Rob Pannell Bio
Rob Pannell, born December 11, 1989, is an American professional lacrosse player widely regarded as one of the greatest attackmen in the sport’s history. He currently plays for the Maryland Whipsnakes of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). A former Cornell University standout, Pannell is one of the top leading scorers in men’s Division I lacrosse history and a longtime member of Team USA’s national team program.
Known by the nickname RP3, Pannell has built a career defined by consistent scoring, creative playmaking, and big-game performances. He is a two-time Lt. Raymond Enners Award winner, the 2013 Tewaaraton Trophy recipient, and a multiple-time MLL and PLL All-Star. His signature move, the question mark dodge, has become one of the recognizable techniques in the modern game.
Early Life and Background
Rob Pannell was born in Smithtown, New York, on December 11, 1989. He grew up on Long Island in a tight-knit family that quickly became central to his sporting life. He is the middle child of Susan and Bob Pannell, with an older sister named Genevieve and a younger brother named James, who later played for the Atlas Lacrosse Club in the PLL.
Pannell’s path into lacrosse was shaped by a strong family athletic background. His father, Robert, played baseball and football at Brown University. His uncle, Jim Metzger, is a former Half Hollow Hills High School and Hofstra University All-American lacrosse player, and the Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse offices at Hofstra are named in his honor. Pannell attended Smithtown High School, where he played on the varsity lacrosse team for three years. As a senior, he led Long Island in scoring with a school-record 130 points, earned offensive MVP honors, and was named to Newsday’s All-Long Island second team and the 2007 high school All-American team.
After high school, Pannell attended Deerfield Academy for a post-graduate year, where he played both basketball and lacrosse. He set a Deerfield single-season points record with 99 points and earned the Stewart Lindsay Jr. Award as the Outstanding Attackman in Division I high school lacrosse, a strong sign of the production he would later bring to the college game.
Path to Lacrosse
Pannell’s transition into elite lacrosse began with his freshman season at Cornell University in 2009. He was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and set the Cornell rookie record for points in a season with 67 points, leading the Big Red to the NCAA championship final. Although Cornell lost to Syracuse 10–9, Pannell led the team in postseason scoring with 16 points over four games, including a six-point effort against Virginia in the semifinals.
Across his next two seasons, Pannell firmly established himself as the most dangerous attackman in college lacrosse. He was a first-team All-American, a first-team All-Ivy League selection, and the Ivy League Player of the Year in both 2010 and 2011. He also won the Jack Turnbull Award as the Outstanding Attackman in Division I in both years. In 2011, his 89 points led all players in the league, and he was presented with the Lt. Raymond Enners Award as the NCAA’s Most Outstanding Player in men’s college lacrosse. That year, he was also a finalist for the 2011 ESPY for Best Male College Athlete, the only lacrosse player ever to be nominated for that award.
Rob Pannell Career
Early Career (2009–2012)
Pannell’s Cornell career peaked across five seasons of varsity play. Before his senior year, the New York Lizards selected him with the first overall pick in the 2012 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft. In his senior season opener, he scored 16 points in the first two games before breaking his left foot against Army, an injury that kept him out of the 2012 NCAA tournament and ultimately led him to apply for a fifth year of Ivy League eligibility.
Returning to Cornell in 2013, Pannell led the team in scoring for the fourth time in five years and finished second in the NCAA with 102 points. In the NCAA semifinals, he set the record of 354 all-time career NCAA points, passing Matt Danowski, a mark that stood until 2015. That same season, he earned his second Lt. Raymond Enners Award, becoming the Ivy League’s first three-time Player of the Year, and won the prestigious Tewaaraton Trophy as the most outstanding American college lacrosse player.
MLL Breakthrough (2013–2018)
Pannell debuted professionally with the New York Lizards in 2013 and immediately showed he belonged at the top level. He recorded 42 points on 25 goals and 17 assists in 10 games, was selected to the MLL All-Star Game, and was named the 2013 Cascade Lacrosse Rookie of the Year. The next season, he made his second All-Star team, was named MLL All-Pro, and led the Lizards in points with 33 goals and 23 assists, helping the team reach the playoffs.
In 2015, Pannell led the league in scoring with 68 points on 38 goals and 30 assists, becoming only the third player in MLL history with at least 30 goals and 30 assists in a season. He then led the Lizards to the MLL Championship, scoring four goals and one assist in a victory over the Rochester Rattlers to win the title. He was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
Over the next three seasons, Pannell continued to rewrite the MLL record book. In 2016, he was named Warrior Offensive Player of the Year, broke his own single-season points record with 74 points, and became the first player in MLL history to record 40+ goals and 30+ assists in a single season. In 2018, he again broke his single-season scoring record with 78 points on 43 goals and 35 assists and was named Coca-Cola MVP, Warrior Offensive MVP, and an MLL All-Star for the sixth time.
