Iron Clad: Brady Wambach was Built for the World Stage

Peter Wambach always wanted his son, Brady, to play for Dave Pietramala.

The Syracuse defensive coordinator at the time of Brady Wambach’s recruitment, Pietramala’s values as a coach resembled the Wambach family’s work ethic.

But when Wambach was a highly touted prospect, he was drawn to North Carolina and Joe Breschi. Ironically, it was because of the “family-first” culture fostered in Chapel Hill.

Wambach stuck with his gut, committing to North Carolina eight days into the recruiting window in September 2021. In a twist of fate, Pietramala ended up in Chapel Hill, too, as the defensive coordinator in July 2023, just in time for Wambach’s freshman season.

Peter Wambach got the best of both worlds — Pietramala’s principles and a college atmosphere that would soon mean more to his son than anyone ever would have imagined.

In December 2023, tragedy struck. Peter Wambach died due to complications of a heart attack. He was 51.

Every coach from Salisbury School (Conn.), where Wambach forged his status as a sought-after faceoff prospect, and North Carolina came to the funeral in Pittsford, N.Y. — including Pietramala.

When Carolyn Wambach informed Breschi of her husband’s death, he promised to be there for her son.

“I don’t want you to worry about anything,” Breschi said to her. “We’re going to take good care of him. I’m going to take care of Brady like he’s my own.”

The coaching staff set up daily calls with Wambach to help keep him at ease. He was only a freshman and had yet to suit up for the Tar Heels, but he was family now.

“Joe Breschi is the salt of the earth,” Carolyn Wambach said. “I can't say enough about the true belief of a genuine person and saying what he means. In a tragic time like this, you’re just guided by trust and the love and support. It brings tears to my eyes, because I just don’t know how in another situation this all would have ended up for them to be so successful.”

Because Peter Wambach died in part due to poor heart health, his family listed things they could do to improve their own. Carolyn Wambach said she would focus more on her eating habits. Brady Wambach’s brothers, Connor and Mitchell, committed to weight training and running a marathon, respectively.

Brady Wambach figured he’d go a step above.

“You know what?” he asked rhetorically. “I’m going to do a triathlon.”

To commemorate the anniversary of their father’s death, the Wambachs traveled to Turks and Caicos in December 2024. On the last night of their trip, they reflected on the previous year and set goals for 2025.

Almost instantly after the family returned, Mitchell Wambach signed up for that marathon. Two weeks later, Brady Wambach texted that he registered for a half Ironman in Geneva, N.Y.. The triathlon consists of a swimming, biking and running components.

He chose Geneva because his father’s side of the family used to own property there. Wambach remembered hitting golf balls there when he was growing up.

“He attempted this without anything,” Carolyn Wambach said. “He didn’t even have goggles for the swim. He didn’t even have a lake nearby [to train in]. He had no resources. He didn’t even have a bike.”

Wambach spent the next few weeks losing bids for bikes on Facebook Marketplace and eBay before calling his aunt — U.S. Women’s Soccer legend Abby Wambach.

“I text them all the time and stay in touch,” Abby Wambach said. “You know, at their age, the thing they need the most is cash, so I Venmo them every once in a while.”

With a bike befitting a triathlete, training for triathlons has become Wambach’s primary passion outside of lacrosse. Wambach told his mother that all the time he spent training on his bike helped him find peace with his father’s death.

He plans to pursue triathlons with even more vigor once his college lacrosse career ends. There’s even a chance he forgoes a professional opportunity in the Premier Lacrosse League to focus solely on being a triathlete.

“When tragedy strikes, because it will strike all of us, how are we going to handle it?” Abby Wambach asked. “What are the methods that we are going to employ in our daily life to try and make this horrific thing that has come to all of us turn into some sort of positive? It takes a very strong and mature person to turn the page and say, ‘OK, I’m going to spend a lot of my life trying to really honor my father.’ It’s just beautiful. And I hope that my brother was watching from somewhere and drinking a beer with a smile.”

Brady Wambach completed his half Ironman on July 13, just a month out from the 2025 World Lacrosse Men’s U20 Championship in Seogwipo, South Korea. Following in his aunt’s footsteps, Wambach will represent the United States in its quest for an international gold medal.

“I was just grateful for the opportunity to represent the USA,” said Wambach, who was shopping for dress shirts for his internship with the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., when he got the call. “Getting the official call from Coach [Shawn] Nadelen meant a lot to me.”

Before he became a first-team All-American at North Carolina and USA athlete, he was fully committed to playing AAA travel hockey for the Rochester Grizzlies.

Wambach started to excel at lacrosse in the summer between seventh and eighth grade, however, while the junior hockey league required him to travel to hotbeds like Canada and Detroit. His parents struggled to balance both commitments.

They thought Wambach would need to choose one sport over the other until his hockey coach, Bob Bolton, encouraged him to play both. It was a conversation that became the “golden moment that broke through” his lacrosse career.

“There’s not a lot of coaches like that that are out there,” Carolyn Wambach said. “Because you are at that sweet-spot age group where they’re like, ‘Listen, this is a big commitment,’ and they give you a lecture before they advance you to the tryouts.”

It didn’t take Wambach long to stand out on the club lacrosse circuit with the Sweetlax National and Florida teams.

“His dad and I would look at each other on the field, and we would be shocked by how he could clamp and take off and the other opponent would still be in the position where you obtain possession,” Carolyn Wambach said. “This wasn’t just, ‘He had a great tournament. He's doing well.’ It was more or less, ‘He is here to stay.’”

Wambach skyrocketed up the Class of 2023 recruiting rankings while at Salisbury School, finishing his high school career as the No. 1 faceoff specialist. Coaches took note not only of his faceoff skills but also of his terrific athletic pedigree.  

His brother Mitchell played soccer at St. Bonaventure. His brother Connor, also a faceoff specialist, has committed to Duke.

The brothers used to rip up the carpet in their house because of how many faceoffs they would take against each other. When Wambach left for North Carolina, they FaceTimed before games to scout their upcoming opponents — a tradition they’ll hope to continue while he’s in South Korea competing for a world championship.

Nadelen said some faceoff specialists can be stubborn with their techniques. Wambach, he said, is willing to adapt — an important trait since international faceoff rules differ from those of the NCAA, allowing for pre-whistle movement and more physicality.

“His ability to be adaptable and to deliver what’s needed for each rep and to change things up has been impressive,” Nadelen said.  

Like Wambach, Nadelen grew up in the Rochester area of New York. He graduated from high school in 1997, the same year as Abby Wambach. He went to Rush-Henrietta. She went to Our Lady of Mercy.

Wambach said one of the reasons he pursued the national team was to pursue a similar legacy as his aunt, who finished her prolific soccer career with two gold medals and a FIFA World Cup title in 2015.  

“Having the career that I had, I loved it so much, but it feels so rewarding for somebody else to take it on,” Abby Wambach said. “I did what I did, and I had a lot of fun doing it. I know Brady is having the same kind of fun that I did back in my teenage years.”  

He’s doing it to follow in his aunt’s footsteps. But he’s also doing it to make his father proud.

“Every time I make a play or do a faceoff, I always have him in the back of my head,” Wambach said. “It really helps my success thinking someone's looking down and doing everything I can to make him proud.”