Utah Archers win Premier Lacrosse League championship for 2nd-straight year

PHILADELPHIA — The Utah Archers won the Premier Lacrosse League championship game on Sunday for the second year in a row.

It was an especially big accomplishment after losing team leader Tom Schreiber to a season-ending injury last month.

In the first quarter, the Archers trailed the Maryland Whipsnakes 0-3 before Utah's first goal by Matt Moore. They fell back to 1-4, but then they rallied.

Mason Woodward forced a turnover and scored a 2-pointer, and just like that, the Archers were back in the game — trailing by just one point early in the second quarter. A goal from Tre Leclaire then tied it up.

Later in the second quarter, Grant Ament fired it in for another goal, giving the Archers their first lead in the game at 5-4.

It was tied 5-5 at the half, but the Archers took control in the third quarter. Mac O'Keefe scored a goal, which was answered by another from Maryland — but then Utah went on to score four in a row.

Another goal from Moore put the Archers up 7-6. Then Dyson Williams added a goal to the lead, along with additional goals from Leclaire and O'Keefe.

Back-and-forth goals between the two teams in the final minutes — with Connor Fields scoring for Utah before O'Keefe notched a hat-trick — ended up with Utah taking home the title with the final score of 12-8.

Archers' Goalie Brett Dobson was the MVP with 17 saves — which, in addition to his team's back-to-back title, he ALSO won for the second consecutive year.

"It's a culmination of everything, right? We've battled through injuries, we've battled through some adversity," O'Keefe said after the Archers sealed the victory. "Losing Tom was a big hit for us, but we had guys step up. We knew we had to get to around 12 goals to make this in our favor, and we were able to do that... Everybody's just pulling their own weight, and came out with a win."

The Archers were one of the founding members of the PLL in 2019. Their home field is at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.