The Philadelphia Waterdogs are on their way to the PLL Championship game to meet the Denver Outlaws. The Waterdogs took care of the Boston Cannons in a playoff semifinal matchup on Monday, beating them 13-10 on the strength of a pair of hat tricks from CJ Kirst and Kyle Lewis. Michael Sowers and Josh Yago both put up two goals as well.
This Waterdogs team found the back of the net in multiple ways during this game. Philly used their speed in transition to make separation between defenders and score goals, or they would also find teammates with quick passes through narrow open windows to score. The Waterdogs have a young core of players that are hungry, perhaps none more than goaltender Sean Byrne. Byrne is now 6-0 in six starts since taking over after Matt DeLuca went down with an injury in Week 9 of the regular season. He has made the best of his opportunity, and been an absolute stud between the pipes for Philadelphia.
The Championship game will be in two weeks on September 20. It will be the first time in any major professional sport that a Philadelphia team meets a Denver with a title on the line. The Waterdogs will be looking for their second championship, while the Outlaws seek their fourth title overall, dating back to their MLL days.
Waterdogs silence the boom in Boston’s offense
The Boston Cannons played the Waterdogs tough. Marcus Holman, Jack Regnery and Coulter Mackesy each had a pair of goals in this game. Just when it looked like Philly was going run away with the game, Boston came back in the fourth quarter, scoring four straight goals to get within two, 12-10. However, the Waterdogs had already done enough damage on the scoreboard. Since the PLL’s inception, the Cannons have yet to advance past the semifinal round of the playoffs during the summer season (they have two winter Championship Series wins, in 2024 and 2025). The Cannons will look to get better in the offseason and try to figure out how they can get over the hump in the summer of 2027.
