The City Of Philadelphia Is Playing For Yet Another Title With The Waterdogs Heading To The PLL Championship Series Final
Name another city in America that has played for more championships over the past 1,000 days than the city of Philadelphia. I dare you. Heck, I implore you.
The fact of the matter is that you cannot. All Philly does is play for titles.
Unfortunately, we haven't necessarily developed a habit of winning those final games. But that's besides the point. The Phillies were in the World Series in 2022. The Philadelphia Union played for the MLS Cup in 2022. The Eagles played in Super Bowl LVII. Technically the Waterdogs weren't assigned to Philadelphia last September, but retroactively you could say they played for the PLL Championship in 2023. Fact of the matter here is that Philly has an addiction, and that addiction is playing in the final game of the season.
The Waterdogs are now adding to that legacy, as they are just one more win away from winning the PLL Championship Series.
In case you're an idiot, the Championship Series is a a 5-day tournament in the PLL offseason which features a modified version of the "sixes" format of lacrosse. This is the format of the game we'll see at the Olympics in 2028. It's 5v5 lacrosse plus goalies on a shortened field, shortened shot clock, and no faceoffs besides to start each quarter. It's fast paced, and action packed. Which is the exact brand of lacrosse the Waterdogs thrive in.
The tournament starts off with a 3-game round robin stage. The Waterdogs were the only team to go 3-0 during round robin play, and now they just bumped the record to 4-0 with a semifinal win over the Archers. This team can beat you in so many different ways. They have the crafty, speedy dodgers to put up 1-point goals at will with guys like Michael Sowers and Kieran McArdle. They have the flamethrowing sick bastards to light you up in a shootout from 2-point range like Jake Carraway. They have the best goalie in the tournament in Matt DeLuca. And head coach Andy Copelan seems like the only coach who came into this tournament with an actual game plan.
The term "wagon" gets thrown out there a little too loosely all the time. Hand up, I'm certainly guilty of it. But the Waterdogs are an absolute wagon and there's no other way to describe it. This team rules so hard, and you better believe they're coming out tomorrow night in the final ready to empty the tank.
Go Dawgs.
P.S. -- For anyone who actually cares about lacrosse, you understand how insane this photo is.