![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-L-river-lacrosse09_231254256.jpg\")
People along the LaSalle Street bridge look on as New York Charging (in blue) plays against the Maryland Charm (in red) in a first-ever-lacrosse game on a boat on the Chicago River on July 10, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\nAlong white boundary lines, onlookers watched closely through their sunglasses. Lacrosse sticks in hand, players readied themselves as a remix of Earth, Wind & Fire\u2019s \u201cSeptember\u201d blared over speakers. Skyscrapers crept by slowly. Down below, neon green kayaks paddled along. The whistle sounded. Athletes moved.<\/p>\n
So did the field.<\/p>\n
Downtown Chicago doubled as an arena Thursday for a series of afternoon lacrosse games along the Chicago River. The catch? Game play was on \u2014 yes, on \u2014 the river, moving over gentle currents, under drawbridges and parallel with touring architecture boats.<\/p>\n
Situated on a retrofitted Chicago River Boat, the stunt acted as a welcome event for a Premier Lacrosse League series taking place at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium in Evanston on Friday and Saturday. The league previewed the series skipper-style in partnership with Whirlpool, the home appliance company headquartered in Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to be immersed in (the city) right now,\u201d player Kylie Ohmiller said before the action started Thursday. \u201c(We\u2019re) literally in the middle of the river right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohmiller was one of eleven professional lacrosse players who went mobile with their sport for the afternoon. Athletes represented both the Premier Lacrosse League and the Women\u2019s Lacrosse League. Ohmiller plays for the New York Charging in the women\u2019s league. From Long Island, New York, the 28-year-old has played lacrosse since the third grade. Always on land, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy. \u2026 I\u2019ve been playing lacrosse for 20 years now, and I\u2019ve never done it on a boat,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boat play took shape in the form of three-by-three exhibition games. The players\u2019 field for the day was a slab of turf placed on the deck of a riverboat. Black netting bordered the makeshift field, just as a precaution for any rogue lacrosse balls. But players, for the most part, deftly avoided the watery out-of-bounds, a testament to their athletic prowess.<\/p>\n
Games were condensed, fast-paced and despite taking place on a moving target, competitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d said Trevor Baptiste, who plays for the New York Atlas in the Premier Lacrosse League.<\/p>\n
People along the LaSalle Street bridge look on as New York Charging (in blue) plays against the Maryland Charm (in red) in a first-ever-lacrosse game on a boat on the Chicago River on July 10, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Asked how he prepared for the exhibition series, Baptise said nothing specific. If anything, just adopting the mindset of \u201caim small, miss small,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Two brothers \u2014 Paul and Mike Rabil \u2014 launched the Premier Lacrosse League seven years ago. This week marked the first time the league has come to the Chicago area since its first season in 2019.<\/p>\n
Paul Rabil said the Premier Lacrosse League has been working to get back to Chicago for years. And what better way than a quintessential Chicago boat tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do something as big as \u2026 playing lacrosse on a boat? That impact, I think, will ripple through the city,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
For Premier Lacrosse\u2019s first few seasons, the league operated on a touring model where teams didn\u2019t have geographic affiliations. But for the last couple of years, the league has reconfigured gameplay around a few major \u201chome\u201d markets, including Boston, Philadelphia and California. Chicago isn\u2019t on that list but Paul hopes that someday, it will be.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of when, not if,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After a few rounds of games, Josh Barrow with the Premier Lacrosse League, who moonlit as referee for the afternoon, stood at the edge of the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had some close games,\u201d Barrow said, clad in a white and black striped jersey.<\/p>\n
Barrow, who has worked with Premier Lacrosse since the league\u2019s founding, called the event \u201cepic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of those kind of pinch-me moments,\u201d he said. He did admit, though, that there were a few calls he made that could have gone the other way. One standing rule: Any balls that went into the river counted as a lost point.<\/p>\n
\u201c(There were) a few goals that were argumentative,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If only there was instant replay.<\/p>\n