New York Atlas set for first home game in Albany

This weekend, the Premier Lacrosse League will open their season at UAlbany for the third straight year. But this year is different.

ALBANY, NY (NEWS10) -- This weekend, the Premier Lacrosse League will open its season at UAlbany for the third straight year. But this year is different.

For the first five seasons of the PLL, they adopted strictly a touring model. They'd hit different cities, but teams weren't affiliated with a location. This year, for the first time, each team has a host city. The Capital Region will be the first area to get to root on their home team: the New York Atlas.

The teams will still travel to and play in a different location each week, but whoever the home team is that week, they'll play two games in front of their fans instead of one. The New York Atlas will be the first to do it at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium, hosting the Boston Cannons on Saturday at 3:30 pm, and the Maryland Whipsnakes on Sunday at 3:30 pm.

The PLL has found great support in Albany. Not only do they get great turnouts from fans, but UAlbany has served as a great host for the league's training camp both this week, and in years past.

While the Atlas represents the whole state of New York, the team is excited to play their home games in Albany. "The hospitality has been awesome," said head coach Mike Pressler. "The facilities are there. Everything's all centralized, which is easy. Couldn't be a better venue to hold this training camp. Pleased to be here in Albany, obviously our home city. I think highly of the community, the Albany staff, and and certainly the venue."

"I think every time we've played here over the years, it's been such a great community atmosphere," said faceoff specialist Trevor Baptiste. "It's so many fans and exciting people, excited to watch the game. So it's great that we're here."

The PLL weekend begins with a championship rematch between the Utah Archers and the Philadelphia Waterdogs on Saturday at 1:00 PM.