| 2025 Premier Lacrosse League season | |
|---|---|
| League | Premier Lacrosse League |
| Sport | Field Lacrosse |
| Defending champions | Utah Archers (2024) |
| Duration | May 30 – September 14 |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Draft | |
| Top draft pick | CJ Kirst |
| Picked by | Philadelphia Waterdogs |
| Regular season | |
| Top scorer | Connor Shellenberger (New York Atlas) |
The 2025 Premier Lacrosse League season is the 7th season of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The regular season began on May 30 and will run through August 9. The playoffs will run from August 22 through September 14.
Free agency occurred from March 3 to May 7. Eligible players were any player with an expired contract or any player who was not on an active roster for 30% of the clubs' games. [1]
Notable movements include:
The college draft took place on May 6 at 7 pm (ET) and was broadcast on ESPN+. [2] The Philadelphia Waterdogs had the first pick, selecting the NCAA career goals record holder, CJ Kirst. The Denver Outlaws and California Redwoods made the most selections with five, including California making two first-round selections. The Boston Cannons and the Carolina Chaos made the fewest selections with three.
In the explanations below, (PD) indicates trades completed prior to the start of the draft (i.e. Pre-Draft), while (D) denotes trades that took place during the 2025 draft.
| Conference | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| Atlantic 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Big East | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Big Ten | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Ivy League | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Patriot League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Non-Division I [b] | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Selections | Schools |
|---|---|
| 4 | Syracuse |
| 3 | Notre Dame, Maryland |
| 2 | Cornell, Duke, Penn, Penn State, Denver, Virginia |
| 1 | Princeton, Georgetown, Saint Joseph's. Yale, Florida, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Michigan, Richmond, Army |
| Position | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Defense | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| Defensive Midfield | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Faceoff | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Goalie | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| LSM | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Midfield | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
On May 29, the PLL reported that former Tewaaraton Award winner, Jared Bernhardt, was meeting with PLL teams to discuss a return to lacrosse. [16] After graduating from Maryland, Bernhardt chose to play football at Ferris State, and pursue his dream of playing in the NFL. [17] After winning the DII National Championship, he signed with the Atlanta Falcons, making their 53-man roster in 2022. Bernhardt appeared in two games before he suffered a groin injury and was placed on IR. [18] He was waived for the final time in 2024. [18]
After meeting with several teams, Bernhardt signed with the Denver Outlaws on June 2nd. [19] He joined fellow Tewaaraton Award winners Logan Wisnauskas, Brennan O'Neill, and Pat Kavanaugh in Denver.
On July 9, Jules Heningburg signed with the Boston Cannons. He spent the 2024 season with the Chaos and was waived after training camp. The four-time All-Star returned to the PLL with 3 points in his debut. [20]
On July 15, Dox Aitken made his return to lacrosse, moving from the hold-out list to the New York Atlas' 25-man roster. [21] Aitken previously chose to pursue football, playing for the semi-pro Ohio Valley Ironmen of the International Football Alliance. On June 26, they canceled the remainder of their season after starting the season 3-0 with a combined score of 166-0. [22]
On June 9, the Outlaws traded Sam Handley to the Redwoods for a 2026 third-round pick. [23] The 2023 fourth-overall pick scored 30 points in his first two seasons, but was pushed out of the offensive rotation by the arrival of Jared Bernhardt. [23] [24]
: Home-city location 
: Neutral-site tour location 
: All-Star Game location 
: Quarterfinals location 
: Semifinals location 
: Finals location| Week | Venue | Home Team | Location | Capacity [a] | Image | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom & Mary Casey Stadium | New York Atlas | Albany, NY | 8,500 |  | ||
| 2 | American Legion Memorial Stadium | Carolina Chaos | Charlotte, NC | 10,500 | | ||
| 3 | Villanova Stadium | Philadelphia Waterdogs | Villanova, PA | 12,500 | |||
| 4 | Homewood Field | Maryland Whipsnakes | Baltimore, MD | 8,500 |  | ||
| 5 | Torero Stadium | California Redwoods | San Diego, CA | 6,000 |  | ||
| 6 (All-Star Game) | CPKC Stadium | All-Star | Kansas City, MO | 11,500 |  | [25] | |
| 7 | Martin Stadium | Neutral Site | Evanston, IL | 12,023 |  | ||
| 8 | Rafferty Stadium | Neutral Site | Fairfield, CT | 3,500 |  | ||
| 9 | Zions Bank Stadium | Utah Archers | Herriman, UT | 5,000 |  | ||
| 10 | Peter Barton Stadium | Denver Outlaws | Denver, CO | 2,000 | |||
| 11 | Harvard Stadium | Boston Cannons | Boston, MA | 25,000 |  | ||
| 12 (Quarterfinals) | TCO Stadium | Neutral Site | Eagan, MN | 6,000 |  | ||
| 13 (Semifinals) | Subaru Park | Neutral Site | Chester, PA | 18,500 |  | ||
| 14 (Championship) | Sports Illustrated Stadium | Neutral Site | Harrison, NJ | 25.000 |  |
The addition of home cities and conferences brought slight changes to the schedule. Every team has one weekend where they are the home team and play a weekend doubleheader. There are two weekends (Chicago and Fairfield) when there is no home team and every team plays. Each team will play in-conference opponents twice and out-of-conference opponents once. All games are streamed on ESPN+ during the season.
Note: All times in the table below are EDT (UTC−4).
