New York Atlas Wins First Lacrosse Title
New York Atlas won Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) title over Denver Outlaws 14-13 at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey.
MVP Jeff Teat led the Atlas with three goals and three assists for six points in the championship contest. Connor Shellenberger scored 2G, 2A, rookie Matt Traynor had a hat trick, goalie Liam Entenmann made 14 saves (52%), Trevor Baptiste dominated to win 22-of-30 face-offs (73%) and Bryan Costabile’s consecutive fourth quarter goals proved to be the difference.
Watch highlights from the game here: https://youtu.be/LUaeC4EjzoY?si=j_6siB4B53ayhUdn
The Atlas came out not able to get many early defensive stops as Pat Kavanagh, Brennan O’Neill and Dalton Young got the Denver Outlaws going in the first half with two goals apiece. However, strikes from Shellenberger and Teat and a timely cut off a face-off win from Danny Logan got New York right back into it tied up at 6-6.
Teat muscled his way underneath for his hat trick to provide the Atlas with their first lead moments later, but then the first half turning point came. Third-year pro attackman Xander Dickson twisted his ankle in a gruesome injury that put the game to a halt with 4:25 remaining.
Traynor got the second half scoring started, too, taking a feed from Logan off the wing of the opening face-off win and swept to the middle for a top left blast to make it 10-7.
But the Outlaws didn’t go away just like that. Kavanagh and Jared Bernhardt scored unassisted to make it a one-goal game, then a Jake Piseno interception and pass ahead to Ryan Terefenko set up a Logan Wisnauskas dunk to knot it back up at 10-10.
Teat made arguably the pass of the entire season when he fell to his knees and got off an assist before he hit his stomach to a slipping Reid Bowering off a two-man game from the wing to take the 11-10 advantage.
Then, O’Neill scooped a loose ball at the expiration of a power play and got underneath for a riser to tie it again. Kavanagh dodged from X and assisted Graham Bundy ,Jr., for a low-to-low snipe to take a 12-11 lead into the final quarter.
Bowering moved it one more to Traynor for his hat trick, slipping it into an open net before McNaney could break the play up, to start the fourth-quarter scoring. Then New York took its third lead when Bryan Costabile crow hopped into an overhand rocket to make it 13-12 with 6:49 remaining.
Outlaw coach Tim Soudan’s second successful challenge of the game was a critical one. It was out of the media timeout, Shellenberger danced and surveyed quickly up top and was looking for an open Bowering on the crease, but a good Denver crease collapse led to Jake Stevens’ patient twister that would have provided a two-goal lead just 35 seconds later. Still, a Denver offsides gave New York another chance they wouldn’t pass up, Costabile again down the alley throwing a twister of his own with little angle to make it 14-12 a minute later with 5:12 left.
Trailing two with just under three minutes left, Bernhardt got a step coming from behind the net and Entenmann stayed with the fakes to make a miraculous save while Bernhardt crashed knees with Adler in a collision that took the defender out of the game due to a leg cramp. Next, a crazy scoop skip pass from Traynor to Costabile appeared to hit the underside of the crossbar. Bernhardt didn’t mind on the other end, coming upfield with his left hand to make it 14-13. Pressler’s challenge was unsuccessful.
O’Neill barreled in and sent a twister high with three Atlas defenders sliding to him and one of their long poles snapping half. A loose ball push after a timeout call allowed New York to run out the rest of the clock.
Here is a recap of the PLL 2025 Season:
Eastern Conference
- New York Atlas (7-3)
- Maryland Whipsnakes (4-6)
- Philadelphia Waterdogs (4-6)
- Boston Cannons (4-6)
Western Conference
- Denver Outlaws (7-3)
- California Redwoods (5-5)
- Carolina Chaos (5-5)
- Utah Archers (4-6)
Quarterfinals
Philadelphia 14, Maryland 12
California 14, Carolina 12
Semifinals
New York 13, Philadelphia 11
Denver 12, California 7
Final
New York 14, Denver 13
Comments
Post a Comment