Inside the Most ELECTRIC Rivalry in Lacrosse (since 2016!)
Inside the Most ELECTRIC Rivalry in Lacrosse (since 2016!)
Video Transcript
He, he, he's electric, right?
I would say athletic, psychopath.
He's electric with his hands, his ability to score right and left-handed.
Unique, risk-taker.
He was one of the original guys I was like, you know, "Bring a pick back here."
We do look out for each other.
At the end of the day, we're both trying to go home healthy and in one piece, and we both have the ability to, to kill the other person if we need to.
So we- it's, you know, like mutual destruction.
What happens when electric meets psychopath?
Michael Sowers and Jack Rowlett put it to the test each time they go head-to-head.
Every battle, a new experiment.
The result, a rivalry featuring style and substance that's become more cerebral with age.
I feel like the best way to describe me versus Mike would be like a chess match.
We just have seen each other since we were probably 15 years old, like playing club ball and some of the other stuff against each other.
So it's one of those things at this point, like he knows everything I wanna do and I know every move he wants to make.
What makes me and Rowlett rivals would probably be we played together back for USA U19, so we've known each other for, for a long time, yeah.
It was 10 years ago in the summer of 2016 when Sowers and Rowlett met as teammates on the U19 USA team.
Rowlett had just finished his freshman year at North Carolina, winning a national championship.
Sowers was the number 10 ranked incoming freshman prepared to lead Princeton back to glory.
That was kinda like before the age of social media, so like, guys had Twitter and Instagram, but they weren't very big at all.
It wasn't like there was people posting clips.
So like, the first time you see him play was at tryouts, right?
Once he made the team, it was very clear why right away.
I was still playing in high school.
I hadn't seen a pole like that that was that aggressive, that athletic, that skilled, but also then had that like killer mentality.
So I remember early on, like, you know, usually, I would go at guys one-on-one.
He was one of the original guys I was like, you know, "Bring a pick back here."
At the U19 World Championships, both Sowers and Rowlett earned all-tournament honors, leading Team USA to the gold medal game against their rival, Canada.
That was a gritty team.
Super talented, but more than anything, gritty.
I think what kinda sums up that team was when we were down maybe 7-2 at halftime of that game, I remember Rowlett kinda going around to each sort of group.
Let's get that swagger back, boys.
All right?
We're a good team.
Woo!
Let's go have some fun.
And sure enough, you know, we just kinda chipped away and ended up coming back and winning.
Gold medal on the line.
Bernhardt, feet in behind.
Matthias, feet in front.
Conrad scores.
And that's gonna do it.
USA will be eight-time U19 World Champions with an amazing comeback here against Team Canada.
Winning gold launched Sowers and Rowlett to All-American collegiate careers, developing into pro-level talent and soaring to the top of draft boards.
For pick number two, the Chaos Lacrosse Club selects Jack Rowlett from the University of North Carolina.
Guarding the other team's best player in the ACC is a task every single time.
No question about it.
The Water Dogs Lacrosse Club, we're gonna select Michael Sowers, attack man, Duke University.
You insert Sowers, give him the ball, and he's gonna be able to win that one-on-one matchup more often than not.
I guess you could say it became a rivalry.
I mean, he started covering me as soon as I came into this league.
'22, covering me one of my first games in Baltimore, and then in the championship game as well.
Yeah, so the '22 championship, that was the weird year where historically we'd always been the underdog, and that was the first year we kinda had the, a target on our backs.
We had won.
Like, we were the group you were chasing at that point.
We had been in three championships, had just won our first.
Like, we were one of the premier teams in this, you know, early part of the league's history.
We won in '21, so then we went up to Philly in '22, and that was like the big Mike homecoming weekend in Philly.
I remember thinking like, you know, "They've been here before.
We haven't."
Blaise, I think, had made a couple saves that he made look easy.
And Sowers will take the shot and Reardenz right there with the kick save.
Sowers, tough angle.
Blaise was there to stop him.
You see the physicality of Jack Rowlett.
99 in white is going to get physical with Michael Sowers.
You just kinda wonder, like, you know, what kind of day is it gonna be, and then I remember CK came off a pick.
This is gonna be a great look at goal.
Finally, Water Dogs get on the board.
It's Connor Kelly.
He hit his, like, classic leaner where he kinda like leans down.
And I remember after that play, I think everybody, like, took a deep breath.
With both sides settled in, Michael Sowers and Jack Rowlett were back to just playing their game.
The, the one play that comes to my mind that kinda like is a great example of his style of play is, I think it was in the second quarter.
