(Clockwise from topleft) Matt McMahon (Photo from Matt McMahon), Kyle Gallagher (Photo by Son Nguyen), Simon Mathias (Photo by Miranda Gong), and Reed Junkin (Photo by Son Nguyen).
While Penn’s athletes are preparing for their first regular year of competition in a while, four former Quakers are playing right now in the Premier Lacrosse League.
With the regular season a little over half of the way through, we take a look at how the Penn alumni are playing through four weeks.
Matt McMahon - Defense, Archers
Playing professionally since 2015, McMahon became a PLL All-Star in 2019 after a year in which he started all 13 of his team’s games and finished with 28 groundballs and 14 caused turnovers.
So far this season, McMahon has played in all five of the Archers’ games. During that span, he’s caused a total of five turnovers and has secured 11 groundballs with six of those coming this past Sunday against the Whipsnakes.
Going into the rest of the year, expect McMahon to continue to be a big part of his team’s success, as they currently sit tied for the second-best record in the league at 3-2 and have by far the best point differential.
Kyle Gallagher - Faceoff, Chaos
Though he transferred as a graduate student to Notre Dame for the 2021 season, Gallagher spent two years at Penn. As a Quaker, he earned a second-team All-Ivy nod his junior year and led the country with 15.4 groundballs per game through five games before his senior season was cut short due to COVID-19.
In his first season with the PLL, Gallagher has played in two of his team’s games, going 12 for 40 on faceoffs and notching eight groundballs.
It remains to be seen if Gallagher will return to the 2-3 Chaos lineup after not having played since June 26 against the Redwoods.
Simon Mathias - Attack, Whipsnakes
Before starting his PLL career in 2019 with Chrome LC, Mathias earned three second-team All-Ivy selections and, upon his graduation from Penn, was the leading points scorer in school history with 197.
Mathias played his first game this season on Sunday against the Archers and scored a crucial one-point goal in a 15-14 win for the Whipsnakes.
It’s likely that he’ll see some playing time in the playoffs, as his team currently sits at a league-leading 4-1 record.
Reed Junkin - Goalie, Whipsnakes
Prior to beginning his PLL career this season, Junkin finished his four-year college career at Penn as the all-time program leader in minutes played with 3,475 and second in program history in career saves with 647.
Through three games played in the PLL, Junkin didn’t see much action, notching zero saves and giving up no scores. However, in his fourth game, Junkin gave up one score and earned one save in a 16-6 loss to the Chrome.
Junkin will compete alongside his former Penn teammate Mathias as the Whipsnakes continue to make a playoff push.
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