Premier Lacrosse League Era (2019–Present)
On March 9, 2020, Pannell announced he would join the Premier Lacrosse League, and a week later he was selected third overall in the PLL Entry Draft by Atlas. After a shortened 2020 COVID season, he was traded to the Redwoods Lacrosse Club ahead of 2021. With the Redwoods, Pannell became a model of consistency, posting 29 points in 2021, 38 points in 2022, and 34 points in 2023, and earning PLL All-Star selections in each of those seasons. In 2023, he helped lead the Redwoods to a 6–4 regular season record and a playoff semifinal appearance, where they fell to the eventual champion Archers.
In 2024, Pannell played 10 games for the California Redwoods, amassing 30 points on 15 goals and 15 assists. The Redwoods missed the playoffs, and Pannell entered free agency before signing with the Maryland Whipsnakes ahead of 2025. He has been a PLL All-Star every year since 2021, underscoring his enduring productivity as one of the league’s premier attackmen.
Driving Style and Strengths
Pannell is best known for his elite stick work, field vision, and finishing ability around the crease. His signature question mark dodge, in which he circles back toward the cage to generate shooting space, has become one of the most identifiable individual moves in modern lacrosse. He combines quick hands with a strong right-handed shot and a reliable two-way work rate, allowing him to quarterback an offense while still contributing defensively as an attackman.
Notable Events and Milestones
Among the signature moments of Pannell’s career, his 2015 MLL Championship performance and 2013 NCAA record-setting semifinal stand out, along with his gold-medal-winning assist to Tom Schreiber at the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship in Israel, a play delivered with less than a second remaining in a 9–8 victory over Canada. His four-goal, one-assist showing in the 2015 MLL title game and his single-season records in 2016 and 2018 further cemented his place among the sport’s elite.
Rob Pannell Career Wins
Rob Pannell’s career has been marked by major championships, individual awards, and consistent scoring at the highest levels of lacrosse. From his Ivy League Player of the Year honors and 2013 Tewaaraton Trophy to his 2015 MLL Championship and 2018 World Championship gold medal, he has regularly found himself in the winning moments of the sport.
MLL and PLL Highlights
Pannell is a one-time MLL Champion (2015), an MLL MVP (2018), and a six-time MLL All-Star. He is a three-time MLL All-Pro and a multi-time Warrior Offensive Player of the Year and Warrior Offensive MVP. Since transitioning to the PLL, he has been selected to the All-Star team every season from 2021 through 2024, leading his teams in scoring and serving as a primary offensive catalyst. He is also a multi-year scoring title leader in the MLL, having set the league’s single-season points record twice.
Other Wins and Performances
At the international level, Pannell was a member of Team USA at the 2014, 2018, and 2023 World Lacrosse Championships, winning silver in 2014 and gold in 2018 and 2023. He was named to the All-World team in 2014 and 2018, was voted the World’s Most Outstanding Attackman in 2014, and led the 2014 World Championship in scoring with 32 points. In 2015, he was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame.
Rob Pannell Family
Family Background and Racing Lineage
Pannell comes from a multi-sport athletic family with deep ties to lacrosse. His father, Bob Pannell, played baseball and football at Brown University, and his uncle, Jim Metzger, is a former All-American lacrosse player at Hofstra University whose name is honored on the school’s Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse offices. His younger brother, James Pannell, has carried the family’s lacrosse tradition into the professional ranks as a member of the Atlas Lacrosse Club in the PLL.
Personal Life
Rob Pannell grew up in Smithtown, New York, alongside an older sister, Genevieve, and younger brother, James. He is represented by sponsorships with New Balance/Warrior, Roar Beverage Co., and One Brands, and in 2018 he founded the Attack Academy, which focuses on offensive skill development for youth players through camps, clinics, and small-group training. As of May 2019, Pannell also began a career as an insurance broker for the Whitmore Agency in Garden City, New York, balancing his professional lacrosse commitments with business interests.
2025 Season Performance
Rob Pannell enters 2025 with the Maryland Whipsnakes after signing with the club in free agency following the 2024 PLL season. The move marks his fifth PLL team affiliation in as many seasons and reunites him with a Whipsnakes organization known for its championship pedigree in the league. With the Whipsnakes, Pannell is expected to serve as a primary offensive leader and veteran presence in the attack unit.
His recent form suggests continued productivity. Pannell posted 30 points on 15 goals and 15 assists in 10 games during the 2024 season, demonstrating his trademark balance of scoring and playmaking. His consistent All-Star selections from 2021 through 2024 underscore his standing as one of the PLL’s most reliable offensive contributors heading into the new campaign.
Looking ahead, the 2025 PLL season offers Pannell an opportunity to chase another PLL championship while mentoring a new group of teammates in Maryland. With his deep bag of offensive tricks, refined two-way play, and proven big-game résumé, the 2025 outlook for Rob Pannell and the Maryland Whipsnakes is built around contending deep into the postseason.