Marcus Holman changing games, Archers get a long break, appreciating off ball play, and the Woods need some range. Plus playoff scenarios in PLL Week 11 overreactions.

Marcus Holman, game changer

The Boston Cannons home weekend got off to a bit of an up and down start.  The home squad went up early against Maryland in Friday night’s opener, but couldn’t hold momentum. The Whipsnakes went on a 6-0 second quarter run as the Cannons struggled to create quality looks, and the looks they did create were saved by a hot Emmet Carroll. Right at the halftime buzzer, Ajax Zappitello heaved a full field shot that actually got past JC Higginbotham and rang off the cross bar. The loud ping startled the crowd and drew gasps, and also served as something of a metaphor for just how disengaged Boston became in the second quarter. That clearly didn’t sit well with Marcus Holman. About 40 seconds into the second half, Holman attacked the net and scored on a diving goal. He soaked checks, body and stick, the whole way. He continued to attack, and continued to deal with physical play from the Whips. He scored another goal about two minutes later. Not long after that, he laid out a Whips player on the ride, and was hit with a one minute flag. I don’t think a team has ever cared about a penalty less. Holman in attack mode, both to create scoring and with physicality, totally changed the tone of the game. The Cannons played on their front foot the rest of the way. It sparked a comeback that saw the Cannons score twice in the game’s final 50 seconds to tie it. Fittingly, Holman scored the game winner with a heads up play, winning the restart after an interference call and firing from two point range while Carroll was out of the net. It was one of the more spectacular moments of the weekend, electrifying the home Boston crowd. Holman would have a hat trick a night later in a win over California, and post game, his linemate Coulter Mackesy called him “a legend”. Holman has certainly earned the moniker. 

Wake the Archers up when September starts

Utah defeated Carolina on Friday night, all but locking up the top seed in the western conference (for them to not get it there would have to be blowout results the likes of which pro lacrosse has never seen). The top seed is a good thing, it means they’re heading to the semifinals. As an added bonus, the semifinals are being played in Utah, so the Archers get a home crowd. The not so good news is that it’ll be a while until they play next. The Archers have a bye during next week’s final regular season weekend in Philadelphia. There is a league bye after that. The quarterfinals are the following week, and the Archers now have a bye then. That means they have, almost to the day, an entire month between games. Denver had the same schedule last year and it wasn’t a major issue. They did get off to a slow start in the 2025 semifinals, going down 4-1 early, but they found their footing and shut down the Woods offense, pulling away in the second half. Utah will still get the chance to practice together at Quarterfinal weekend, but there is nothing like game speed, and it’s impossible to know how a team will handle that long a break. It’s one of those good problems.

We’re still learning to appreciate off ball weapons

The most notable piece of player movement news last week was Jake Taylor being claimed by the Denver Outlaws. Taylor had been inactive for three straight games for the Waterdogs, which means other clubs could claim him, almost as if he was on waivers. Denver pounced, no doubt at the urging of former Notre Dame linemate Pat Kavanagh. Inactive roster claims require the team that does the claiming to immediately roster the player, so fans knew they’d see Taylor in Outlaws orange right away. Taylor didn’t disappoint. The Outlaws are still without Kavanagh and Jared Bernhardt due to injury. Against New York, Taylor immediately showed what he brings to the table. He’s an offball virtuoso. He got in on the action early, scoring in the first quarter on an assist from Brennan O’Neill. While there will be plenty of highlights of him scoring goals making the rounds this week, the things he does to wreck defenses that show up only on film, not stat sheets, are a case study for high IQ play. Late in the first, Logan Wisnauskas scored the easiest goal in his career, a door step dunk. The space for that was created O’Neill drew a help defender, then Taylor stepped away from the two slide to lengthen the help distance while also creating space inside. Dalton Young steps off the crease as well, and you wind up with the seas parting to create a wide open Wisnauskas. Jake Piseno scored a goal late, and he had enough time to crow hop about three times before letting a rocket go. How’d he get all that time? Taylor sealed off the help defender. Ryan Ambler made a similar play to create space for Mac O’Keefe to hit a huge goal on Friday night. Taylor, at all times, is making life absolutely miserable for help defenders. It creates a remarkable amount of chances. High level soccer currently leans hard into a stat called “xG”, which stands for Expected Goals. It’s meant to measure how many goals your team likely should have scored given the number of chances your team created. Taylor may end games with a goal or two, but the Outlaws Expected Goals is clearly elevated by his presence. 

The Redwoods need to find a stretch shooter

California had a clear plan in the offseason. Find better passers, stack more assists. They were last in the league in assists a year ago. While they drafted Michael Leo to help with that, Leo hasn’t been consistently in the lineup (he last played on July 17). That said, the assist totals are up as the team has found more of the ball sharing they were after. Cannons and Archers are tied at 3rd in the league with 67, the Redwoods have 66. On top of that, Chris Kavanagh sees his assist opportunities converted a rate well below league average, so the Woods should have even more helpers than they do. The downside is, the Woods seem to have lost the ability to hit from two point range. Last year, they hit ten two pointers, good for third in the PLL and just two behind Denver and Boston. This year, the Woods have hit just one. As a team they are 1-58 from two point range. Ideally, teams should shoot in the mid to high teens percentage wise from long range, the Woods are at 1.7%. The lone two came from Chris Kavanagh, and he scored it on June 19th. Last year, They got two from Chris Kavanagh, one from Dylan Molloy, and one from Andrew McAdorey. This year, even the attempts are down. The Woods got four two’s from Romar Dennis, who isn’t on the team anymore, his last game with then team was May 16th. He still is 4th on the team in two’s attempted, tied with Andrew McAdorey at five. To some extent, it’s easy to point to the 1.7% shot percentage and say they should have at least lucked into a few more by now. But this still is something that needs to be addressed. The close defense being healthy moves Cullen Brown to LSM, and a big part of his profile coming out of Ohio State was athleticism and being a threat in transition. Ideally that leads to more (and better) looks from two. But the Woods need to find something. Because late in games, it’s that much harder for them to mount comebacks when they can’t hit from two to try and swing momentum.

There really aren’t many notable scenarios left for Philly

We’ve been spoiled in recent years in that, for the most part, the final week of the PLL’s regular season has had a lot at stake. Playoff spots, seeding scenarios, who ends up with the 1st overall pick, some combination of those is still to be decided. Unfortunately, it’s a light final week when it comes to intrigue. 

• Boston can be the one seed in the east if Philadelphia goes 0-2 at home. If Philly wins either one of their two games, they get the one seed and the bye and Boston is the two.

• Maryland is locked into the three seed in the East.

• First overall pick in the 2027 draft is guaranteed to go to the New York Atlas, regardless of outcome of their game in Philly. 

• Utah is the one seed in the West. The only way this doesn’t happen is if Denver beats California by 29 (not a typo for real, they need to win by 29) goals. 

• Carolina can make the playoffs even though their regular season is over. If Denver beats California by 13+ goals, the Chaos are in and the Redwoods are out.

• California can lose and still get in. If they lose by 11 or less, they’re in the playoffs as the three seed.

• If California beats Denver by 5+, they jump over them and become the two seed, and Denver is the three. If California wins by four or less, the Redwoods are the three seed. 

Not a lot exists here in the way of who’s in, who’s out, and all that. But those are the scenarios to look for.