The Premier Lacrosse League ends the regular season in Salt Lake City. The Utah Archers wrap up their season with a doubleheader at home and their first game is a rematch with the California Redwoods. Like last time, Utah is a heavy favorite and is -2.5 across all sportsbooks this time around. Let’s take a look at how I’m betting the earlier Friday game.
Utah Archers vs. California Redwoods
| Utah (-2.5) Odds | Moneyline: -280 |
| California (+2.5) Odds | Moneyline: +220 |
| Total | 23.5 |
| Time | Friday · 8 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN+ |
Odds via FanDuel
When these teams last played, we backed Utah and cashed in big with a 6-0 sweep. While the sportsbooks have adjusted since their previous meeting, I still think the Archers are undervalued on the spread.
The Redwoods have not played a competitive game with the Archers since July 1, 2022, losing their last four games to the Archers by an average of 6.75 goals. While Utah’s roster has remained largely unchanged in the past two seasons, California’s has arguably gotten worse. For whatever reason, Utah is California’s kryptonite and the Redwoods haven’t shown anything this season to prove that they can hang with Archers in Week 11.
Chris Gray was a notable absence when these teams last played, but I don’t expect his presence to make a difference for California. The Redwoods offense has stalled far too many times this season and relies way too much on Rob Pannell. Even when Pannell is at his best—he had five points against Utah earlier this season—the result has still been blowout losses.
When California has had success this season, it’s been in transition and reducing deficits with steady two-point production. Yet, Utah’s defense has done well stopping opposing offenses in transition and limiting opposing two-point attempts.
Teams have been able to have success against Utah by dodging their short stick defenders quickly out of the box when the Archers aren’t in position to slide. Yet, California doesn’t have the type of midfielders that New York and Boston have to take advantage of this weakness. On the other end, Utah’s deep offense should thrive against this young California defense again, and I expect a healthy dose of scoring from both the Utah attack and midfield.
Ultimately, I’m expecting another big win from Utah and recommend betting them to cover the 2.5-point spread at -105 on FanDuel.
I also expect Utah to have success at the faceoff. While TD Ierlan sits ahead of Utah faceoff specialist Mike Sisselberger in faceoff percentage, Sisselberger has gotten the better of Ierlan in their last two meetings. Siss is currently facing off at 59% against Ierlan and was over 70% in their most recent matchup. Bet Utah to win the most faceoffs at +110 on DraftKings.
Finally, I’m betting Mac O’Keefe to record a hat trick at +126 on FanDuel. O’Keefe was quiet when these teams last played, but had a season-low 20 touches. Still, O’Keefe has recorded three or more goals in 11 of 20 games with the Archers.
I expect Utah to get O’Keefe heavily involved as a shooter on Friday night, especially with fellow attackman Matt Moore out of the lineup, and he could be the recipient of some feeds from Grant Ament or Connor Fields if California decides to slide early to those two.
Picks: Utah Archers -2.5, Utah Archers Most Faceoff Wins, Mac O’Keefe Over 2.5 Goals
