We turn the page on the 2024 season and the Utah Archers deliver back to back championship banners.
The Archers roster is a compilation of stars from mid-major programs. High Point, Lindenwood, Bellarmine, Vermont, Lehigh, Loyola, St Bonaventure, Albany and Marquette are represented. Coach Chris Bates is a Dartmouth graduate with an affinity for players from non-ACC or B10 leagues.
Bates was a player for the MILL’s Philadelphia Wings in 1994 and 1995 when they won championships for coach Tony Resch. Former Team USA defender Resch, is the defensive coordinator for Utah and has more than a handful of professional championships on his résumé as a player (1989 & 1990 Wings) and as a coach (Philadelphia Barrage, Baltimore Bay Hawks, Utah Archers). There are so many, it becomes difficult to track.
- Back-to-back Pro Field Lacrosse
- MLL Philadelphia Barrage (2006-2007)
- MLL Chesapeake Bayhawks (2012-2013)
- PLL Maryland Whipsnakes (2019-2020)
- PLL Utah Archers (2023-2024)
The Archers, when at their best, don’t allow others to dictate how the game is going to be played. They have rock solid internal player leadership led by Tom Schreiber and Ryan Ambler. For the Archers to win a title without Schreiber in the lineup (shoulder injury) was impressive.
On Sunday live on ABC, Maryland leapt out to an early 3-0 lead. Utah goalie Brett Dobson was sharp right away, preventing this game from getting out of hand. Utah scored four of the next five.
There were two game-defining plays worth mentioning. An Alex Mazzone apparent two-point goal giving Maryland a 6 to 5 lead was waived off the board because the head of Mazzone’s stick became unattached (flew off) on his follow-through with the ball still in live play. Hard to fathom that a pro lacrosse player would play in a championship game without his stick head properly screwed to his titanium shaft. The goal would’ve been a momentum swing towards Maryland.
Meanwhile Utah’s Mason Woodward chased down Ryan Conrad from behind, tomahawked the ball out of Conrad’s stick onto the grass, Mason kicked the ball with his left foot to space and scooped it up sprinting into the offensive zone. He buried a sidewinding left-hander from two point distance. This was the spark Utah needed.
In the end, the Whips settled offensive sets lacked punch, as Woodward minimized ROY TJ Malone as a scoring threat. The Archers’ transition defense was sound and they won the sub game. Tre LeClaire, Mac O’Keefe, Grant Ament and Connor Fields all made an impact. The contest was building to a compelling ending – but Dobson’s acrobatics fizzled Maryland hopes.
A statistical point – Maryland did not allow a single Power Play goal this season. The man-down defense killed 10 out of 10 penalties during the regular season and then 8 out of 8 in the playoffs. “Be the best” ever on EMD.
Utah’s Dobson was the MVP, playing on his high arc, the St Bonaventure alum made body stop after body stop, kick saves and handled the ball flawlessly.
Space may be the last frontier and it’s what we lack on our basements and garages. It’s also what the Whip shooters needed more of.
Fear is like fire. If you let it get out of control, it’ll destroy you and everything around you. After breaking his stick in warm-ups, Dobson borrowed the gamer of his back-up Nick Washuta. Merely a hiccup on the way to playoff immortality, Dobson’s two-game save percentage in the semifinal and final is unlikely to be eclipsed. He was on his high arc, in the right spot, repeatedly. And when his defense was flying around and making plays in the final 24 minutes, Dobson filled all the cracks. 17 saves in the PLL final after 18 in the semi.
That’s 35 saves and 9 goals against in the two biggest games of his season for a combined 79.5%. I don’t think this has ever been done at the pro or college level.
The clutch performance eclipses goalies Sal LoCascio, Jesse Schwartzman, Brian Dougherty, Tillman Johnson, Greg Cattrano, Blaze Riorden, Larry Quinn, Mickey Jarboe, John Galloway, and Jack Kelly as “best ever” while under pressure. His two-game body of work is historical and mandatory off-season viewing for goalies of any age.
Philadelphia Waterdog and new Detroit Mercy coach Charlie Hayes was my guest on the Quintessential Podcast last week and we shared a terrific conversation about his new job coaching the Titans and life in the PLL.
