The PLL Faceoff is Back

After starting the 2024 season 0-3, the Philadelphia Waterdogs finally signed and dressed a faceoff athlete for their matchup against the Carolina Chaos. It was the first time the team played a true faceoff athlete since its game o. June 16, 2023, against the New York Atlas.

While rookie Alec Stathakis didn’t have the best performance — he went 8-for-18 and picked up three ground balls — the Waterdogs earned more time of possession than the opposition for only the second time this season, and more importantly, won their first game of the summer.

“I know that [Stathakis] is a warrior. He battled out there tonight,” Philadelphia head coach Bill Tierney said during the postgame press conference. “It took a little bit of steam out of them. Even when they won the faceoffs, it was battles.

“I know one thing: he gained the respect of his teammates. It was good. I’m glad we did it. I still believe what we did in the first three games was right for those situations, but honestly, I don’t care. I care that we finally have a bunch of guys that have been working so hard that finally got to enjoy the fact that we have more points on the board than the other team.”

It has been a tumultuous year for the faceoff position in the Premier Lacrosse League, but this summer, those that play the position have proven their value.

Prior to last season, the league changed its shot clock rules. Teams that won a faceoff only had a 32-second shot clock instead of the full 52-second shot clock.

The intent of the rule was to speed the game up. Teams had to attack the goal immediately instead of taking time to substitute its faceoff athlete and wing players. The change had unintended consequences. The teams that didn’t have the top players at the position, like Trevor Baptiste and TD Ierlan, stopped putting a faceoff athlete on the gameday roster, opting to use long poles and short-stick defensive midfielders to push the opponent back into the defensive side of the field, burning precious seconds of the 32-second shot clock while trying to cause a turnover.

While the league was steadfast in keeping the shot clock rule the same, it did adapt the faceoff for 2024, implementing a rule that no long poles could take a faceoff.

“That was primarily out of safety concerns because long poles would just stand up and hack,” PLL co-founder Paul Rabil said in a “State of the League” conversation with ESPN broadcaster Paul Carcaterra. “No different than a goalie stick having to start in the crease on a faceoff, you have to have a short stick. I think that will protect the position and enhance the position.”

After teams like the Waterdogs and Cannons found success not deploying a faceoff athlete in 2023 — both went on to play in the semifinals — faceoff athletes have come back in 2024 and made an impact around the league.

In Week 2, the Denver Outlaws went into the fourth quarter against the Utah Archers down 14-7. Denver stormed back in what is now known as “The Brennan O’Neill Game” after the first overall draft pick scored six goals (including one two-pointer) in the fourth and overtime as Denver won, 18-17.

“The Brennan O’Neill Game” doesn’t happen without the play of rookie faceoff athlete Luke Wierman.

Taken with the first pick in the fourth round, Wierman was the only faceoff athlete selected in the 2024 PLL Draft. In the first game of the season against the Chaos, he won 67 percent of his draws and with 10 ground balls.

Against the Archers, he took on Mike Sisselberger and won 64 percent and scored the first goal in the fourth quarter, as Denver outscored Utah 11-3 in the fourth quarter and overtime.

“Hats off to Luke Wierman in the second half,” Denver head coach Tim Soudan said in the postgame press conference. “When we needed him, he came up with some huge plays.”

For the Maryland Whipsnakes, the return of Joe Nardella after he missed 2023 with an injury has provided a big boost. While Petey LaSalla had a good rookie year filling in, Nardella did more than take back his spot — he took over as the top player at the position in the league.

He leads the PLL in faceoff winning percentage (72.3 percent) and went 31-for-31 with 28 ground balls in Maryland’s overtime victory over the Waterdogs in Week 3.

“I don't think one player is ever going to change your game, but one possession may,” PLL veteran faceoff athlete Jerry Ragonese said. “Not having 31 extra possessions, and somebody said, I think, they only scored one goal off that, off the 32-second shot clock with the 31 possessions. They still lost by one.”

The poster child for the resurgence of the faceoff athlete, though, is Zac Tucci of the Boston Cannons.

Beginning his second year in the league in 2023, Tucci earned the start in the first game of the season, but it did not go ideally. He went 4-for-14 against the Chaos.

“It was kind of just an unfortunate, unlucky, thick-minded, short-sighted game for me,” he said. “I still kind of had that stigma of always wanting to clamp and really just caring about that and caring about my stats in the game. That day, I just wasn't really hearing the whistle well to start, and instead of changing my move to something that would have been more productive, I didn't. I just kept trying to clamp, and it just was kind of eating me alive that game.”

