PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Ithaca College alumnus Eli Gobrecht '16 can add a ring to his professional resume as his team, the Waterdogs Lacrosse Club, won the Premier Lacrosse League Cash App Championship on September 18 against the Chaos, 11-9, at Subaru Park.
It is the first championship for the Waterdogs, as the team joined the PLL as an expansion franchise in 2020, and were the No. 5 seed in the 2022 tournament. The Waterdogs finished the regular season with a 5-5 record but topped the No. 4, No. 1 and No. 7 seeded teams.
They started the championship with a 19-14 win over No. 4 Atlas and then pulled off an 11-10 upset victory against top seeded Whipsnakes to reach the title game against the Chaos, who beat the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.
Gobrecht recorded a ground ball and caused turnover in the championship contest this past Sunday. He also picked up five ground balls with one caused turnover against the Whipsnakes and two ground balls vs. Altas.
The 2016 USILA Defensive Player of the Year and three-time All-American while a member of the IC lacrosse team, Gobrecht played in all 10 regular season games for the Waterdogs this season. He finished with 20 ground balls, seven caused turnovers, one goal and one assist. His lone goal, in early June, was promoted on the Premier Lacrosse League Twitter account and currently has more than 110,000 views – watch the goal here.
Gobrecht's professional journey has been well-documented since he departed South Hill. The Ithaca, N.Y. native broke into professional lacrosse in 2017 as he signed with the Vancouver Stealth of the National Lacrosse League. He was then selected by the Denver Outlaws in the Major League Lacrosse Supplemental Draft in 2018, and from there, played with the San Diego Seals of the NLL, was invited to try out for the USA Lacrosse National Team and was the No. 4 overall selection by the Archers of the PLL in 2020.