The ball got throwed over our offensive player's head.
He picked the ball up in the corner of the box.
I'm kinda going at him.
I make like three moves and he's standing in front of me every step of the way.
Usually, a guy gets lost after one or two.
He made those moves and he swam back to the middle as his last move, and I just, like, flipped my hips and my stick hit the ground.
Like, I was using it as, like, balance.
And I heard the whole crowd, like, go, "Ooh," like he fell.
I'm like, "I, I feel like I'm still in a good spot here."
And then I'm going top side probably at like 12 yards, right in the middle of the field, and he goes over my head and lands it, and that's a spot nobody goes over your head.
You're not expecting it.
He had already crossed the middle of the field, so now his angle is decreasing every step he takes.
The last opportunity he has to get a good shot off is right now.
If I go for this and I miss, he still doesn't have an opportunity to get a great shot.
I'll probably just fall on him, maybe get a push or something, but- But I think the athleticism to be able to stay, match step for step, and then go over the head there is pretty unique.
I remember he said it to me on the field.
Time in the money, goes, "That was a nice play, man."
So, like, that kinda describes our relationship, right?
It's like no one's holding a grudge on anybody.
It's like, "Yeah, nice play.
Good, good play."
The 2022 PLL Championship went into halftime knotted at 5-5.
To finish the job, Philadelphia needed more from Michael Sowers.
We gotta go.
Right?
Like, when, when, when we exploit match-ups, like when Sowers, Kieran, I think we do a pretty good job in the picking game.
Like, fucking go find people first, then get your eyes up as a feeder.
We had, like, lost momentum a little bit.
And, in like the third quarter, it was right before the buzzer, kind of went to my right hand.
Split came back last.
If he wants a pick, he's gonna slow dodge you.
He's gonna go slow.
He's gonna try to find that pick.
Rale didn't get through, and then I was able to shoot, like, a screenshot and, and it went straight through Blaze's five hole.
Desperation score.
Sowers beats Bearden with just one second left on the shot clock.
My best piece of advice for guys that guard him is do not let him Do, do not let him start his dodge inside the box.
You're dead.
That was one of the plays that kind of kickstarted the rest of the run in that '22 championship game.
Pierre McCarl had a goal down the stretch.
Here comes McCarl.
He's got past Blaze and scores.
CK scored, I think, on man up.
Oh, the extra move to get a better look.
And that's when I was like, "All right.
We're, we're gonna win this thing.
This is crazy."
Water Dogs, three years after an expansion team in the league, take home the title.
You know, it wasn't our best day.
We ended up losing that one.
But I would say probably from there, it kind of put both of us on the map of, you know, you're gonna do your thing on the O side.
I'm gonna try to do my thing on the D side.
And, and we're just gonna run into each other for, you know, until one of us retires.
But retirement is a problem for the future.
Mike, love you, buddy.
Love you.
Stay safe.
Today, the pair continues to battle head-to-head as cornerstones of their respective franchises.
I know him well enough where, like, if he's being too quiet, I'll ask him why.
You all right?
Am I all right?
Yeah.
You seem a little just quiet.
Nah, I'm good.
You're normally like Mr. Perky.
Like, I know you're more chatty than this, Mike.
Are you, are you tired?
Do you Like, what's going on?
Like, I know him that well.
He's a big talker during the game.
Like, sometimes he wants to have a conversation when the ball is down on the other end.
That's never been me.
I'm focused on playing.
If they switch it, Rale, it's just running back.
Run through option.
So just pop the space.
It's gonna be a quick catchy shot, all right?
They have brought in some new guys, especially recently with all their whole rookie class that's been great.
But prior to that, I mean, they ran the same lineup for a pretty long time.
So no, I mean, that, that's where you develop a rivalry.
It's year after year after year just battling.
More than anything, I mean, you know, he's a great player.
On a shortlist for best in the world.
They rely on him heavily to take a guy out of the game.
Yes, I do know this kid long enough where I should be able to guard him, but at the same time, like, that means he's the top guy on that team.
To win that is, it's a good day, and it means that you're gonna have a good off with that.
Yeah, at the end of the day, we're both trying to go home healthy, in one piece, and we both have the ability to, to kill the other person if we need to.
So we- it's, you know, like mutual destruction.
I think it's just been cool.
We've, we played together from when we were young, and now being able to compete against each other at this level, still maintaining, you know, our level of friendship has been really good.
Like, we are constantly trying to get one up on each other.
We're always trying to improve, so I mean, that's kind of what I appreciate about him.
