Archers capture Premier Lacrosse League championship at Subaru Park

With the shot clock ticking down, Tom Schreiber didn’t rush. The Premier Lacrosse League MVP danced around, looking for an opening, before firing a dart into the upper left corner of the net.

The goal gave Schreiber’s Archers a one-point lead with 1 minute, 37 seconds left in the PLL championship on Sunday, and after a few clutch stops by the defense, it proved to be the game-winner, knocking off the defending champion Waterdogs, 15-14, at Subaru Park.

“That celebration is something that you dream about and work for,” Archers coach Chris Bates said, “and honestly, to share it with this group of guys is pretty remarkable.”

Down 2-1 in the first quarter, the Archers rattled off seven straight goals against the Waterdogs to take a commanding 8-2 advantage. After that, though, the Waterdogs responded, cutting their deficit to 10-7 by the half.

The Archers’ lead stayed at three for most of the third quarter, but a two-point goal from Jake Carraway brought the Waterdogs to within one. The Waterdogs tied things up in the fourth before the Archers took a two-point lead that was quickly erased.

Then came Schreiber’s heroics.

The game’s MVP award went to goalie Brett Dobson. Dobson finished with 18 saves, including a two-point shot by the Waterdogs in the waning seconds that would have given them the title.

“Taking on a new role this year for us,” Schreiber said of Dobson. “Becomes our starting goalie and then never looks back and carries himself like a 10-year vet despite being a young guy. And then to see him get rewarded with the MVP of this game, it’s awesome.”

Sunday’s championship game was the fifth in PLL history and the third in Chester. Philadelphia has a strong connection to lacrosse on the high school and college levels, and it is continuing to cement itself in the PLL.

The league, which was founded in 2018 and merged with Major League Lacrosse in the 2021 season, has eight teams competing in a tour model. But before the 2023 season, the PLL announced it would assign its teams to cities, and the league’s connection with Philadelphia makes the City of Brotherly Love a strong candidate.

In the trio of championship outings in Chester, there has been strong fan support. On Sunday in the rain, both sideline sections were filled with fans, with thousands tailgating before the game, and in the 2019 and 2022 championship games, there was an attendance of 12,556 and about 14,000, respectively.

On the field Sunday were a few local connections. In addition to Bates, who spent 10 years coaching Drexel, the Archers’ Matt McMahon and Piper Bond are both Penn graduates, and Reid Bowering attended Drexel. Bowering, Grant Ament (Haverford School) and Matt Moore (Garnet Valley High) all scored goals for the Archers on Sunday.

Bowering, who was on the Archers’ reserve roster, was activated for the championship game, making his PLL debut.

“Reid Bowering is like shaking guys’ hands and meeting them for the first time two days ago,” Schreiber said after the game. “I’ve never had practice with Reid Bowering, and we played in the championship game together, and he was awesome.”

Michael Sowers, the Waterdogs’ star player, is from Dresher and went to Upper Dublin High before playing collegiately at Duke. Sowers led the Waterdogs to their first PLL title last season and was named the game’s MVP. Against the Archers on Sunday, Sowers scored two goals and added two assists.