The Maryland Charm are the first-ever Women's Lacrosse League champions. Maryland beat the California Palms 16-13 on Saturday at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, closing out a historic season.
Sydni Black led all scorers with five points on four goals and an assist, firing a team-high 11 shots along the way. She was named championship game MVP. But the Charm also had support from a complete performance belonged from Brigid Duffy, who matched Black's point total from the midfield — two goals, two assists — while also leading the game in caused turnovers with six.
Ashley Humphrey finished with four assists, and captain Alex Aust Holman was nearly automatic when she shot, going 3-for-4 for a 75% clip. Anna Brandt led California with four goals.
Sydni Black puts her defenders on skates and finishes it! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/OCAqQVcy0A
— Women's Lacrosse League (@wlacrosseleague) August 15, 2026
Maryland used both of its goalies in the win. Jenika Cuocco stopped 9 shots for a 60% save rate, and Caylee Waters — the Charm's primary starter all season — also saw time in net, making eight saves of her own at a 53% clip. Together the two combined for Maryland's 17 team saves. Taylor Moreno played the whole game for California and turned aside 15 shots in the loss.
The numbers tell a story of a game Maryland controlled without ever fully running away with it. The Charm won the possession battle comfortably — 24:46 to 18:21 - while committing roughly the same number of turnovers (18 to the Palms' 17). Maryland also won the ground-ball battle decisively, 50-42. California actually won the draw circle, going 16-for-30 on faceoffs (52%) to Maryland's 14-for-30, with Sammy Jo Adelsberger winning 8 of her 15 draws for the Palms against Livy Rosenzweig's 14-for-30 for Maryland. It wasn't enough to overcome the deficit Maryland built everywhere else on the stat sheet.
Saturday's game was the first time a WLL season built to a single winner-take-all final of its own, rather than sharing a stage with the men's PLL championship earlier in the year — a genuine first for a league in just its second full season. An $80,000 bonus from Cash App, matching the men's PLL championship prize, was split between the two rosters, with the largest share going to the winning team and Black, the game's MVP.