During the July Fourth weekend, James M. Shuart Stadium hosted the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) for its week-long four-game series. Hofstra welcomed back seven alumni to their college home stadium: Atlas goalie Jack Concannon (class of 2018), Chaos attacker Josh Byrne (class of 2017), Chrome attacker Brendan Kavanagh (class of 2018), Redwoods defender Finn Sullivan (class of 2016), Redwoods midfielder Kevin Unterstein (class of 2008), Waterdogs captain and defensive midfielder Steven DeNapoli (class of 2011) and Whipsnakes attacker Ryan Tierney (class of 2021). The Chrome defeated the Archers 8-7 on July 2, the first rainy day of the tournament.
On July 3, there was a rainy game at noon where the Redwoods overtook the Waterdogs 19-16 and an afternoon game where the Chaos defeated the Cannons 14-10. Finally, we saw some better weather on July 4, with the Whipsnakes taking the win over the Archers 15-14 at noon and the Atlas punishing the Chrome 16-10 in the afternoon.
This is the PLL’s third season. Founded by brothers Mike and Paul Rabil, the PLL was created to give professional lacrosse players a salary, health care and league equity. The PLL was a direct competitor to the already well-established Major League Lacrosse (MLL). In 2020, the MLL and the PLL merged, featuring eight teams: Archers, Atlas, Cannons, Chaos, Chrome, Redwoods, Waterdogs and Whipsnakes. With no teams claiming allegiance to a specific city, all teams travel around the country with no home stadium.
One of the original teams in the PLL, the Whipsnakes Lacrosse Club, has claimed two championships: one in 2019 against the Redwoods Lacrosse Club and again in 2020 against the Chaos Lacrosse Club.
Since there is only a finite number of teams in the league and a lot of talent to go around, it’s fun to know that all teams are evenly matched. As a fan, it is exciting to know that any matchup could go in either team’s favor. Since the teams don’t share an allegiance to any city, it is also great to know that fans of the teams are truly fans of the players themselves and the talent they possess.
Photo courtesy of Evan Bernstein/The Hofstra Chronicle
