The Maryland Whipsnakes were 2-4 heading into their game against the California Redwoods in San Diego in late July, needing to get on a roll in order to crack the Premier Lacrosse League’s six-team playoff.
The Whipsnakes defeated the Redwoods, 18-13, with midfielder Tucker Dordevic (seven points) and attackmen Zed Williams and TJ Malone (four points apiece) leading the way. That triggered a four-game winning streak, making the Whipsnakes the hottest team in the PLL.
The Whipsnakes will try to keep it going in the first round of the playoffs against the Denver Outlaws in Boston on Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. The New York Atlas and Utah Archers earned byes and will face the first-round winners on Long Island the following week.
The game against the Redwoods made the playoff run possible, according to head coach Jim Stagnitta.
“It was big. It could’ve gone either way on that weekend,” the coach said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 29. “That was probably going to define the direction we were going to go in the rest of the year, and we had talked about it. We had kind of laid down the gauntlet at that point that we have a ton of potential. We have a lot of young guys in our lineup. Our team roster kind of evolved over the first four weeks or so. … We kind of marked that one. ‘Hey, these aren’t really regular-season games for us anymore. These are playoff games.'”
That playoff mindset carried over to “Homecoming Weekend” in early August, when the Whipsnakes defeated the Philadelphia Waterdogs, 12-6, and Boston Cannons, 16-14, at Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Field. The Whipsnakes polished off their regular season with a 16-9 win against the Outlaws before a bye week.
Each PLL team was assigned a home market last offseason, and each team played two games when the barnstorming league came to its home market. However, the Whipsnakes were dealt some tough luck on that front. The weekend of Aug. 3-4 was brutally hot in Baltimore, making for less-than-ideal conditions for players and fans.
The Whipsnakes made it a productive weekend, though.
“That first day, it was god awful hot and the crowd was there and they hung in there,” Stagnitta said. “It was everything that it has been but even more. We needed that crowd at times. The other team would make a run and the crowd was there. You felt like you were truly — which we were — playing in a home stadium in front of a home crowd. And then the next day we had the weather issue. Everybody had to leave the stadium, and everybody still came back.”
Stagnitta also touched on a few of his players having big seasons …
On why Joe Nardella is leading the PLL in faceoff winning percentage (67.5):
“He plays indoor. He trains constantly. He sells real estate and he runs a very successful faceoff player development business. Joe’s been hurt each and every of the last three seasons. Since he was the Faceoff Man of the Year, he’s come out of the indoor season with an injury. With that being said, he has still competed at a high level, but this year he had a full year off of outdoor last year. It’s unbelievable how quickly and well he rehabbed his ACL because it was his second one. But for the first time in a number of years, he is completely healthy.”
On why attackman TJ Malone (37 points) has been so productive:
“He is one of the nicest, most balanced, understated players — and I’ve done this for a long time — yet when the game starts or in his preparation, he is as competitive as anyone I’ve ever been around. He really just has a great balance to him. This is one of the things that’s helped us throughout the year is these young guys have energized the team that was full of veterans who needed to be inspired again in some regard. He has made everybody better. He is unselfish. You can’t help but embrace the kid because there’s nothing about him that you look at and go, ‘Ah, that guy doesn’t have it.’ He has it in every aspect of his game on and off the field.”
On how rookie midfielder Adam Poitras (Loyola) has fit in:
“We’ve struggled over the past couple years with the 32-second [shot] clock. We would win a faceoff, but we weren’t dynamic enough at the midfield to run by people. We’re missing two of our better players all year in Brad Smith and Tucker [Dordevic], so he steps in along with [Jack] Koras and they start picking up ground balls for Joe [Nardella] on the wings and they can create early offense. And then Pots can go back and play defense … and he can get the ball to the other end of the field and create offense again. The kid can run. He’s like a gazelle. He gets up and down the field. He has a really, really bright future.”
For more from Stagnitta, listen to the full interview here:
See Also:
• Former Terp Ajax Zappitello On Playing At Homewood Field, Adjusting To PLL
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Premier Lacrosse League