The Semifinals Are Coming to D.C.
September 9, 2022 – Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) News Release
The 2022 Cash App Playoffs are underway! Four teams – the Whipsnakes, Waterdogs, Archers, and Chaos – descend on D.C. to contend for a spot in our 2022 Championship Game.
Two-time champions Whipsnakes LC are the class of the PLL. Head coach, Jim Stagnitta, has steered his team to the semi-finals in three straight seasons. The only team to beat them in ’22? Waterdogs LC. On Sunday afternoon at 1PM on ABC, you’ll see a high-flying Michael Sowers’ crease dive, meeting Matt Rambo’s strength, and Zach Currier’s rivalry take shape at the stripe against legendary LSM, Michael Ehrhardt. Our first-ever PLL Champion against our first-ever PLL expansion club.
Chaos LC – the reigning champs – barely snuck into the playoffs. Only 2.8% of you predicted that they’d hoist the Cash App Championship Trophy. Now, they’re back in the semis – against a team they’ve bounced in the ’20 semifinals and the ’21 quarterfinals. Did Archers LC add enough young firepower via the draft to secure a spot in the Championship? We’ll find out on Sunday at 3:30PM ET on ESPN+.
Blaze Riorden sat down at Saturday’s press conference and let out a semi-sarcastic “yay.” He had, after all, been in this position before. A quarterfinals victory, albeit an upset in many people’s eyes, wasn’t going to move the needle for the 2021 MVP and defending PLL Champion.
Then, the player who seemingly reverted back to his all-world self during the bye week, explained the Chaos’ 12-3 victory over Chrome in its simplest form.
“We thought our advantage was that we knew the magnitude of the moments that were going to come throughout the game,” he said.
The current Chaos roster is nearly identical to last year’s championship unit. Despite a rocky start to the season that landed the Chaos the lowest seed in the playoffs, the championship version of the team returned last Saturday.
Riorden saved 83% of the shots against him. Josh Byrne tallied six points. The Chaos defense held rookie standout Brendan Nichtern without a goal.
In the PLL playoffs, experience matters. That’ll likely show again this Sunday in Washington D.C. All four of the rosters are filled with veteran players, though two of them have never played in a PLL Championship. A quick look at that track record points to a repeat of last year’s final. But as Riorden points out, that’s far from a sure thing.
“I don’t really know who would want to play us after what we just put together,” Riorden said after the win Saturday. “But we also know it’s who shows up for those 48 minutes next week.”
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