to monitor throughout the weekend.

📺 WATCH TIMES/LINKS:
• Friday, 6 p.m. ET — California vs. Carolina (ESPN+)
• Friday, 8:30 p.m. ET — Utah vs. Denver (ESPN+)
• Saturday, 5 p.m. ET — New York vs. Carolina (ESPN2/ESPN+)
• Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET — Maryland vs. Boston (ESPN+)

🦂 Carolina’s Impossible Doubleheader: The Chaos have a tough weekend ahead of them. The Redwoods are well-rested, and the Atlas were an absolute buzzsaw in Albany last weekend. Starting goalie Blaze Riorden (knee) is on the active game-day roster, but the Chaos will likely rely on Austin Kaut in net. If Carolina is still above .500 on the other side of this doubleheader, that should be considered a major victory heading into Philly next week.

⭐️ California’s 2024 Season Debut: After a bye in Albany, we finally get to see the 2024 Redwoods on Friday night. The defense will look different this season without guys like Garrett Epple, Eddy Glazener and John Sexton. Offensively, there will be plenty of familiar faces — Ryder Garnsey, Rob Pannell, Wes Berg. One big name that will be missing is Chris Gray, who is not on the game-day roster after being acquired in a trade this offseason.

🧱 Denver’s New Guy in Net: The Outlaws are making a goalie change this weekend. Sean Sconone is not on the Week 2 roster after saving just 26.3% of the shots he faced in a loss to Carolina last weekend. Denver’s two options in net on Friday night are Owen McElroy and Matt Knote. Also, top lefty Logan Wisnauskas (hamstring) has been ruled out due to injury. That leaves No. 1 pick Brennan O’Neill in line to get his first PLL start at attack.

🪄 Teat’s Magic Show: In two games last weekend, Atlas attackman Jeff Teat racked up an otherworldly 18 points. He dished out 11 assists to eight different teammates. First-round rookie Connor Shellenberger is back in the lineup, too, after missing the second leg of last weekend’s doubleheader. Fellow Virginia products Xander Dickson and Dox Aitken are also heating up and will put Carolina’s top-notch defense to the test on Saturday.

💣 Kavanagh’s First Goal Challenge: The whirlwind has finally settled for Pat Kavanagh, and now it’s time for Boston’s star rookie to produce. He was held to just one assist in his PLL debut last weekend while running through the box. Kavanagh may not crack the starting lineup at attack for a while, so the pressure is on him to get creative and find the back of the net in his opportunities at midfield.

Reply to this email with your predictions for PLL Week 2 in Charlotte!

💪 Virginia Reloads in Portal

After falling in the NCAA Semifinals for the second straight season, the Virginia Cavaliers have hit the transfer portal hard and reportedly landed two potential playmakers heading into next season.

The first big-name is Johnny Hackett, an all-conference midfielder from Bryant who led the Bulldogs with 47 points this past spring (via Ty Xanders on X).

The next new face is midfielder Charles Balsamo, whose role at Duke was unexpectedly reduced this past season after a 31-point freshman campaign in 2023 (via Matt Chandik on X).

Virginia head coach Lars Tiffany also has the top-ranked recruiting class in 2024, according to Inside Lacrosse. The class includes five 5-star recruits and four 4-star recruits.

As Tiffany continues to accrue elite talent in both the transfer portal and recruiting, the pressure is mounting for Virginia to make another run at the National Championship.

🍿 Pregame MPLS Entertainment

If you are looking for some pregame entertainment to take you up until game time tonight, check out our latest episode of The Mitchell Pehlke Lacrosse Show…

This episode was filmed on-site in Albany last weekend. Utah Archers face-off athlete Mike Sisselberger joins the show for the first half, and PLL co-founder Paul Rabil hops on the microphone later in the episode.

Pehlke and the gang dissect plenty of PLL hot takes from opening weekend and make their official game picks for Charlotte in this episode. They also talk about the Tewaaraton Award and debate the best brother duos of all time.