This article appears in the November edition of USA Lacrosse Magazine. Join today to start your subscription.
On the eve of the USA Lacrosse Experience, Pat Kavanagh was a guest on “The Pat McAfee Show” and summed up the thoughts of so many lacrosse players as the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics draw nearer.
“It’s gonna be the toughest lacrosse team to make in the history of the sport,” said Kavanagh, a two-time NCAA champion at Notre Dame and a gold medalist with the U.S. U21 team.
"It's gonna be the toughest lacrosse team to make in the history of the sport"
🗣 @pkavv88 on the @USAMLax Olympic rosterpic.twitter.com/llvOIucd3b— TLN 🥍 (@LacrosseNetwork) October 10, 2024
“I couldn’t agree with that comment more,” said U.S. Women’s Sixes National Team head Lindsey Munday, herself a two-time gold medalist with the U.S. program. “It’s 10 field players, if you’re taking two goalies. There’s not a lot of room for people.”
That’s part of the reason why so many of the sport’s best players were in Indianapolis to compete in the inaugural USA Lacrosse Experience Oct. 11-13.
The Olympics are still four years away, but any chance to learn how to play sixes and get exposure in front of the coaching staffs is valuable. World Lacrosse created the speedy 6v6 discipline in 2021.
“It’s a work in progress and it’s going to keep changing,” said U.S. Men’s Sixes National Team head coach Andy Shay, who led the U.S. men to a silver medal at The World Games in 2022, the first international championship for sixes. Shay and Munday each had valuable three-day training camps with their respective squads in Indianapolis and then competed in two days of competition against the national teams from Colombia, Great Britain and Colombia. Both U.S. squads went 3-0.
The USA Lacrosse Experience also featured youth tournaments, mentorship opportunities for young women and skills clinics for players, including sessions for athletes from Able Athletics — an organization for students with developmental disorders and other special needs.
National team players from all four countries participated in the clinics, which included a mini demonstration of wheelchair lacrosse on the track. Two-time U.S. gold medalist Ryan Conrad (pictured above) was among the players who jumped in a wheelchair to play with the kids.
“They’re all so excited to be playing, just picking up a ground ball, shooting a goal,” Conrad said. “It was awesome, such a blast to be out and seeing all these kids.”
Conrad, who played on the U19 team in 2016, the sixes team at The World Games in 2022 and the senior team in 2023, never thought the Olympics could be in his lacrosse future. But it’s hard not to look ahead.
“It's really hard to stay grounded and in the moment when you have that end goal in sight,” Conrad said. “I’m just so grateful to have all the opportunities that I’ve had playing for Team USA. The Olympics would be a cherry on top — the pinnacle of any play-er’s career in any sport.”
Ally Mastroianni has also won two gold medals with the U.S. team — in field lacrosse in 2022 and earlier this year in box lacrosse. She’d like to go after a third in the sixes discipline. Women’s sixes will be part of The World Games 2025 in China, while both U.S. teams will compete in the inaugural World Lacrosse Sixes Championships in 2027.
After that, it’s the Olympics.
“It’s so motivating,” Mastroianni said. “It feels real.”
