The Philadelphia Waterdogs, the city’s professional men’s field lacrosse team, have been waiting since November for this coming weekend.
The Premier Lacrosse League side has played in Springfield, Va., and Albany, N.Y. since it was assigned to a home city last year, but not in Philly.
Now, the Waterdogs are on the cusp of a first-ever Homecoming Weekend at Villanova Stadium, where the side will take on the Boston Cannons and the Maryland Whipsnakes.
The homecoming means more to Jake Richard than a few of his teammates. The short-stick defensive midfielder, Team USA gold medalist and newly-appointed head coach at Marquette is originally from West Chester. He joined the Waterdogs from the New York Atlas at the beginning of the season.
“Walking around training camp, seeing everybody not only with their team names but having cities involved, it felt like it meant a little bit more,” Richard said. “Philly’s known for that ‘Philly toughness’ — that grit. So having that on the jersey is super exciting and ultimately motivating.”
Six years into the now-eight-team league, the Cannons have emerged as a regular rival for the Waterdogs. The Waterdogs beat the Cannons in the Championship semifinals last season and fell short of a second league title to the now-Utah Archers. More recently, Boston edged out a thrilling overtime win in the Championship Series final, a preseason tournament playing the fast-paced, compact field version of the sport that will be played when lacrosse returns to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
The PLL maintained its traveling league format even after the cities were announced, adjusting it so that the teams get a homecoming weekend at their newly assigned location during the 10 weeks of the regular season. Minneapolis and Fairfield, Conn., host the extra weeks, while the midseason All-Star game will be in Louisville, Ky.
So how does a side get the most out of home-field advantage when they are playing at home for the first time? Richard said by making sure they walk off the field having fully represented what the team is already about. in the Waterdog’s case, that includes “going after the ground balls,” “making tough saves” and “scoring by any means necessary.”
“There is a little bit of an excitement to showcase who Philly is getting as a team,” he said. “It’s our first time to show them what Waterdogs lacrosse is about.”
The Waterdog’s head coach Bill Tierney joined the team in March, seven months after he called a close to an unparalleled Hall of Fame college coaching career, where he won seven NCAA Division I men’s titles with Princeton and the University of Denver. He also led the U.S. men’s national team to glory in the 1998 World Lacrosse Championships.
Tierney also has a special connection with the Philly area; Twenty-two years of his coaching — including six of his championships — were spent at Princeton. Tierney’s first and last national championships were actually both won in Philly.
“If they had given me any choice of any city I would be representing it would be Philly,” Tierney said. “There’s nothing like Philadelphia sports fans. You get their opinion, you get their support, and it couldn’t be a better city for us to be playing in.”
But his familiarity may have grown more — and now more awkwardly — after he took charge of Denver, competing against Villanova in the Big East Conference.
“It’s going to be kind of funny,” Tierney said. “Let’s just put it this way: The Villanova fans didn’t like me very much over the last 14 years.”
The Philly area will get two bites out of this year’s season, with the championship game being held at Chester’s Subaru Park, which has held the season finale three times before.
It’s still early in the season; The Waterdogs have only played one game so far a loss to the Archers. But for Richard, along with star teammate and Dresher, Pa. native Michael Sowers, taking the team back to the championship game means a little bit more this year.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to bring this championship home to our home city, where all our families and loved ones live, where we grew up, and a place that made us,” Richard said.
The Waterdogs face Boston at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday and Maryland at 3 p.m. on Sunday. The other games are the Archers against the Carolina Chaos at 7 p.m. on Saturday and the California Redwoods versus the Atlas at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets are available on the league’s website, including a homecoming pass for all four games that includes perks for future seasons. Each day’s 12:30 game is also airing on ABC and ESPN+, while the later game is just on ESPN+.
