Cavaliers Now

Former Wahoo Matt Moore Wins Second-Straight PLL Championship With Archers

Matt Newton

Matt Moore celebrates after scoring a goal for the Utah Archers against the Maryland Whipsnakes in the 2024 PLL Championship.
Matt Moore celebrates after scoring a goal for the Utah Archers against the Maryland Whipsnakes in the 2024 PLL Championship. / Utah Archers/X

Matt Moore won two national championships in his time with the Virginia men's lacrosse program. Now, the former Cavalier is a two-time Premier Lacrosse League Champion as well.

Moore scored two goals and one assist to lead the Utah Archers to their second-consecutive PLL title, defeating the Maryland Whipsnakes 12-8 on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia to claim the 2024 PLL Championship.

Moore, a native of Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania just outside of Philly, battled back from significant injury troubles this season and even exited Sunday's title game briefly with an injury before returning and providing a big-time impact for the Archers. In the final minute of the first quarter, the Archers trailed 3-0 until Moore finally got them on the board with a crafty spin-move dodge and a goal.

Last year, Moore had a goal and three assists in the PLL title game to lead the Archers to their first-ever championship by defeating the then-defending champion Waterdogs, who also had former Cavalier Ryan Conrad on their roster. Conrad opposed Moore in this title game again as he was traded from the Waterdogs to the Whipsnakes on August 6th. That reunited Conrad with former UVA teammate Zed Williams, who helped the Whips win the 2020 PLL Championship and earned MVP honors along the way

So, this year's PLL Championship pitted Williams, Conrad, and the Maryland Whipsnakes against Matt Moore and the reigning champion Utah Archers. Though Moore's team eventually came out on top, Ryan Conrad accomplished a remarkable feat by scoring a hat trick in the PLL Championship Game for the third year in a row. Williams also scored one goal in the game.

The second half of the title game was populated with big-time plays by former Cavaliers. Conrad scored his third goal of the game to tie things up at 6-6.

Matt Moore responded with an unassisted leaning goal to put the Archers back in front and then assisted on another goal as part of a 4-0 Archers run to extend their lead to 10-6 in the fourth quarter.

That run was snapped by Zed Williams scoring his first goal to keep the Whipsnakes in it.

Ultimately, the Archers pulled away late and won 12-8, denying the Whipsnakes their third-ever PLL title (2019, 2020) as the Archers kept their crown and joined the Whips as two-time champions.

The PLL title game saw these three former UVA men's lacrosse stars account for seven total points.

Virginia has had at least one former player on four of the last five PLL Championship teams.

2020 Whipsnakes - Zed Williams
2022 Waterdogs - Ryan Conrad
2023 Archers - Matt Moore, Jared Conners
2024 Archers - Matt Moore

Published
Matt Newton

MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.