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Picture this: It’s a beautiful Sunday morning in early July. The setting? A Walmart parking lot in Northern Virginia. A man drives by the front of the store in a black Escalade. Not one of those new Escalades, either, we're talking early 2000s, the kind that almost certainly had a Playstation 2 hooked up in the back seat at some point. With a Kangol on the dome, one hand on the wheel, and a cruising speed of two miles an hour so everybody sees him, he blasts “Jumpin’ Jumpin’” by Destiny’s Child, every window rolled all the way down.
While he may have initially appeared to be a lone relic from a long-forgotten era, Escalade Guy is actually part of a much larger movement, one that’s currently taking place all around you. Just think about what we’ve seen this summer: Serena Williams went back to Wimbledon. T.I. returned to the top of the charts. The world wondered if LeBron would take his talents to South Beach, and Matt Damon has resumed whooping up on people some 10 years after the last Bourne movie.
Take a look around, do you see what’s happening? This isn't just any summer, it's Millennial Summer, and while the kids these days are all caught up in their scuba dancing, 6-7s and skibbidy rizz mogging, the olds are out here running these streets in full force (then back home at a reasonable hour and posted up like that bear from the sleepytime tea box).
Of course, not everything is the same this time around. We’ve gone from night clubs and bottle service to golf clubs and bottle warmers, from Mark Millon highlights on VHS to Brendan and McCabe on our phones. We used to jump out of bed like Stan Smith at the beginning of American Dad, now it’s more of an eight-step process, and it sounds like someone walking through the woods on an autumn morning, or Optimus Prime getting ready to transform and roll out.
With all that being said, don’t be mistaken: We may no longer be leaning with it and/or rocking with it with the same frequency and voracity as we once did, but there's a difference between being washed and washed up — millennials are still doing their thing, especially on the lacrosse field.
The 2026 PLL season has been one defined by both breakout rookie performances and longtime favorites being released to the player pool, and while Spallina, Palumbo and the rest of the Baby Simbas of the lacrosse world understand that the future is theirs for the taking, it doesn’t mean that their significantly veteran counterparts are getting the Mufasa treatment just yet. Some of the league’s fine wines have not only continued to thrive, they’ve truly shined this summer — reaching milestones, elevating their production, and in some cases, a bit of both.
As the sun begins to set on Millennial Summer, grab yourself an ice-cold Fruitopia, put some Hoobastank on the iPod and take a moment to recognize the greatest millennial performances of the season:
Austin Kaut
In hindsight, the 2026 Championship Series might have predicted the summer to come, as Austin Kaut stepped back into a full-time starting role and likely introduced himself to a nation of casual fans unaware that he arrived at the St. James with over 1,000 career saves to his name. On his way to leading the Carolina Chaos to their first sixes title, Kaut earned All-Tournament Honors and re-solidified his legendary status both on and off the field, first setting both tournament and single-game save records, then lifting his shirt at a press conference to reveal more bruises than the last peach at a farmers market.
As for the summer proper, Kaut’s finest moment came during the second week of the season, his Chaos facing a Boston Cannons team that drafted him back in 2014. When Blaze Riorden left with an injury, Kaut stepped in for the second half and turned away 63.6% of the shots he faced. Of his seven saves on the evening, none were bigger than his one-on-one stop against Ben Ramsey after a failed clear, the denial protecting Carolina’s 9-8 lead as the third quarter expired. With four additional saves in the final quarter, Kaut led the Chaos to a 14-10 victory, giving head coach Steven Brooks his first win in the outdoor game.
Zach Currier
Watching Zach Currier play lacrosse makes you understand how the Emmy people must have felt watching The Bear — you’re going to put it in a category because you have to put it in a category, but whichever one you choose is going to end up ignoring a significant chunk of whatever it is that you’re witnessing. If he’s a defensive specialist, why is he ninth in the league (and first among midfielders) in assists? If it’s a comedy, then why do I need to go call my momma as soon as I’m done crying? Simply put, some things just don’t fit in the boxes we thought would be large enough to hold them.
Currier has scooped a career-high 55 groundballs this summer (good for fifth in the league, even including face-off guys who faced off against non-face-off guys) and commemorated his 10th season of play with a 10 groundball game against the Outlaws, a game in which he also recorded four assists, won two face-offs and caused one turnover while committing none of his own. Speaking of caused turnovers, his nine on the season has him tied with fellow Ontarian Culver alum Ty English for the league lead among shortsticks — one more and he’ll record just the third double-digit point and caused turnover season in league history. The first? Currier in ‘24.
Marcus Holman
By a little bit of design and a lot of injury-based bad luck, the Boston Cannons’ offense is almost entirely different from what was expected at the start of the season. Marcus Holman has not only provided the stability for a drastically reimagined lineup, his goal and assist numbers both improved over last year, and his 74.6 SOG% is his highest since reaching 78.9% with the Ohio Machine back in 2014. Furthermore, he’s second in the league with four 2-pointers this season, giving him 24 for his career (12 since he joined the Cannons in 2023) and moving him past Hall of Famer Matt Striebel for 10th all-time.
