The Callum Robinson Mustang Classic is a Frenzy of Love

A frenzy of love.

That is the best way I can describe my first-ever look at the Mustang Lacrosse Classic, a very special 10th edition in March 2025.    

To the uninitiated, the two-day event at Stevenson (Md.) University’s Division I-caliber Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills, features 10 of the best NCAA Division III programs in the country. (Nine of the ten teams in the upcoming 2026 Classic were ranked in the USA Lacrosse Preseason Top 20.)

The games started at 11:30 a.m. and ended by 11 p.m. Stevenson head coach Paul Cantabene has established a 2-hour, 15-minute window from the beginning of each game to the start of the next and keeps his fingers crossed for no overtimes.

There are 7-minute halftimes and 25 minutes of warmup time on the stadium field before the opening whistle. Teams share and stretch on an adjacent grass field before they take the field. Officials shuttle in-and-out of the locker room complex. Fans pass each other between games as they cross the bridge from the tailgating parking lots to the north.

That’s the frenzy.

The love — well, there’s the tangible side where about 500 student-athletes are competing at a breakneck pace because they love the game and the idea that they can use it as a vehicle to use their prestigious institution’s resources to enter adulthood. Or the head coaches that are generally coaching lacrosse and acting as assistant athletic directors, while their part-time assistants juggle other enterprises to make ends meet.

Or the intangible side, also known as the vibe. It’s the families, who have sacrificed countless hours over the years to advise, nurture and transport their sons. They gather in parking lots and bleacher seats to continue that support and extend it to teammates and their families, who may share only school-colored apparel in common.      

And, on this special edition of the classic, it’s the love for a fallen superhero.

The premier in-season showcase for NCAA Division III lacrosse dates back 15 years, when Cantabene put together the 2011 Meghan Puls Lacrosse Classic as a fall event to honor the memory of the daughter of Stevenson coaches Cassie (volunteer basketball) and Tim Puls (men’s lacrosse) and raise funds for its foundation.

But coming off the 2013 NCAA title, Cantabene saw an opportunity to raise the profile of D-III lacrosse. He approached director of athletics Brett Adams, who was managing the Hoopsville Classic, a streamed men’s basketball tournament that attracted Top 20 D-III teams to Owings Mills.

“I expressed to Paul that, ‘We can absolutely do this for lacrosse or any other sport,’” said Adams, who surprised the lacrosse coach with the positive response. “From there, he ran with it. The goal was to invite the best teams, give the best media coverage for each of them, give the best fan experience for our guests coming to watch online or in- person, and provide the best preseason strength of schedule for each participant.”

Adams’ commitment was paramount, but Cantabene would need more internal support to make his concept a reality. Then-Stevenson president Kevin Manning provided the ultimate green light and the athletic department staff got on board, led by sports information director Jason Eichelberger.

Eichelberger capitalized on the local media’s extensive coverage of Mustang lacrosse, but critically went full-throttle on the video end. He enlisted David McHugh, who had been producing the streamed games for the Hoopville Classic, to do the same at well-equipped Mustang Stadium.

Eichelberger hired two-person broadcast teams, utilized the growing number of enthusiastic Stevenson students as crew members and conducted post-game interviews with all the coaches.

Now, could Cantabene convince three other coaches to agree to play back-to-back days? He could not offer guarantees, but Manning and Adams agreed to pay for officials and other internal costs, so all the teams had to do was get to Owings Mills.

Cortland’s Steve Beville, Lynchburg’s Steve Koudelka and Nazareth’s Rob Randall said yes.

A year later, Cabrini and Dickinson made it a six-team affair, and in 2016, the tournament expanded to eight teams. In 2019, two more teams were added, bringing the lacrosse extravaganza to where it is today.

“I think the tournament went so well in that first year because the coaches were so positive about the experience,” Cantabene said. “Steve, Beville and Robbie were all very supportive of it in those first couple years.”

“Those coaches were going to put the experience of their student-athletes first and that initial year just kind of spoke to that,” said Koudelka, who is in his 30th season at Lynchburg in 2026. “I mean, obviously some teams lost and some teams won, but I think at the end of the day, our players said, ‘Coach, that was awesome. We're really glad we did that.’”

The world suffered an unspeakable tragedy in the spring of 2024 when Callum and Jake Robinson and Carter Rhode were murdered in Mexico. At the epicenter of the sorrow were the families, friends of the victims and the Stevenson community.

Cantabene has often referred to Callum, a three-time USILA All-American, member of the 2013 NCAA championship team and six-year Major League Lacrosse player, as a ‘superhero.’

“Even when he reached the pros, all the players gravitated to Callum,” Eichelberger said.

“Callum was a handful — he was the best defender in the country,” Koudelka said. “Subsequently, a lot of our guys played summer events with him, and they would always come back and just talk about what a great guy he was.”

