- ReLaxing Luke
PLL Redwoods Review
In this article, I go over the announced roster for the PLL Redwoods. For each player, I have listed which pro and college teams they played with. If a player is in the NLL, I have listed which team they are on. At the bottom, I give my takeaways from this roster. Spoiler alert: the Redwoods should be good. Please check it all out! Also, follow me on Instagram (logical_lacrosse) and Twitter (Logical_Lacrosse) if you aren’t already. Thank you and please enjoy!
Head Coach
- Nat St. Laurent: Head coach for Ohio Northern University. Former coach for Ohio Machine.
Assistant Coaches
- Dom Marzano: Capital University head men’s lacrosse coach.
- Todd Macfarlane: Assistant lacrosse coach at Penn
Faceoff
- Greg Gurenlian: Considered top fogo in country. Coming out of retirement.
- Brent Hiken: Atlanta Blaze, Stevenson
Attack
- Dylan Molloy: Florida Launch, Brown, 2016 Tewaaraton Winner
- Matt Kavanagh: Denver Outlaws, Notre Dame
- Kylor Bellestri: Denver Outlaws, Brown
- Joey Sankey: Charlotte Hounds, North Carolina
- Mike Bocklet: Denver Outlaws, Fairfield
- Chazz Woodson: Florida Launch, Brown
Midfield
- Joe Walters: New York Lizards, Rochester Nighthawks (NLL), Maryland
- Peter Baum: Ohio Machine, Colgate
- Kyle Harrison: Ohio Machine, Johns Hopkins, Helps run league
- Sergio Perkovic: Boston Cannons, Notre Dame
- Brent Adams: Denver Outlaws, Colorado Mammoth (NLL), Fairfield
- Sergio Salcido: Atlanta Blaze, Syracuse
- Jojo Marasco: New York Lizards, Syracuse
- Jack Near: Dallas Rattlers, Notre Dame
- Patrick Harbeson: Ohio Machine, Virginia
- Nick Ossello: Denver Outlaws, San Diego Seals (NLL), Notre Dame
Defense
- Matt Landis: New York Lizards, Notre Dame
- Garrett Epple: Chesapeake Bayhawks, Notre Dame
- Eddy Glazener: Atlanta Blaze, Notre Dame
- Larken Kemp: Denver Outlaws, Brown
- Alec Tulett: Florida Launch, Brown
- Brian Karalunas: Ohio Machine, Villanova
- John Sexton: Dallas Rattlers, Notre Dame
Goalie
- Jack Kelly: Won gold medal with team USA in 2018, Denver Outlaws
- Gunnar Waldt: Florida Launch, Bryant
Takeaways
The Redwoods are my team. I bought their shirt first. Why? Cause their logo reminds me of the Hershey Bears (AHL hockey team in Hershey, Pennsylvania). Also, Nick Ossello is on the roster and I know him personally. He’s a great guy who always answered my lacrosse questions by providing me with a better insight into the game.
Sentimentalism out of the way, I think the Redwoods are poised to be pretty good. First, they have the best faceoff man in the world in Greg Gurenlian, who came out of retirement to play in the PLL. This gives the Redwoods a huge advantage, since it looks like they will get possessions from faceoffs often. The attack will be deadly with 2016 Tewaaraton winner Dylan Molloy, 2018 MLL Championship MVP Matt Kavanaugh, and lacrosse family man Joey Sankey. The midfield is loaded with depth and will be led by Joe Walters of the Rochester Knighthawks (one of the few players worth watching on that team), Kyle Harrison who is considered up there with Paul Rabil, and Sergio Perkovic who has a rocket of a shot. Matt Landis will be there to lead a stout defense and it won’t hurt to have the Team USA goalie in Jack Kelly between the pipes.
Leading this group of studs is Nat St. Laurent, who is currently the head coach for Ohio Northern and a former assistant of the Ohio Machine. Laurent also coached at Chestnut Hill out of Philadelphia, who will be in my school’s conference next year. Laurent has experience leading pro players, so I believe his relationship with the squad will be smooth. Dom Marzano and Tod Macfarlane seem like solid assistant coaches to bolster the coaching staff.
In conclusion, the Redwoods should be one of the better teams in the league. Yes, all the teams have good players, but the Redwoods seem to have benefitted more from roster announcements compared to others. It doesn’t seem like they have a weakness at any position which leads me to think they will challenge the PLL Atlas for the PLL crown.