There's nobody more important than midfielders, California's prolific offense, and it's Boston's title to lose. PLL Week 2 Overreactions.

It’s Boston’s title to lose

The Cannons are 2-0 and notched a win over the two time champion Utah Archers over the weekend. The final score was 9-8, but it could have been worse. The Cannons offense took 20 more shots, had 89 more touches, and completed 74 more passes. If not for Graeme Hossack holding Asher Nolting to just one assist on the day, Boston might have been able to break the dam. The Cannons have had 10 different offensive players register a point through two weeks, and that doesn’t include players like Zac Tucci, Jeff Trainor, or Ben Ramsey who also have found the score sheet. Coach Brian Holman has gotten game run for most of his team already. In week one, Will Manny and Graydon Hogg were in the 19 man and combined for five goals. Both were out of the lineup this week, replaced by Jonathan Donville and Coulter Mackesy. Donville had a pair of goals, and while Mackesy didn’t score, he did get eight shots off and registered an assist with 31 touches. The Cannons look like they have the best pole group in the league. Any time that counts Bryce Young as their fifth best defender is in damn good shape down low. Ethan Rall and Jack Kielty are both top five in the league in caused turnovers, Garrett Epple is at sixth, and Ben Ramsey leads all non-poles in the stat with three. The Cannons are above average everywhere, and they look deeper than everyone. 

You can have too many Tewaaraton winners

The much anticipated story of the weekend was the debut of Jared Bernhardt. The 2021 Tewaaraton winner returned to the lacrosse field for the first time since college after pursuing football at the NFL level. Bernhardt signed with the Denver Outlaws, giving the team more Tewaaraton winners at attack than there are starting attack spots. Bernhardt moved to midfield, reasonable given his athleticism and the fact that he started at midfield for Maryland as a freshman. But for all their firepower, Denver is 0-2 after two games. The Te-Four-Aton group of Bernhardt, Brennan O’Neill, Pat Kavanagh, and Logan Wisnauskas combined for four goals on 24 shots, and both Wisnauskas and Bernhardt were held off the scoresheet completely. At times, Denver still looks like a team that features six players waiting for their turn to dodge on offense. Not surprising, but leads to some clunky possessions. Everyone in the PLL was, at some point, the best player and top option on their team. For most offensive players that even includes in college at the DI level. Going from clear alpha to role player is an adjustment that takes some players some time. The Outlaws are dealing with that on steroids. Tewaaraton winners getting used to fitting in as a puzzle piece, rather than being the whole puzzle, is not easy to solve. 

The most important position in the PLL is midfielder

The four PLL teams that are best in terms of scores per game are Philadelphia (16), California (15.5), Boston (12.5), and New York (11). Three of those teams (California, Boston, and New York) are the top three teams in the PLL in scoring from the midfield. They also have a combined 5-1 record. Half the teams in the league have eight or fewer points from their midfield, the trio of the Redwoods, Cannons, and Atlas have combined for 46. The only player in the top five in midfield scoring who is not a natural midfielder is Sam King, who notably doesn’t have a goal yet. A common refrain when a team with a stacked attack signs another attackman is “they’ll run him out of the box”. Not everyone can do that. Natural midfielders are important. Boston beat defending champion Utah over the weekend, Marcus Holman was the only attackman on the team who scored a goal. Six of the Cannons’ nine goals came from midfielders or their faceoff man. 

The Redwoods will destroy team scoring records

The league’s highest scoring attackman right now is Dylan Molloy. The highest scoring midfielder is Andrew McAdorey. The highest scoring faceoff specialist is TD Ierlan. The highest scoring LSM Jared Conners. Four different positions, the highest scoring player in the league players for California, and that doesn’t even include Brian Tevlin and Chris Merle who both aren’t far back from the points lead at the SSDM spot. The Woods are averaging 15.5 scores per game across their first two games. Last year’s New York Atlas, one of the most productive offenses the PLL has ever seen, averaged 15 scores per game. The Redwoods are racking up these points, and they did it in games against the Chaos and Outlaws.They are still waiting for Sam English to join the team. Joe Spallina and Anthony Kelly are pushing all the right buttons, have found all the right pieces, and right now this Redwoods team is fast, fun, and efficient.