PLL Tigers

Mark it down. 

July 25, 2026. 10:40 pm. 

TigerBlog saw his first back-to-school commercial of the summer. Can Christmas music be far behind? 

When TB was a kid, by the way, he was sent off to school with a notebook and a few pencils. When his kids were kids, they were sent off to school only after an extensive search for every single item on the school supply list. 

"Noooooooo. They're out of those ridiculous multi-colored post-its that are the exact right size. Would it be okay to get the ones that are slightly larger? Will that set them back for an entire year of learning?" 

The back-to-school commercial occasion was watching the Premier Lacrosse League's Saturday night game between the Philadelphia Waterdogs and the weekend's host, the Denver Outlaws. He was rooting for Princeton, of course. 

That's his approach to the league. He roots for the Princeton alums. Wins and losses take care of themselves. 

There was a great deal to root for this weekend. In all, there were seven different Princeton alums who had either a goal or an assist, and they combined for a total of 13 goals and eight assists. 

And that doesn't even count the fact that both former Princeton head coaches in the league — Bill Tierney and Chris Bates — went a combined 4-0 on the weekend.  

Included in the Princeton success this weekend was the first professional goal for John Dunphey, who made his PLL debut for the Denver Outlaws after being a huge reason that Princeton won the 2026 NCAA championship. Dunphey, by the way, went from 39 total points his first three seasons at Princeton to 39 points his senior year alone. 

Dunphey's goal came Friday night in Denver, after a two-hour lighting delay. TB was about to give up on watching when the game finally began. 

He definitely wasn't watching the second game of Friday's doubleheader, which matched Tierney's Waterdogs and the New York Atlas. Michael Sowers scored the game-winner in that one (his third of the night) with 1:52 to go to give Philly an 11-10 win; the game ended after midnight in Denver, which put it after 2 am in TB's house. 

The Waterdogs had a very quick turnaround from Friday to Saturday, like a 19-hour turnaround, before playing their second game. How did Sowers do in that one? He went for three goals and three assists in an 18-8 romp while fellow former Tiger Zach Currier had four assists of his own. 

As of now, Princeton has three alums in the top nine in the league in assists: Sowers (first), Coulter Mackesy (sixth) and Currier (ninth). Sowers leads the league in points with 36 (18G, 18A), and he has a great chance to become only the fourth PLL player ever with at least 20 goals and 20 assists in a season. 

By the way, what Princeton player has the program record for most assists in a season by a midfielder? The answer isn't Tom Schreiber, who is quite likely the greatest passing midfielder of all time. It's Currier, who had 34 as a senior in 2017, along with 24 goals, 130 groundballs and the team lead in caused turnovers while winning 57 percent of his face-offs — and somehow was not a USILA first-team All-American. Has a midfielder ever had a better season than that? 

And, as always, when you talk about Currier, you don't fixate on points to define him. In the game Saturday night, Currier had 10 groundballs, giving him 14 for the weekend and 51 for the season, which is fifth in the league. 

TB loves that the PLL has a way to track the number of touches a player has in a game and by extension the season. Currier has 134 of them and has turned the ball over only three times. That's ridiculous as well. 

If Currier is fifth in the league in groundballs, who is fourth? That would be another Princeton alum, face-off man Andrew McMeekin, with 52 GBs. Meeks also happens to be leading the league, winning 61.3 percent of his face-offs. 

In another shake of the head, how was McMeekin only an honorable mention All-American this year? 

Chad Palumbo, who along with Dunphey, McMeekin and Ryan Croddick gives Princeton four PLL rookies this summer, had three goals as his Carolina Chaos defeated McMeekin's Cannons 13-12 in overtime Saturday (despite a 23 for 28 performance from McMeekin, including winning the OT face-off). Palumbo now has 13 goals for the season, second among first-year players behind the 16 of Ryan Stines, a Richmond alum.