I tried to tell you. I really tried. The Premier Lacrosse League is where it’s at. After a lackluster start to the PLL Championship against the Chaos, the Whipsnakes completed the comeback to win their second consecutive title. And what a comeback it was.
Entering the game, the Whipsnakes were the top seed in the Elimination Round and were 6-0 on the season. The Chaos were the lowest seed in the playoffs after losing every game in the group round. They turned it around, found their offensive stride, and won two well-played games to earn a spot in the final.
The Whips opened the game with two scores from Mike Chanenchuk and Zed Williams. Josh Byrne brought the Chaos within one with an insane goal that made the SportsCenter Top 10 the following day. At the end of the first quarter, it was 3-2 Chaos. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the score was 6-3 Chaos. The Whipsnakes hadn’t gotten going all game, and Blaze Riorden wasn’t letting anything in the net. Enter Zed Williams.
Zed Williams Takes Over the Fourth Quarter for the Whipsnakes
With ten minutes left in the game, John Haus made the score 6-4. Quite literally five seconds later, the Whips won the faceoff and Zed Williams scored. Twenty seconds after that, Williams scored an impressive diving goal up close. Then Jay Carlson scored his lone goal of the game. When the dust had settled, the Whipsnakes had taken the lead 7-6 after scoring 4 goals in 48 seconds of game time. And they weren’t done yet.
Within a minute of that insane run, Williams lasered in a shot for his third goal of the fourth quarter. Another minute passed, and Williams scored again, proving how scary a thing momentum can be in the game of lacrosse. At five minutes left to go, Matt Rambo scored his only goal of the game to put the defending champs up by four. Zed Williams found the net for the fifth time in the fourth quarter. Joe LoCascio capped off the crazy run with his own goal. The Whipsnakes had scored 10 unanswered goals, five coming from Zed Williams. The 12-6 final score gave them their second straight Premier Lacrosse League Championship. I highly recommend watching the highlights.
Zed Williams, MVP
Unsurprisingly, Zed Williams won the MVP award after his six-goal performance. He dedicated the award to his late father.
Josh Byrne led the Chaos with two goals. Full stats for the game can be found here. Hats off to the Chaos for proving a lot of people wrong, myself included, in making it to the championship game. They’ll be back with a vengeance next season. As far as my predictions went, I did nail the Whipsnakes being the team to raise the trophy.
Big congratulations to Zed Williams, Matt Rambo, Joe Nardella, and all the other Whipsnakes for a huge comeback and well-deserved win. If you’re reading this, start watching lacrosse. It’s a lot of fun.
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