How do i load Xml and assign variables to player in C#?

I have a working C# script for creating a save file, but i cannot figure out how to load its contents and reapply them to my player on Load(). Please don't list old posts. I have tried countless times to use the old posts as reference, but it never works as it should.

Currently, the editor tells me that i cannot convert 'object' to 'PlayerContainer'. PlayerContainer is a Class i created.

Saving to an xml file works, loading it and assigning it's contents to my player does not.

PlayerContainer:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Xml;
 using System.Xml.Serialization;
 
 public class PlayerContainer { 
 [XmlArray("Players")]
 public List<Player> saveData;
     
 }

Player:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Xml;
 using System.Xml.Serialization;
 
 public class Player {
     [XmlElement("playerHp")]
     public int playerHp;
     public int playerMaxHp;
     public int playerMp;
     public int playerMaxMp;
     public int attack;
     public int defense;
     public int magic;
     public int ranged;
     public List<Item> items;
     public void MakePlayerData(int ph, int pmh, int pm, int pmm, int atk, int def, int mag, int rng, List<Item> it){
         playerHp = ph;
         playerMaxHp = pmh;
         playerMp = pm;
         playerMaxMp = pmm;
         attack = atk;
         defense = def;
         magic = mag;
         ranged = rng;
         items = it;
     }
 }
 

MyPlayerScripts current Save() and Load()

 void Save(){
         playerData.MakePlayerData(playerHp, playerMaxHp, playerMp, playerMaxMp, attack, defense, magic, ranged, inventoryScript.items);
         var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(PlayerContainer));
         var stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Create);
         serializer.Serialize(stream, playerContainer);
         stream.Close();
     }
 
     public void Load(){
         var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(PlayerContainer));
         var stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open);
         playerContainer = serializer.Deserialize(stream);
     }

Any ideas what i am doing wrong?

Edit: I forgot to mention I am creating new instances of my PlayerContainer and Player classes. All changes are targeting those instances.

public PlayerContainer playerContainer; &&

 public Player playerData;