Tucci remembered then-head coach Andy Copelan telling him he’d get the second week off and be brought back for the team’s third game against the Atlas because he played hard against Atlas faceoff athlete and eventual PLL MVP Trevor Baptiste.

That opportunity never came. Rookie James Reilly fared well, going 10-for-21 against Ierlan, and earned another opportunity against the Atlas. The rookie went 4-for-16, however, and the team turned to LSM Eli Gobrecht as well as do-it-all midfielder Zach Currier to take faceoffs the remainder of that game and the rest of the season.

While it seemed his time in the league was done, Tucci wasn’t ready to give up. A conversation with Ragonese, who was on the Chaos and saw his first game of the season, about his attributes helped give him the proper direction.

Tucci knew he wasn’t as good as Baptiste when playing with a knee on the ground or as good as former Major League Lacrosse MVP Greg Gurenlian at clamping. Ragonese helped him realize the attribute he had on his side was speed.

“Why are you down on a knee, trying to worm around with TD Ierlan and Nick Rowlett when you could be standing up and attacking them, making the ground ball either picking it up yourself or putting it on a spot on the field that’s going to be convenient and actually help the team?” he remembered Ragonese asking him. “If you’re not going to change, you’re not going to be playing lacrosse in the PLL anymore.”

Tucci worked with Ragonese and Gurenlian a few times a week to tweak his style. Although it wasn’t easy to change, he gained confidence the more he worked on it.

Going into this season, Cannons head coach Brian Holman approached Ragonese for some suggestions on which faceoff athletes, if any, he should look at in camp. While Ragonese said he offered a few suggestions, the player he said fit what Holman was looking for from the position most was Tucci.

Tucci quickly rewarded Holman for the opportunity. In the third game of the season, the Cannons took on his former team, the Waterdogs.

The third-year pro dominated, winning 18 of 24 faceoffs and picking up three ground balls. He also scored two goals, including one two-pointer.

On the final faceoff of the first half, Tucci pushed the faceoff forward, picked up the ball and heaved a 30-yard Hail Mary that went past an unsuspecting Dillon Ward to give the Cannons a three-goal lead.

“After I made it, I wasn’t even celebrating. I was just laughing because I was trying to just pop out to the side and see if I could hook it to [Marcus] Holman or maybe even play it down the field to [Matt] Kavanagh,” he said. “I couldn’t really pass it, so I just shot it. … There’s not too much science behind that one.”

The game went into overtime, and once again, Tucci came through, winning the faceoff and scoring the game-winning goal.

While he isn’t taking his spot on the gameday lineup for granted, he does feel more confident he can continue to help the team moving forward.

“As long as I can keep these offensive possessions on the other team short, I think, hopefully, I’ll keep sticking out,” he said.

The faceoff position is making a more positive impact on PLL games this season. One thing Ragonese, who coaches faceoff athletes with The Faceoff Academy, is noticing is that the type of player at the position is evolving.

No longer can players taking faceoffs be in the corner by themselves, unable to catch or throw. Players have to be able to generate offense, run and defend. Ragonese said they train their players to cause turnovers, getting the ball back on the ground and picking it up from there.

Also, not only does having a true faceoff athlete give you a better chance at winning extra possessions. Ragonese said faceoff athletes are the best option to be able to get the ball back quickly.

“Another faceoff guy knows where his opponent is exiting based on his feet and where his hands go,” he said. “A guy can jump his hands. You can tire somebody out. A faceoff guy is the best weapon against a faceoff guy.”

With the shortened shot clock, being successful at faceoffs is no longer as simple as having the highest winning percentage. The perfect example of that happened in Week 5 in Boston. Wierman and Nardella both won more than 50 percent of their faceoffs, but both of their teams lost. In the Cannons-Waterdogs rematch, Stathakis and Tucci both went 13-for-24, much closer to even than the first time those two teams met, but the Waterdogs still lost in regulation.

Being able to play defense, force an opponent backwards or take a long curve in the middle of the field, eating up even four or five seconds to create a rushed possession can be equally as valuable.

The ability to generate offense and score goals within the 32-second shot clock makes a difference as well. Against Wierman and the Outlaws in Week 5, Baptiste only won nine of 22 faceoffs with only four ground balls. But he didn’t turn the ball over, and he scored the first goals of the first and second quarter, setting the tone of a game that ended in a 17-4 Atlas rout.

In whatever way they’re getting the job done, players like Wierman, Nardella and Tucci continue to play a role in their teams’ successes. It’s therefore not a surprise that every team in the league is back to dressing a faceoff athlete.

“At least they didn’t get rid of it completely, which I felt like it was kind of on the verge last year,” Ragonese said. “The proof is in the pudding. The faceoff is back, and it is valuable.”