Utah bound: Archers lacrosse club grab former Park City star in 2024 PLL college draft

SALT LAKE CITY — Before the opening of the 2024 Premier Lacrosse League college draft Tuesday afternoon, Utah Archers head coach Chris Bates said it was "probably only a matter of time" before the newly located club began adding homegrown talent to its roster.

The former Princeton and Drexel coach was referring primarily to the University of Utah, the state's lone NCAA Division I men's lacrosse program that has won back-to-back ASUN Tournament titles and will open the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Saturday against Duke (12:30 p.m. MDT).

"The Utes can play; they've got some talent," Bates said. "I know Utah, and see the talent coming up through the ranks. The guys who are playing for coach (Andrew) McMinn, he's doing a hell of a job. We're going to look there every year, and there may be a moment that makes sense."

For at least one homegrown product, Tuesday evening made sense.

With the fifth pick of the second round, the PLL defending champion Utah Archers selected Michigan short-stick defensive midfielder Beau Pederson, one of five picks by the newly named Utah club.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound midfielder who had four goals and two assists in 16 games in his lone season at Michigan since transferring from Princeton was an All-Big Ten second-team selection after back-to-back All-Ivy League second-team honors in 2022 and 2023.

The Park City native's father, Chip, played football at Michigan, and his mother, Kathy, was a college swimmer for Michigan State, well before Pederson was a fourth-round pick by the Halifax Thunder in the National Lacrosse League college draft in September.

Now Pederson's professional lacrosse career will start with his home-state club after the PLL announced a move to locate teams across the country, beginning with the touring league's 2024 season.

Raised in Park City after his father moved to Utah to earn his master's in geochemistry from the U., Pederson lettered in lacrosse and hockey four times and three times in football at Park City High. He led the Miners' football team in receptions and yards in 2016 and 2017, earning second-team all-state honors before being named state lacrosse MVP in 2018.

The Archers had five total draft picks, tied for the most in the league. But the defending league champions didn't have a selection until the final pick of the first round.

With that first pick, Utah selected defenseman Mason Woodward out of Marquette with the eighth overall selection.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound native of Towson, Maryland, was a two-time unanimous All-Big East first-team selection and third-team All-American en route to a four-time team captaincy and a career that finishes as Marquette's all-time leader in ground balls and second-place finish in caused turnovers.

"From the beginning of our research, this is a guy we've liked," Bates told ESPN. "We feel like he can play up top, below, and just good close defense. There are other really talented defenseman that we think highly of, but we don't think there's a glaring hole at longstick midfield and Mason's unique. He's going to be a great pro; we have no doubt."

Utah started the second round selecting Pederson with the No. 13 overall pick before adding Canadian international and Duke attack Dyson Williams with the No. 16 pick.

The 6-foot-2 attack totaled 201 goals and 25 assists in 76 games over five years for the Blue Devils before being taken first overall in the 2023 NLL draft by the Albany FireWolves back in September.

The new Utah side then boosted its close defense with the final pick of the third round, snatching Towson defender Colby Barsz at No. 24 overall. The 6-foot-5, 190-pounder moved from longstick midfielder to close defense in 2023, and earned All-CAA first-team honors after leading the Tigers with 18 caused turnovers and 22 ground balls.

Utah traded the final pick of the draft to the California Redwoods in exchange for a third-round pick in 2025.

The Archers open the season June 1 against the Philadelphia Waterdogs (11 a.m. MDT, ABC).

Utah Archers: 2024 PLL college draft

• No. 8: Mason Woodward, DF, Marquette (Towson, Md.)
• No. 13: Beau Pederson, SSDM, Michigan (Park City, Utah)
• No. 16: Dyson Williams, ATK, Duke (Oshawa, Ontario)
• No. 24: Colby Bars, DF, Towson (Matthews, N.C.)
• No. 32: Traded to California Redwoods

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