Everything You Need to Know About the Pan-American Men's Lacrosse Championship

The inaugural Pan-American Men’s Lacrosse Championship starts today in Kingston, Jamaica at the historic campus of Mico University College and Stadium East.

The U.S. Men’s National Field Team opens Tuesday against Puerto Rico as part of a weeklong event to determine who from the Pan-American Lacrosse Association qualifies for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship in Tokyo.

Here’s everything you need to know.

What is the Pan-American Championship?

The Pan-American Men’s Lacrosse Championship is a continental qualifier for the 2027 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship (July 18-27, 2027) in Tokyo, Japan. The top five teams will qualify for the world championship, while the remaining four teams will be placed in the subsequent Division II event (July 9-17, 2027) in Wroclaw, Poland.

Which countries participate?

Nine of 22 member nations of the Pan-American Lacrosse Association will compete in the 2027 Pan-American Men’s Lacrosse Championship. Pool A consists of Colombia, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the United States. Pool B is Argentina, Canada, Haudenosaunee, U.S. Virgin Islands and Mexico.

Who and when will USA play?

The United States opens Tuesday against Puerto Rico (4:30 p.m. EDT), then plays host Jamaica on Wednesday (7 p.m. EDT). The Americans are off Thursday before concluding pool play Friday against Colombia (4:30 p.m. EDT).

The top finisher in each pool will meet for the gold medal Sunday (3 p.m. EDT). The preceding bronze medal game (12:30 p.m. EDT) will put the second-place teams against each other.

All four teams that advance to Sunday will qualify for the world championship. As will the winner of a fifth-place game Saturday.

Since when are there qualifiers for the world championship?

In 2021, World Lacrosse members approved a new qualification format by which every nation would be required to participate in its respective continental federation’s championship to qualify for senior world championships across all disciplines.

The 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship in San Diego was a transition year in which the top 10 finishers from the 2018 games received automatic berths and the remaining 20 teams came through continental qualifiers.

For the 2027 world championship, the system is fully in force.

Israel won the 2025 European Men’s Lacrosse Championship and earned a world championship bid alongside runner-up Italy, Czechia, England, Germany, Ireland and Latvia.

Australia claimed the gold medal at the 2026 Asia-Pacific Men’s Lacrosse Championship, defeating the upstart Philippines in the final. Those two teams qualified, as did Japan and New Zealand.

That leaves five spots in the pared-down 16-team world championship field for 2027.  

Who is playing in the games?

Many of the biggest stars on the Canada and U.S. rosters likely to compete in next summer's world championship will not be participating as the Premier Lacrosse League playoffs heat up, but that should not suggest the event is devoid of big names.

Reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Shawn Lyght and USILA Division I Player of the Year Aidan Maguire will suit up for the U.S., as will red-hot faceoff man Andrew McMeekin and clutch scorer Chad Palumbo — both PLL Rookie of the Year candidates. Ryan Stines is another player in that conversation.

Palumbo and Stines were added to the roster as replacements for Xander Dickson and Mikey Weisshaar, respectively.

Canada’s roster includes star Georgetown defenseman Ty Banks, a young midfield corps headlined by two-way types like Sam English, Ty English and Jake Stevens, and sharpshooters on attack like Clarke Petterson and Owen Hiltz.

Veterans Ron John and Kyle Jackson lead the Haudenosaunee contingent.

» USA Roster Announcement
» Canada Roster Announcement 
» Haudenosaunee Roster Announcement

Why are two retired players on the USA roster?

While acknowledging the Pan-American Men’s Lacrosse Championship represents an opportunity to see younger players — including four from the 2025 U.S. Men’s U20 National Team — head coach Seth Tierney wanted at least some veteran presence in Jamaica.

Enter Eric Law and Ryan Tierney, both of whom retired from professional lacrosse in the last year but have experience in the U.S. National Teams system.

It’s reminiscent of the 2016 USA Lacrosse Spring Premiere, when then-U.S. head coach John Danowski invited Casey Powell to join the team for an exhibition against then-defending NCAA champion Denver. With the coaching staff preaching the value of “the second assist” — i.e., the pass that sets up the pass that sets up the goal — it was Powell pointing to the bench whenever he made such a play. The staff still talks about CP’s influence in helping to establish the team culture that led to gold medals under Danowski in 2018 in Israel and 2023 in San Diego.

Any other names to know?

Host Jamaica has a few. Attackman Stone Evans turned heads as a 17-year-old in San Diego and plays now for USA offensive coordinator Bobby Benson at Providence. Short-stick d-middie Dante Bowen took off at Syracuse this year and was a PLL draft pick. Defenseman Goran Murray (Maryland) is a blast from the past and attackman Eli McLaughlin is the all-time leading goal scorer for the National Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mammoth in box.

Incoming Johns Hopkins freshman Nick Testa was electrifying for Puerto Rico at the 2025 World Lacrosse U20 Men’s Championship in Jeju, South Korea — including a 17-point performance in one game.

How can we watch the games?

All games will be streamed live on World Lacrosse TV (tv.worldlacrosse.sport). A full-event pass is $24.99.