The Premier Lacrosse League returns to Gillette Stadium on Saturday for a playoff tripleheader
The Premier Lacrosse League will hold three playoff games at Gillette Stadium on Saturday.
The action starts at noon when the Chrome takes on the defending-champion Chaos. At 2:30 p.m., the Redwoods face off against the Archers, and at 5:10 p.m., the Waterdogs face the Atlas. All games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The top-seeded Whipsnakes, who finished the regular season 9-1, have a bye and will play in the semifinal round next week against the Waterdogs or the Atlas.
The first game on Saturday will showcase two rookie of the year finalists. Brendan Nichtern and Logan Wisnauskas, both of the Chrome, will get their first taste of postseason play against the No. 7 seed Chaos. Both Nichtern and Wisnauskas are in the top 10 in the league in total points.
Chrome goaltender Sean Sconone has also been a bright spot. Scocone, a UMass graduate, has saved 113 shots, giving him third best save rate in the league at 54%.
After winning the championship last year, the Chaos have stumbled to a 2-8 record this season and narrowly edged out the 1-9 Cannons for the final playoff spot. The glaring issue for the Chaos is their lack of possession: they have recovered a league-low 263 ground balls and are only successful on 43 percent of faceoffs.
Game 2 projects to be a slugfest, as the Archers and the Redwoods boast top-5 offenses. The Archers have scored a league-leading 130 goals, and Rob Pannell of the Redwoods is third in total goals with 38.
The Archers relied on their dominant offense throughout the regular season, often trusting it to outweigh their struggles at the faceoff stripe. The Archers had a league-worst 38 percent faceoff win rate, but they still managed to finish 6-4.
The final game on Saturday matches the No. 4 Atlas, one of the more well-rounded teams in the league and the No. 5 Waterdogs. The Atlas are in the top three in total scores, saves, and ground balls.
The Atlas are captained by former MVP and MVP finalist Trevor Baptiste, who is again the best faceoff specialist in the league this season. Baptiste has the highest faceoff conversion percentage this year at 70 percent, and has also recovered the second-most ground balls at 83. Atlas goalie Jack Concannon, in his first full year since 2019, has had a solid season with 125 saves in 10 games.
The Waterdogs finished 5-5 in the regular season and struggled down the stretch, losing their last two games. However, attacker Kieran McArdle has been one of the best scorers in the league with 42 points.
The winners of Saturday’s games advance to the semifinals at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11
In July, Gillette Stadium hosted the PLL All-Star Game and skills competition.
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