Cannons, Waterdogs Cruise on Day 2 of PLL Championship Series

The path to the No. 1 seed just got a whole lot clearer for the Philadelphia Waterdogs, who improved to 2-0 in the Premier Lacrosse League Championship Series on Friday evening with a 20-14 win over the California Redwoods.

Both teams had won on Wednesday, the tournament’s opening night, meaning the Waterdogs are the only undefeated squad left with two more round-robin pool play games remaining.

The score was never close. The Waterdogs jumped to a 3-0 lead with goals from Jeff Conner, Ryan Conrad and Jake Carraway. Ricky Miezan fed Garrett Epple to get the Redwoods on the board at 3-1, but Kieran McArdle, who set a Championship Series record on Wednesday with 12 points, hammered a two-pointer 24 seconds later.

The Waterdogs led 7-3 after the first quarter and 13-6 at halftime.

The Redwoods struggled shooting in the first half. They were getting shots, but 6-6 goalie Matt DeLuca was tough to one by. It’s become common for coaches to swap goalies at halftime in the Championship Series, but DeLuca has played every minute of the first two games.

He made 14 saves Friday.

“I think [being a goalie in the Sixes format] is a little easier than you would think,” DeLuca told ESPN’s Dana Boyle. “It’s so fast that you have that short-term memory. It’s a lot of rubber; it keeps you warm.”

The Redwoods began the game 0-for-8 from behind the two-point line until Miezan buried one from range early in the fourth quarter. Miezan, who was busy cleaning clocks on defense early in the game, left the game with 4:11 remaining, though.

He cut and received a pass on the run from Nakeie Montgomery, but after beginning a cut behind the cage, Miezan grabbed near his left hamstring and fell to the ground. He walked off the field under his own power but was followed closely by the training staff. Epple had also left the game earlier, leaving the Redwoods down two bodies in a format that’s predicated on staying fresh.

Both players were ruled out for the remainder of the Championship Series, per the Redwoods’ X (formerly Twitter) account. Kyle Long will join the active roster.

Michael Sowers led the Waterdogs with three goals and four assists, and McArdle had three goals, a two-pointer and one assist.

CANNONS CRUISE IN SECOND HALF

A tightly contested first half between the Boston Cannons and Utah Archers gave way to a one-sided second half dominated by Boston.

Matt Campbell had nine points, Marcus Holman had seven and Ryan Drenner had six, while Colin Kirst made six second-half saves in a 26-19 Cannons win.

The Cannons’ momentum seemingly began to swing on a first-half buzzer-beater. Adam Ghitelman delivered a full-field pass to Matt Kavanagh, who scored from eight yards out for a 17-11 lead at the horn.

Nearly four minutes went by before either team scored in the second half, but Boston (1-1) did plenty of damage after the scoring hiatus. The Cannons outscored 16-9 after a 10-10 tie with 3:52 left in the second quarter.

The Archers, the 2023 PLL champions, are the only 0-2 in the Championship Series.