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There were hockey-style faceoffs, goalies calming down celebrations to jump start clears, long-pole goals and even a pair of tallies from goalie Blaze Riorden, reminding fans he plays the field as an indoor player.

And after all that excitement, the first-ever PLL All-Star Game is in the books.

The first-year league brought its top talent out to Los Angeles this weekend and the stars showed up under the bright lights, with Team Baptiste holding off a strong fourth quarter run from Team Rambo in a 17-16 victory. Will Manny scored the game winner, firing a shot from the right side through the legs of Blaze Riorden with 55 seconds remaining.

Team Baptiste’s Jack Concannon, who made six saves in the fourth quarter, was named the game’s most valuable player. But it was Riorden who arguably made the most noise in the goalie group.

The former Albany Great Dane scored twice and added an assist while playing with a field stick, then later in the game returned to the cage to play his primary PLL position.

Despite being a team captain, Trevor Baptiste was taken out of his comfort zone thanks to a pair of experimental faceoff changes. Faceoffs were eliminated in the second quarter, with goalies kickstarting restarts in a similar fashion to basketball. In the third quarter, the ball was dropped by the referees to mimic a hockey-style draw.

Team Baptiste was tested late, with Team Rambo coming back from down two at the start of the fourth quarter, but Concannon stood tall when it counted most and Manny came up clutch.

All-Stars show off skills

The evening’s events weren’t over after the game’s conclusion, as a number of the All-Star participants took part in a skills competition aired online on NBC Sports Gold.

Jarrod Neumann of Chaos prevailed in a staple of pro lacrosse skills tests – the fastest shot. The defender fired a howitzer at 115 mph.

Archers’ Dan Eipp blew by the competition in the fastest player matchup, Chrome’s Justin Guterding won the freestyle competition, Redwoods’ Tim Troutner prevailed in the goalie challenge and Archers’ Marcus Holman showed off his marksman skills in the accuracy challenge.

Play of the Week
Paul Rabil, Atlas/Team Baptiste

Atlas and Team Baptiste midfielder Paul Rabil’s first quarter around-the-world pass to the goal-scoring Manny earned him the “SportsCenter” Top 10 treatment Sunday night.

Noteworthy

The PLL continued its media tour in national outlets as the league was featured this week in The New York Times … Gurenlian returned to the field after a one-game absence with Redwoods but left with an injury again in the first quarter. He was the only player marked as probable on this week’s injury report. … Atlas’ Cade Van Raaphorst and Redwoods’ Brent Adams were late additions to the All-Star rosters, replacing Chaos’ Brodie Merrill and Redwoods’ Sergio Perkovic. … All-time great Gary Gait, whose name graces the league’s Midfielder of the Year Award, watched from the sidelines and was interviewed by NBCSN on the field.

Up Next

The PLL returns to regular season action next week at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver. Atlas and Redwoods kick off the weekend on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET (NBC Sports Gold) with Chaos and Whipsnakes playing the second game of the doubleheader at 8 p.m. (NBCSN). Archers and Chrome bring the festivities to an end on Sunday at 4 p.m. on NBC Sports Gold.

The Whips return as the league leader at 5-1, while this week’s competitor, Chaos, are one of two teams sitting a game back. Redwoods is square with the Chaos, rounding out the group of teams above .500.