The university considered multiple ways to honor Robinson, but ultimately decided to name the tournament in his and Jake’s memory and utilize it to raise awareness of the Callum and Jake Robinson Foundation. Among its goals, the foundation seeks to provide gear and training to help grow the game, remove barriers for athletes with Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes and keep coastal environments cleaner.

“The alumni and I just thought that was the best thing to do to rename it after him because Callum loved playing in this thing,” Cantabene said. “We knew that this was going to be something year-after-year where his name was going to be associated with the biggest deal in the lacrosse world. And he would have loved that.”

Although the Robinsons’ parents, Debra and Martin, were unable to come in from Perth, Australia, a group of friends and teammates, led by Jesse Horn and Josh Rufalo, were on the field for a pregame ceremony before the opener of the 2025 tournament.

Coaches and Stevenson University staff wore gold caps with Callum’s No. 10 emblazoned on the front and logos appeared on lacrosse balls, the field and the broadcast.  

Call it irony, call it fate, but, for the first time in 10 years, the Mustangs won both of their games (14-8 over No. 18 Lynchburg, 11-10 over No. 12 St. Lawrence) in the Classic.

Moving forward to 2026, Stevenson has been given permission by the NCAA to use custom Callum and Jake Robinson Foundation goals — with its stunning gold cages and nets — at all home games to support the “Goals for Greatness” campaign.

Each student-athlete receives up to four complimentary tickets for the event, so actual attendance far exceeds ticket sales. But an estimated 3,000 fans came through the turnstiles each day a year ago.

The streaming numbers are truly eye-popping and can be quantified. The total views for the weekend approached 42,000, an increase of 20 percent from 2024. Moreover, the RIT-Tufts game, a rematch of the 2024 national championship game, drew 7,672 pairs of eyes.

Koudelka and his Hornets will make their 11th consecutive appearance when they arrive in Owings Mills for this year’s games. Whatever travel, scheduling and financial burdens his program may face on March 13-14, they are completely outweighed by the event’s benefits.

“We really make several days out of it,” Koudelka said. “We'll have a team dinner the night before with a bunch of alumni. The president of our school comes up as well. We think that it’s not only the biggest marquee event of the Division III season, but you could probably argue what Paul and his staff put on at Stevenson is probably the best event in college lacrosse.”

Moreover, the head coach requests that his student-athletes pen post-weekend thank-you notes to Cantabene.

“I think being grateful is an awesome thing, and we always want our guys to be grateful for the experiences that they're being provided,” Koudelka said. “And Coach Cantabene and the Stevenson staff provide that for us. So, whether we win two, lose two, whatever the case might be, we're going to be grateful for the event. It gets us better.”

RIT coach Jake Coon has made the 14-hour round trip from Rochester to Owings Mills in each of the last four years, and the Tigers are third behind Lynchburg and Dickinson (10) with eight appearances.

“The Classic is an opportunity for us to boost our non-league schedule with some top quality opponents and hopefully keep us in the mix at the top of the NPI (NCAA power index)” said Coon, who is in his 17th season at RIT. “It also gives us a chance to get a feel for what it is like playing back-to-back days as you would in May.”

Cantabene is quick to praise the Stevenson athletic department — both staff and student-athletes — who put in long days leading up to and during the tournament helping with game operations, transportation needs, statistics, parking, ticketing, security, medical, laundry, etc. Some of the staff donate their time just to assist.    

He also reveres the opposing coaches for their commitment to the event.

But Cantabene is the one that steers the ship. He determines the matchups, which includes his squad always playing the nightcaps, which commence about 13-14 hours after the head coach first arrives on campus each day. He admits that it could affect how the team performs — which is how the program is ultimately measured — but realizes that is not the primary goal of two mid-March games.  

“Our ultimate goal is to make sure everybody here has an unbelievable time and the other teams feel like they've been treated really well,” Cantabene said. “So we try to treat everybody the best we possibly can and take care of all their needs ahead of time. We come last, right? So we worry about us last. But I think our kids handle that.”

For more information on the Callum & Jake Robinson Foundation, please visit their website at www.cjrfoundation.com.

2026 Stevenson Mustang Classic

Friday March 13th, 2026

11 a.m. — Christopher Newport vs. Lynchburg 
1:15 p.m. — Gettysburg vs. RIT 
3:30 p.m. — St. Lawrence vs. Dickinson 
5:45 p.m. — Tufts vs. Denison
8 p.m. — Stevenson vs. Washington and Lee  

Saturday March 14th, 2026

11 a.m. — Gettysburg vs. Lynchburg
1:15 p.m. — Dickinson vs. Denison
3:30 p.m. — Christopher Newport vs. Tufts
5:45 p.m. — RIT vs. Washington and Lee 
8 p.m. — Stevenson vs. St. Lawrence

Tickets can be purchased at eventbrite.com; search for 2026 Callum Robinson Mustang Classic.