Marcus Holman is putting up numbers per usual, but his greatest performances this season have been of the cerebral variety. Holman’s summer has been one peppered with an assortment of savvy vet moves designed to make the most of restart situations, from dodging a teammate’s pass to give an opponent worse field position following a shot-clock violation, to taking advantage of a largely disregarded whistle to catch the Atlas defense sleeping with a buzzer-beating 2-pointer. The third installment of Holman’s savvy vet trilogy took place against the Denver Outlaws: With a two-goal lead and just over three minutes left in the final quarter, the Cannons were set to restart from the endline with just one second on the shot clock. Seven running clock seconds later, Holman picks up a ball, cradles it for a moment, decides he doesn’t want that one, puts it back down and walks over to sample another ± just out there subtly draining potential comeback time by testing game balls like cantaloupes at a farmers market (I'm well aware that that's the second farmers market reference in this piece, millennials talk about farmers markets a lot). A few more running clock seconds later, he steps onto the field and immediately rolls it into the corner for the inevitable shot clock violation. The Cannons won by two.
Kyle Hartzell
This summer, Kyle Hartzell took staying ready so you don’t have to get ready to levels previously unseen, ending his three-year retirement to pop up out of nowhere and pick up right where he left off like Captain America (Avenger, not Archer) emerging from the Arctic ice.
A brief recap for those unfamiliar with the lore: The Redwoods found themselves in some injury trouble, so friend/former teammate Anthony Kelly called up Hartzell and asked if he felt like coming out of retirement in time for the Redwoods’ homecoming games that weekend. Hartzell had been consistently training anyway, so he caught a flight to California, got all his gear and watched the first game like a hawk from the sidelines. The following afternoon, he donned the Yellow and Green for the first time since 2022 and promptly locked down an opponent who was 6 years old during Hartzell’s rookie season. The Redwoods won in overtime (more on that in a minute), and Hartzell has not only joined the Gaits, Merrills and Grants of the world by playing a pro game in his 40s, he’s now officially become the oldest player to ever suit up in a PLL game, all because he stayed ready.
Dillon Ward
After splitting time with Matt DeLuca and recording a 44.1% save percentage over five games with the Waterdogs last season, Dillon Ward was sent to the Redwoods in April in exchange for a 2027 third-round pick. Anthony Kelly admitted that he tried to bring Ward to the Redwoods the previous season as well, and it looks like the team’s persistence has paid off. Ward has bounced back and then some: His 53.1% save percentage is his highest since appearing in six games back in 2023, and he’s tallied 129 saves, the most he’s recorded since leading the Denver Outlaws to their 2019 championship appearance.
One of Ward’s most clutch performances of the season took place during the Redwoods’ 14-13 overtime win against Carolina, the All-World goalie recording three saves in the extra session before Dylan Molloy put away the game-winner. Playing in the PLL looks like a fun job, but it’s a job nonetheless, and following the game, Molloy and Ward gave the two most Grown Man answers possible when it came to having to work overtime on the weekend.
Ward: “I’m excited to get back to my wife and my kids.”
Molloy: “I just wanted to get the f— out of here.”
Rob Pannell
Last but not least, we have Rob Pannell, the man who became the game’s all-time leading scorer earlier this summer. When it came to setting the record, Pannell didn’t crawl his way across the finish line, he strung together three or four back handsprings, landed in a full split, pulled himself up by the back of his own shirt collar and moonwalked across it.
With five goals and an assist in Maryland’s win over the California Redwoods, Pannell’s record-breaking night marked his second six-point game of the season (It's the first time he’s recorded more than one in a PLL summer, and prior to this year, he hadn't reached the total since 2023.), and the lone member of the 300 goal, 300 assist club has posted better goal, assist and groundball numbers than he did last year.
Only one man knows how it feels to score 665 career points, but Pannell's sentiment regarding the highly publicized and heavily documented pursuit of Paul Rabil’s record was in fact highly relatable to anyone who’s found themselves dissociating their way through a mandatory birthday celebration in an office breakroom: Please, let’s just get this over with so I can get back to work in peace.
During an in-game interview shortly after he’d broken the record (“I’m just glad it’s over, honestly,” he said), Dana Boyle asked Pannell about a limp he’d begun sporting a few minutes earlier.
“We saw you hobble off the field,” she said. “Are you OK?”
His response?
“Yeah, I’m just old.”
Amen brother, amen.
In conclusion, here’s to Rob Pannell, Dillon Ward and the other Patron Saints of Millennial Summer. Thanks to you, countless washed lacrosse fans around the world now find themselves inspired to get back in the gym, dust off the stick for some wall ball, or maybe just lace up the air monarchs and go for a walk around the block — you know, get some steps in before it gets too cold and we wish we’d brought a light jacket or something.
Congratulations on your success and thank you for setting the standard for the rest of us — a nation of proud Uncs salutes you.
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