Source: [26]
| 2025 Eastern Conference standings | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | SF | SA | Diff | ||||||||
| New York Atlas Y | 7 | 3 | 137 | 120 | 17 | ||||||||
| Maryland Whipsnakes [a] | 4 | 6 | 119 | 108 | 11 | ||||||||
| Philadelphia Waterdogs [a] | 4 | 6 | 124 | 127 | −3 | ||||||||
| Boston Cannons [a] | 4 | 6 | 127 | 138 | −11 | ||||||||
| 2025 Western Conference standings | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | SF | SA | Diff | ||||||||
| Denver Outlaws Y | 7 | 3 | 131 | 113 | 18 | ||||||||
| California Redwoods Y [b] | 5 | 5 | 126 | 130 | −4 | ||||||||
| Carolina Chaos [b] Y | 5 | 5 | 110 | 125 | −15 | ||||||||
| Utah Archers | 4 | 6 | 98 | 111 | −13 | ||||||||
| Top Team in Each Conference Received a First-round Bye |
| Top Three Teams in Each Conference Qualify for the 2025 Playoffs |
| Last-place Team in Each Conference Miss 2025 Playoffs |
| Y = Qualified for the Championship Series |
| Quarterfinals August 23 (Eagan, MN) | Semifinals September 1 (Chester, PA) | PLL Championship Game September 14 (Harrison, NJ) | ||||||||||||
| #1 | Atlas | 13 | ||||||||||||
| #2 | Whipsnakes | 12 | #3 | Waterdogs | 11 | |||||||||
| #3 | Waterdogs | 14 | #1 | Atlas | ||||||||||
| #1 | Outlaws | |||||||||||||
| #1 | Outlaws | 12 | ||||||||||||
| #2 | Redwoods | 14 | #2 | Redwoods | 7 | |||||||||
| #3 | Chaos | 12 | ||||||||||||
| Statistic | Player | Position | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | Connor Shellenberger (46) | Attack | New York Atlas |
| One-point goals | Dylan Molloy (26) | Attack | California Redwoods |
| Two-point goals | Marcus Holman (5) | Attack | Boston Cannons |
| Scoring Points | Dylan Molloy (27) | Attack | California Redwoods |
| Assists | Asher Nolting (26) | Attack | Boston Cannons |
| Shots | Pat Kavanagh (90) | Attack | Denver Outlaws |
| Shot Percentage | Reid Bowering (50%) | Midfield | New York Atlas |
| Touches | Pat Kavanagh (454) | Attack | Denver Outlaws |
| Faceoff Percentage | Justin Inacio (60.9%) | Face-off | Carolina Chaos |
| Save Percentage | Austin Kaut (62.5%) | Goaltender | Carolina Chaos |
| Caused Turnovers | Ajax Zappitello (17) | Defense | Maryland Whipsnakes |
| Groundballs | Trevor Baptiste (87) | Faceoff | New York Atlas |
Source: [27]
| Statistic | Team |
|---|---|
| Offensive | |
| Scores per Game | New York Atlas (13.7) |
| Shots per Game | Denver Outlaws (45.5) |
| Shot Percentage | New York Atlas (30.4%) |
| One-point goals | New York Atlas (123) |
| Two-point goals | Boston Cannons and Denver Outlaws (12) |
| Turnovers (High) | New York Atlas (195) |
| Turnovers (Low) | Boston Cannons (156) |
| Defensive | |
| Scores Against Average (Low) | Maryland Whipsnakes (10.8) |
| Scores Against Average (High) | Boston Cannons (13.8) |
| Two-point Goals Against (Low) | Maryland Whipsnakes (7) |
| Two-point Goals Against (High) | Philadelphia Waterdogs (15) |
| Caused Turnovers | Boston Cannons (81) |
| Groundballs Recovered | New York Atlas (355) |
| Saves Per Game | Boston Cannons (13.8) |
| Save Percentage | Utah Archers (59.1%) |
| Power Play and Penalty Kill | |
| Power-play Goal Percentage | Boston Cannons (42.1%) |
| Power-play Goals | New York Atlas (10) |
| Penalty-kill Percentage | New York Atlas (79.2%) |
| Penalty Kills | Boston Cannons (33) |
| Penalties (Low) | Maryland Whipsnakes (19) |
| Penalties (High) | Boston Cannons (34) |
| Penalty Minutes (Low) | Maryland Whipsnakes (12) |
| Penalty Minutes (High) | Boston Cannons (27.5) |
Source: [28]
| Date Awarded | Player | Team | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 3 | Chris Kavanagh | California Redwoods | [29] |
| June 10 | Blaze Riorden | Carolina Chaos | [30] |
| June 17 | Michael Sowers | Philadelphia Waterdogs | [31] |
| June 24 | Jeff Teat | New York Atlas | [32] |
| June 30 | Pat Kavanagh | Denver Outlaws | [33] |
| July 5 | Brennan O'Neill | West | [34] |
| July 15 | Connor Shellenberger | New York Atlas | [35] |
| July 22 | Connor Shellenberger (2) | New York Atlas | [36] |
| July 29 | Brennan O'Neill | Denver Outlaws | [37] |
| August 5 | Chris Kavanagh (2) | California Redwoods | [38] |
| August 12 | Connor Shellenberger (3) | New York Atlas | [39] |
| August 26 | Michael Sowers (2) | Philadelphia Waterdogs | [40] |
| September 3 | Liam Entenmann | New York Atlas | [41] |
On August 18, the PLL announced the finalists for its 2025 end-of-season awards via social media plataforms.
The winner of the award are highlighted in bold.
On December 5, 2024, Andy Towers resigned as head coach of the Carolina Chaos, over disputes with the PLL. [42] [43] He was replaced by Roy Colsey on January 30, 2025. [44]
In March 2025, Nat St. Laurent stepped down as head coach of the California Redwoods. [45] He was replaced by Anthony Kelly on March 20, 2025. [46]
