Why Utah's pro lacrosse team felt 'like we were meant to be'

HERRIMAN — Ryan Ambler had played professional lacrosse in a lot of places. But the former Princeton standout felt a special connection to Utah the last time the Archers' midfielder played in Herriman.

The 6-foot-2, left-handed middie was playing an overtime match with Archers Lacrosse Club in the Premier Lacrosse League against Waterdogs, and Ambler took a look around. Between the sellout crowd of more than 5,000 fans and the mountains overlooking the field to the east, Ambler took note of the setting sun that bathed the area in a fresh coat of orange — a similar shade of the Archers' jerseys, he thought to himself.

A few months later, the Archers — fresh off winning the 2024 Premier Lacrosse League championship — were assigned to Utah when the five-year-old league revealed its eight home markets ahead of the 2024 season.

"It kind of feels like we were meant to be there," Ambler told KSL.com. "It's going to be a fun ride, and I think the fans will be excited about the brand of lacrosse that the Archers play. We play extremely hard, and we play for each other. A lot of us have been playing with each other for a while."

Lacrosse has been played around the world for centuries, with reports dating back as early as the 12th century by Native American tribes that called it "the creator's game" or "medicine game."

Now, lacrosse has taken root professionally with the PLL, which was founded in 2018 by brothers Paul and Mike Rabil as an eight-team, touring league that spreads across the United States and Canada during the summer months. It's even taken hold in Utah, where the league formed "PLL Island" during the COVID-19 pandemic and has produced a handful of collegiate and pro stars from a state that only sanctioned the game on the high school level during the 2019-20 school year.

Once a staple in the upper northeast, the game has moved its way to the west coast, too. That includes Utah, but also California — home to the league's Redwoods franchise and the PLL headquarters — and Denver, where the former Chrome Lacrosse Club now calls home as the Denver Outlaws.

And the Archers can't wait to call the Beehive State home, with the club's "homestand" weekend coming Aug. 16-18 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.

"It makes sense; there are more lacrosse players in California than any other state in the country. It's growing, but I think it's further along in some regard out west than people realize," said Archers coach Chris Bates, who calls himself a fan of Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy because of the duo's mutual connection to Williams College. "You're seeing this next phase of youth development into high school development and more guys playing in college. So I think it makes sense for the PLL to have that national footprint, and the current footprint is representative of where the team is."

Utah lacrosse fans can get their first look at this year's Archers this weekend, when the reigning champs are one of four teams participating in the PLL's Championship Series.

The mini-tournament — which also features the Redwoods, Boston Cannons and Philadelphia Waterdogs — plays a unique version of six-player lacrosse, or "sixes" for short, that features more scoring, faster play, and an accelerated game of quick transitions (and no faceoffs, among other variations on the rules).

It's also the style of lacrosse that will debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

"If you think the field game in the summer in the PLL is fast, this is lightning speed," said Bates, the former head coach at Drexel and Princeton. "It has some elements of box lacrosse, but the pace is like a tennis match; your head is constantly going left and right, watching the ball zip.

"It's the top-four teams in the regular season that earn the right to play in the Championship Series; it's another footprint to add to the calendar, but it gives us a chance to see our guys, to compete, and to put a championship on the line. It's a lot of fun."

It also gives Utah lacrosse fans a chance to see their team, like Ambler, the 30-year-old veteran of both the PLL and its predecessor Major League Lacrosse.

Ambler, who is signed with Utah through the 2025 season, was drafted by the New York Lizards in the fifth round of the 2016 MLL draft, but he spent his rookie season with the Denver Outlaws in 2017, scoring seven goals with four assists in seven appearances before being traded to the Ohio Machine.

He signed with the PLL in 2019, immediately joining the Archers and Bates — his former coach at Princeton — and getting to know the Archers' Utah contingent of former University of Utah assistant coaches Will Manny, Marcus Holman and Adam Ghitelman.

But his early days as a pro wander back to the Mile High City, where the Pennsylvania learned of the nation-wide love of the game he's played since childhood, and where he remembers seeing a packed stadium of more than 8,000 fans showing up for an Outlaws match on a Thursday afternoon.

"We won that game in overtime, a man-down, and I thought to myself: this is pretty damn cool," Ambler said. "As the game matured and I spent more time in Utah specifically, I grew a healthy respect and excitement for the level of maturity of the game out west. Kudos to guys like Will, Marcus and Adam, who have grown the game out there through Utah and their local clubs, opening more eyes to what a group this is."

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