PLL Power Rankings ahead of Week 13: Cannons or Waterdogs at No. 1?

Week 13 of the Premier Lacrosse League season is in Philadelphia, with Subaru Park hosting three PLL games along with the inaugural WLL championship between the Maryland Charm and California Palms. This is the final weekend of the regular season, with teams making the final push for positioning. A reminder on the playoffs: The top teams in the Eastern and Western conferences earn a quarterfinal bye, while the last place teams are eliminated. The quarterfinals will be played in Minneapolis on Aug. 29. The semis are on Sept. 7 in Salt Lake City. The PLL championship will be played on ABC on Sept. 20 in Harrison, New Jersey. Here's how the teams line up for me right now: 1. Philadelphia Waterdogs Current record: 7-3 Next opponent: vs. Atlas | Saturday, 2 p.m. ET; vs. Whipsnakes | Sunday, 1 p.m. Previous ranking: 1 Philly had the weekend off in Week 12 in Boston. One more win locks up the top seed in the East, and a bye into the semifinals. 2. Boston Cannons Current record: 7-5 Next opponent: Bye Previous ranking: 2 A two-win weekend in front of gigantic crowds at Harvard ended the regular season on a high note. The Cannons got an empty-net two-pointer by Marcus Holman in overtime to defeat Maryland 14-12. Maryland committed an interference foul during a clear, turning the ball over. Holman quickly picked up the ball and was granted the immediate restart. Maryland goalie Emmet Carroll was caught out of the net on the clear and turned his back on the ball, jogging back towards his crease, as Holman's shot sailed passed him and into the empty net for the game winner. FOGO Andrew McMeekin was 71.4% (20-for-28), added a goal, had one assist but most importantly won five consecutive faceoffs to end the game, including one that was a man down (2-on-3 faceoff). He leads all PLL FOGOs in points and FO%. McMeekin is a rookie of the year finalist. The win over Maryland clinched a postseason spot for the Cannons. Saturday night's 12-9 victory over California makes them winners of six of their last seven after a (1-4) start. A change at FOGO and a change in the net (from Colin Kirst to JC Higginbotham) resulted in a bump. 3. Utah Archers Current record: 7-5 Next opponent: Bye Previous ranking: 3 A plus-29 score differential gives the Archers a leg up in the West standings. Denver will need to win by more than 28 goals to eclipse them for the No. 1 seed. A 13-12 win for Utah on Friday in Boston over Carolina sent the Chaos into the abyss. Mac O'Keefe hit the game winner with 1:16 left on the clock. The Archers won the game despite no goals from Connor Fields or Tre LeClaire. They received strong outings from Sam King, O'Keefe, Ryan Stines and Ryan Ambler. Mike Sisselberger won 68% of his faceoffs to finish off a stellar regular season. 4. Denver Outlaws Current record: 6-5 Next opponent: vs. Redwoods | Sunday, 3:30 p.m. Previous ranking: 5 The Outlaws have clinched a postseason spot at 6-5 with a +1 score differential, but are unlikely to catch Utah. The Outlaws held serve against New York 14-9 on Saturday at Harvard, after exploding to a 10-1 lead. Brennan O'Neill had five points, four of them assists, dealing and running the offense, given that Pat Kavanagh and Jared Bernhardt were once again out. Logan Wisnauskas and Zach Geddes both had three points. Notre Dame crease man Jake Taylor dressed for the first time this summer and bagged two goals inside. Coach Tim Soudan continues to make moves to maximize this roster as the playoffs approach. 5. Maryland Whipsnakes Current record: 5-6 Next opponent: vs. Waterdogs | Sunday, 1 p.m. Previous ranking: 4 That's back-to-back brutal losses to Denver and Boston during the past two weeks to cement the Whipsnakes' status as underachievers. It's like somebody put a hex on this team. They've lost three straight and are 0-4 in games decided by two or fewer goals. They are re-inventing ways to lose winnable games. In the last two losses, Maryland had a late lead. The Whips could not extend or protect those leads, and failed to close out. They have not won enough faceoffs at crunch time, and their young defensive midfield group makes mistakes when they get tired. The overtime setback 14-12 in Boston on Friday night in front of the biggest crowd of the summer, had a bizarre ending. Whips goalie Emmett Carroll, caught out of the net during a clear and MD interference infraction, turned his back on the restart as Marcus Holman threw in a 25-yard dart for the game winner. Never turn your back on the lacrosse ball. The positives were Adam Poitras (five goals) and Aidan Carroll (four goals), who diced the Boston defense with dodging prowess. Poitras exploited matchups with Boston offensive midfielders. Carroll has played like a first-team all-pro the entire summer. He's been unstoppable. The Whips not named Poitras and Carroll shot a combined 3-for-28. 6. California Redwoods Current record: 5-6 Next opponent: vs. Outlaws | Sunday, 3:30 p.m. Previous ranking: 6 The Woods will make the postseason as long as they don't lose their finale on Sunday by more than 12 goals. California lost to Boston on Saturday night at Harvard, 12-9. Woods midfield scoring was subpar. Syracuse rookie Finn Thomson had three points and rookie goalie Ryan Croddick saved 57%, relieving Dillon Ward in the second quarter when the veteran drew a flag. California shot 22.5% overall and had 21 turnovers. They are 1-4 since July 1 after starting the season 4-2. 7. Carolina Chaos Current record: 5-7 Next opponent: Bye Previous ranking: 7 The season is complete after a 13-12 loss to Utah on Friday night in Boston. Carolina kept fighting, and you have to respect that. Their defense simply fell apart late in the season with injuries, and their offense never learned to pass. They managed four assists in the Utah loss, bringing the season total to 45 assists in 12 games. If you can't pass, you can't win. 8. New York Atlas Current record: 3-8 Next opponent: vs. Waterdogs | Saturday, 2 p.m. Previous ranking: 8 The 2025 champions are 3-8 after a one-sided loss to Denver on Saturday. They will pick first in the 2027 college draft. Nothing has gone right for New York this summer. Matt Traynor had four points and defender Brett Makar scooped up seven ground balls and now has 47 on the season, to go along with 21 caused turnovers and seven points.