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It would have been easy to write Cannons LC out. The club has spent most of the season on the losing end of close games, then it bottomed out Friday night in Minneapolis with a 19-7 loss to the Waterdogs.

But the expansion squad reminded those in attendance Sunday that parity reigns supreme in the Premier Lacrosse League, pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the league’s young history. The Cannons played with a sense of urgency needed at this point in their season, pulling off a 13-12 win against an Archers team that was attempting to secure first place heading into the All-Star break.

“We’re in playoffs,” attackman Lyle Thompson said on NBCSN. “This is do-or-die playoffs the rest of the season. That’s how we’ve got to treat each game. We took a beating on Friday. It was a good wakeup call.”

Thompson was a major reason the Cannons were able to have such a turnaround in two days, coming to life after some quiet performances. He recorded just two points in his previous three games — an uncharacteristically low output. On Sunday, he had five goals and four assists.

“I felt good this weekend,” Thompson said. “My legs are getting under me now.”

He assisted on the game-winning goal, running through Graeme Hossack to find Shayne Jackson.

It was the defense that really got the game to the garage, holding a potent Archers offense to one goal in the third quarter and three in the fourth. Nick Marrocco needed to make one final stellar save with under 20 seconds remaining to seal it, reaching back to rob Marcus Holman on the doorstep. That was part of a series of three power-play opportunities for Archers with the clock ticking down.

As Cannons head coach Sean Quirk said in his postgame speech, “It wasn’t pretty, but it was gritty.” And it was enormously important for the team’s playoff chances, especially considering the hole they dug Friday when it comes to score differential. Seven of the eight teams make the postseason this year, meaning Cannons sit a half game out of a spot.

WOODS GET REVENGE

In what has become the PLL’s most heated rivalry, the Redwoods finally regained bragging rights.

After falling to the Whipsnakes on four straight occasions, including the 2019 championship game and in the 2020 semifinals, the Woods were able to take advantage of an undermanned Whips squad to win 13-7 on Saturday afternoon.

“I think these guys, dropping four games in a row to the Whipsnakes, it was unspoken,” Redwoods midfielder Myles Jones said. “Guys showed up with a different sense of urgency. Practice yesterday was great. I think we built a lot of confidence last weekend putting up 19 goals, and we were very confident in our defense.”

Redwoods entered the break up 8-4 then took a commanding six-goal lead by opening the second half with a pair of tallies and never looked back. Rob Pannell, Jules Heningburg and Matt Kavanagh each had four points, while TD Ierlan had the advantage in a heavyweight faceoff matchup. He won 54 percent of his draws while going up against Joe Nardella.

The Whipsnakes remain without 2019 MVP Matt Rambo and also played this week without long-stick midfielder Michael Ehrhardt and short-stick defensive midfielder Matt Abbott. They’ll enjoy getting a bye week next week to regroup.

“I don’t know that anything helps us more than getting healthy and kind of getting back to our lineup,” Whipsnakes coach Jim Stagnitta said. “We can say as much as we want that there’s next man up, but we’re missing some really talented guys who make a difference for us in all aspects of the game, and they’re leaders and they’re veterans, and veterans win you games in this league.”

COLARUSSO GETS HIS CHANCE

JD Colarusso hoped last summer would serve as a showcase of sorts. The former Albany Great Dane was one of two emergency goalies brought in for the PLL bubble, on call in case any of the then seven teams suffered an injury.

“I don't want to stop here,” he told USA Lacrosse Magazine’s Nelson Rice last year. “I want the chance to be able to make a team next year and have an impact. I'm going to do whatever it takes.”

This weekend, that opportunity finally came.

Filling in for the injured Jack Concannon, Colarusso made 10 saves for Atlas to help the Bulls to a 16-10 victory against Chaos. In a battle of Albany greats, Colarusso was able to top two-time PLL Goalie of the Year Blaze Riorden.

“One of the coolest things to watch is to watch a team get excited about a guy playing well,” Atlas coach Ben Rubeor said. “Today, his solid play in cage got everybody excited.”

Jeff Teat continued his monster rookie season with eight points on four goals and four assists. In just four games, he already has 22 points.

WATERDOGS SNAP LOSING STREAK

There’s a four-way tie in the win column atop the standings thanks to the Archers’ surprise loss. The Waterdogs had to sweep the weekend to earn a spot in the group.

After suffering two straight losses, 17-8 to the Archers and 19-16 to the Redwoods, the defense settled down and the offense continued to develop chemistry to make that happen.

A strong showing from the Dogs began Friday night with the 19-7 drubbing of the Cannons. The offense then endured a slow start for both teams Sunday to prevail 12-6 against Chrome.

“With an expansion team, in pretty much any sport, it takes a minute or two to get together,” Waterdogs attackman Ryan Brown said. “None of us have ever played [together], none of us are from the same college, none of us have ever played pro together. … One of the things that we have said is just make passes, hit passes. The more passes the better.”

Brown, Kieran McArdle and Ethan Walker each had six points on the weekend, while Connor Kelly and Zach Currier each had five.

It seemed at points that even physics were bending to the Waterdogs’ will.

NOTEWORTHY

PLL players are wearing orange helmet straps for the remainder of the season to spread awareness of atrocities committed at Native boarding and residential schools. … The Chrome announced Friday that star Jordan Wolf underwent season-ending surgery on his hamstring. … The Cannons traded Chris Hogan and Drew Simoneau to the Whipsnakes earlier this week for Kevin Reisman, a deal originally broken by Pro Football Talk. Hogan and Reisman made their debuts for their new teams in Minneapolis. The Whipsnakes also grabbed Nick Manis from the player pool. ... The Archers’ Ryan McNamara, the PLL’s lone Minnesota native, returned to his hometown of Eagan for the weekend. He scored a goal against the Cannons. … Syracuse grad Jamie Trimboli made his pro debut and scored his first pro goal after being picked up by the Cannons. … The Whipsnakes may have lost, but Zed Williams and Jay Carlson still combined for a behind-the-back goal for the ages. … Paul Rabil, Jack Rowlett and Tyson Bell were all fined by the league for their part in a tussle last week in a game between the Cannons and the Chaos. Rowlett was placed on the injured list this week.

UP NEXT

The PLL takes a week off from regular season play for the All-Star Game, set for next Sunday at San Jose’s PayPal Park. The two teams, headlined by captains Blaze Riorden and Grant Ament, will duke it out at 7 p.m. EST on NBCSN. A skills competition will run after at 9:30 p.m., aired live on Peacock.

Riorden and Ament drafted their teams on Sunday night. Here’s how they stack up:

Adversaries (Team Ament)

Starters: Tom Schreiber, Marcus Holman, Will Manny, Bryan Costabile, Paul Rabil, Tucker Durkin, Garrett Epple, Eddy Glazener, Trevor Baptiste, Tim Troutner.

Reserves: Graeme Hossack, Scott Ratliff, Dominique Alexander, Stephen Kelly, Adam Ghitelman, Jeff Teat, Zach Currier, Zach Goodrich, Mikie Schlosser.

Defenders (Team Riorden)

Starters: Jarrod Neumann, Brodie Merrill, Matt Dunn, Lyle Thompson, Zed Williams, Kyle Harrison, Myles Jones, TD Ierlan, Rob Pannell, Sergio Perkovic.

Reserves: Jack Rowlett, Josh Byrne, Jake Froccaro, Dhane Smith, Kyle Bernlohr, Joe Nardella, Mike Ehrhardt, Jake Bernhardt, Danny Logan.