Yo Philly, say what’s up to the Waterdogs, your new Premier Lacrosse League team

The Waterdogs won't play locally until June 14-16 at Villanova Stadium, but you can check them out on Valentine’s Day when they open against the Utah Archers (7:30 p.m., ESPN+)

The Premier League Lacrosse's Waterdogs will open their season on Valentine's Day.Read morePhiladelphia Waterdo

by Matt Ryan

Published Feb. 13, 2024, 2:22 p.m. ET

It still hasn’t hit Michael Sowers just yet.

Sowers, the star player for the Premier Lacrosse League’s Waterdogs franchise, is a part of a new era for the team. For the first time, the franchise will play in the Philadelphia area after being assigned to the city in November.

Although they don’t play locally until their host weekend at Villanova Stadium on June 14-16, the Waterdogs’ Valentine’s Day opening game against the Utah Archers (Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., ESPN+) in Springfield, Va., will be special, especially for Sowers, a Dresher native who attended Upper Dublin High School.

“I still don’t think it’s fully hit me yet,” Sowers said during an interview with The Inquirer. “I think it really will when I see the jersey and it says ‘Philadelphia.’ ”

When discussing why he chose the Waterdogs for Philly, PLL co-founder Paul Rabil said it’s “a fun exercise” to have the Waterdogs’ star player playing back home.

Sowers, a two-time PLL All-Star and 2022 Championship MVP, is also the all-time leading scorer at Princeton. He played his final year at Duke, leading the Blue Devils to the national semifinals.

He’s entering his fourth season in the PLL after going No. 2 overall in the 2021 college draft. The 5-foot-9 attackman is a self-proclaimed diehard 76ers and Eagles fan who watches every game.

Now he has the opportunity to represent his hometown.

“I always had this kind of weird feeling that it was going to work out,” he said “... As a Philly kid, it’s something you dream about. To put it simply, [it] couldn’t have worked out better.”

The Waterdogs are familiar with the Philadelphia area, playing the 2022 and 2023 PLL title games at Subaru Park in Chester. When they won in 2022, there were about 14,000 people in attendance. But their connections go further than just playing there.

The father of head coach Andy Copeland grew up on the Main Line, and locals on the roster include Sowers, Chris Sabia (Haverford School), Jack Traynor (Malvern Prep), Jeff Conner (Strath Haven) and James Reilly (Conestoga). There’s also a contingent of Eagles fans on the Waterdogs.

“Me, Christian Scarpello, Chris Sabia, and Eli Gobrecht [are] all Eagles fans,” Sowers said. We have a little group chat where we already text about Eagles games. Especially when we won [the PLL championship] in 2022, I think we kind of let people know what the city was about. … I think that after that championship win, I felt like a lot of guys on the team felt comfortable with the city and just like immersed in the sports culture.”

Philadelphia is certainly known for its unique sports culture. Now it includes the Waterdogs as a part of it, which has played into the comfort of the Waterdogs being assigned to Philly.

“I think that we embody it already, and I think that’s why the league knocked it out of the park by putting us in Philly,” Sowers said. “We’re definitely a talented team, but I think since the team’s inception, we’ve always kind of had like a gritty identity. And I think that our team kind of already embodies a lot of what Philly sports stands for.”