PLL Archers Review

How will the Archers do in the PLL's inaugural season?

This is a roster review of the PLL Archers. I will mention at least one fact on each player/coach and then give my main takeaway below. Feel free to follow me on Instagram (logical_lacrosse) and Twitter (Logical_Lacrosse). Thank you and please enjoy!

Coaches

1. Head Coach: Chris Bates

- Former Princeton head coach. Was fired after elbowing a Brown player during a game.

2. Assistant Coach: Tony Resch

- Coach Philadelphia Wings from 1994-2001 (NLL) and the Philadelphia Barrage from 2005-2008 (MLL).

3. Assistant Coach: Brian Kavanagh

- Defensive coordinator from Vermont. Vermont defense was ranked 7th nationally in 2018.

Faceoff

- Stephen Kelly: Won 196 faceoffs in second season in MLL (didn’t play first season).

- Jerry Ragonese: New York Lizards

Attack

- Kevin Rice: Atlanta Blaze, was top attackmen for squad

- Marcus Holman: Ohio Machine captain, assistant coach at Utah

- Will Manny: New York Lizards, assistant coach at Utah.

- Christian Cuccinello: Atlanta Blaze, Villanova

- Davey Emala: Ohio Machine, North Carolina

- Ryan Ambler: Ohio Machine, Princeton

Midfield

- Tom Schreiber: 2 time MLL MVP winner

- Ian Mackay: From Chesapeake Bayhawks, scored 11 goals in 5 games. Was 13th drafted player in 2018 MLL draft.

- Ben McIntosh: Plays for Saskatchewan Rush, former Chesapeake Bayhawk

- Daniel Eipp: Florida Launch, Harvard

- Austin Sims: Atlanta Blaze, Princeton

- Joe McCallion: Chesapeake Bayhawk, Pennsylvania

- Mark McNeil: Chesapeake Bayhawk, North Carolina

- Dominique Alexander: Ohio Machine, Ohio State

- Tyler Pfister: Ohio Machine, Ohio State

- Nick Tintle: Chesapeake Bayhawk, North Carolina

Defense

- Matt McMahon: Ohio Machine

- Jackson Place: Ohio Machine

- Goran Murray: Chesapeake Bayhawk, Maryland

- Steven Waldeck: Ohio Machine

- Mike Noone: Ohio Machine

- Scott Ratliff: Atlana Blaze, Loyola

- Evan Connell: Florida Launch, North Carolina

Goalie

- Drew Adams: Team USA goalie, former New York Lizard

- Adam Ghitelman: Charlotte Hound, Utah lacrosse assistant coach

Main Takeaway

- The main takeaway from this roster is the Archers feature a lot of guys from the Ohio Machine (MLL). Defensively, their whole starting defense may be guys that played together in Ohio. This is a great strategy as it will allow a first year team to gel quicker than usual, since the guys are all used to each other. Kevin Rice and Marcus Holman will be expected to carry the offense along with midfielder Tom Schreiber. One thing I’ve noticed is that each roster has a couple well-known players to attract fans to each team. An interesting storyline for this team will be seeing how Chris Bates handles being a pro head coach. The last time we saw him, he elbowed a Brown player in a game. Hopefully, he has learned from his mistake and is able to redeem himself. Bates is still a young coach (Princeton definitely misses him), so the Archers must hope he will be able to identify with all his players. Whatever staff draws up the best way to utilize their stars will win the PLL crown, we’ll see if Bates is up to the challenge.