Irving native Zed Williams, a Silver Creek High School graduate, leads the Premier Lacrosse League in 1-point goals, points and shots as the season approaches the playoffs.
Photo courtesy of Whipsnakes
Last season, the Maryland Whipsnakes’ Premier Lacrosse League season came to an early end in the first round of the playoffs, falling 15-12 to the Waterdogs.
With one weekend left in the regular season this year, the Whipsnakes have clinched a playoff spot and are out to show last year was a fluke.
Leading the charge for the Whipsnakes is a familiar face, the man who led them to the 2020 championship while claiming the Most Valuable Player award, Irving native Zed Williams.
The Silver Creek graduate is back to his old ways after two years below his usual world-class standard. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Williams’ point totals dipped below 3 points per game, but now he’s back to where he was when the Whipsnakes were in the running for championships.
Currently, Williams sits atop the leaderboards in 1-point goals, scoring points and shots with 26, 28 and 78, respectively. He leads three major categories, which is tied for the most with Jeff Teat of the New York Atlas, who sits atop the league in points, assists and touches with 58, 33 and 371, respectively. Williams is also fifth in the league for overall scoring.
Zed Williams
Photo courtesy of Whipsnakes
Williams currently sits with 3.1 points per game, returning him to his 2021 totals and getting close to his whopping 3.8 from his MVP season in 2020 when the Whipsnakes won the championship. The return to world-class production has the Whipsnakes back near the top of the division, finishing the regular season 6-4 and booking a spot in the single-elimination playoffs the first weekend of September in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Teat and Atlas boast the best record in the league at 7-2 with one of those losses coming at the hands of Williams and the Whipsnakes. In that contest, Williams netted two goals in the 16-12 victory and teammate TJ Malone scored a hat trick.
That game was followed by two losses for the Whipsnakes, but since then they have caught fire winning their last four games going into the postseason. Williams ended the year with a pair of 5-point games which included four-goal and five-goal games along with three more hat tricks.
From a game-by-game basis: New York defeated Maryland 17-13 and Williams scored two goals; Boston beat Maryland 13-9 and he scored another two goals; Maryland then first beat Philadelphia 15-14 in overtime with a 2-point goal and assist from him; then Maryland topped New York 16-12 with a pair of Williams goals; Utah then knocked off Maryland 16-11 with a four-goal, one-assist performance by Williams; Carolina narrowly edged Maryland 10-9 in overtime as Williams netted a hat trick; Maryland’s hot streak started with a 18-13 win over California as Williams scored another hat trick with an assist; followed by a 12-6 win over Philadelphia as Williams scored three again; Maryland then edged Boston 16-14 with five goals from Williams for his fifth straight hat trick; and last weekend Maryland wrapped up the regular season with a 16-9 win over West Division leader Utah and Williams had two goals.
New York has already locked into the top spot in the East Division with a game left to play, guaranteeing a bye week in the postseason, while the West Division is up for grabs in Utah this weekend. Maryland could be the top seed in the first round of the playoffs if both Boston and Utah lose their games.
The first playoff game on Labor Day will be played on ESPN 2 and ESPN+, while the second playoff contest is exclusively on ESPN+ to determine which teams advance to the semifinals at Hofstra University on Long Island.