Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange in the PLL update

How’s the summer going for our Orange alumni?

We’re deep into the middle of summer, and that means it’s time to check in on how our former Syracuse Orange are doing in the 2025 Premier Lacrosse League season.

The PLL is seven weeks into their 10-week regular season This year’s season has been a little light on the number of Orange alums in action, but those who are there have been impressing, especially the rookies.

It all starts with Owen Hiltz, whose professional career is off to a phenomenal start for the Carolina Chaos under first-year head coach and fellow Orange alum Roy Colsey.

This year’s first-round draft pick took a few weeks to get his Visa straightened out, but he’s been flying ever since he hit the field. Hiltzy is leading Chaos with 17 points and 12 goals, and he’s done that despite playing in only four of their seven games. This past weekend, he had his best game yet with five goals and seven points in leading a big comeback attempt that fell just short in a loss to Archers.

His production has been so immense that he’s up among the league leaders in a number of key statistical categories. He actually leads the league in goals per game (3.0), is third in the league in points per game (4.3, behind only Connor Shellenberger and Michael Sowers) and is fifth in the league in shooting percentage (42.9).

However you slice it, he’s been one of the most productive offensive players in the entire PLL this summer, and that’s pretty cool to see. Also cool to see? This goal from this past weekend:

The New York Atlas are the home of the current largest SU contingent in the league, with three players and a coach on their roster.

Like Hiltz, Michael Grace is finding early professional success as the backup LSM for Atlas. A regular member of the rotation on defense and a dangerous weapon in transition, Grace has helped NY to a first place position in the Eastern conference.

He’s played in five of their seven games, and he’s filling up the stat sheet with six points, one one-point goal, one two-point goal, three assists, nine ground balls and two caused turnovers. His six points is impressively good for second-best in the league in points by a pole player behind Jake Piseno.

Jake Stevens is in his second year for Atlas, and the do-everything midfielder is filling much the same role for them as he did in his one year on the Hill as a two-way mid.

He’s looking good and staying involved on a loaded Atlas roster. He’s got six points, all on one-point goals, and eight ground balls so far this season.

The third and final Atlas player is Will Mark, also in his second pro year. Will is their backup goalie and, as the understudy to Liam Entenmann, finds his playing time rather sparse. He’s only appeared in one game this season and didn’t face any shots in that cameo, but he makes the game day roster every week as the backup backstop.

Former All-American Steven Brooks is doing a great job leading one of the most talented offenses in the league as Atlas’ offensive coordinator.

The California Redwoods also have three ‘Cuse alums on their roster, led by this year’s third-overall pick Sammy English.

Like fellow Canadians Hiltz and Grace, Sammy also got off to a late start this summer and has only appeared in four games. Two weeks ago, he got tangled up and hurt right at the very end of their game against Chaos, and he missed last week’s game with a high ankle sprain. So, his playing status is definitely up in the air at the moment.

When he has played, he’s been good in his typical role as the guy who barely ever comes off the field. He’s got four points, three goals, one assist and nine ground balls in his four games so far.

Fellow rookie Carter Rice is continuing his prowess as a shortie in the professional ranks. Redwoods have been a little thin at SSDM due to injury, and Carter’s stepped in as an immediate contributor. He’s played in all seven games so far and has accumulated eight ground balls in that time.

In an increasingly crowded Redwoods midfield, Cole Kirst has found playing time a bigger hurdle than ever before in his third pro season. In fact, he just made his first game day roster for the first time this summer last weekend, and got off two shots in a loss to Atlas.

Finally, SU defensive coordinator John Odierna is currently filling that same role for a Boston Cannons team that started off the season 3-1 but has hit a three-game skid since then and is presently in last place in the Eastern conference.

During their hot start, Odierna’s defense was doing quite well in surrendering an average of 11.5 goals per game in their first four games. Since then, that number has jumped to 16.3 goals-against per game during their three-game losing streak.

It’s been a mixed bag and a small number of players overall, but there’s also been plenty of good, especially from the rookie class of Hiltz, English, Grace and Rice. It’s been particularly fun to see Hiltz performing so well at the next level and putting up numbers to rival the top names in the game.

I look forward to seeing what comes next as the regular season wraps up across the next three weekends.