Ryan Conrad knows a thing or two about big games. Go back a decade and Conrad scored the game-winning goal with eight seconds left to cap the USA’s dramatic 13-12 comeback win over Canada in the gold medal game of the U19 world championship.
Less than three years later, he was leading Virginia to the 2019 NCAA championship in a 13-9 victory over Yale. Fast forward four years and Conrad was wearing red, white and blue again in San Diego, helping the U.S. beat Canada in the World Lacrosse championship.
So, a random workout during a training camp in Buffalo as trains rolled by a hidden field on the back edge of the Nardin Academy athletics facility shouldn’t have been a big deal.
But for Conrad, it was.
Conrad’s last time in a uniform was playing sixes during the Premier Lacrosse League's Championship Series in February 2025. Since then he’s been sidelined dealing with meniscus issues with his knee – seemingly a lifetime for the athletic midfielder whose two-way game seems built for sixes.
“It’s been tough, definitely tough,” Conrad said following his first practice with the U.S. team during a training camp ahead of this week’s Pan-American Lacrosse Sixes Championships in Oshawa, Canada. “I was on the Whips, I was on the Dogs for a little while. Seeing all the guys I’ve been playing with forever out there has been a bummer, but obviously just glad for the opportunity to get back out here and play lacrosse.”
Conrad was a late addition to the 24-player training camp as an injury replacement and won’t be on the 12-man roster competing in the Pan-American championship, but was thrilled to get the opportunity this weekend.
U.S. sixes head coach Andy Shay is plenty familiar with Conrad. Shay, also Yale's head coach, was on the opposite sideline from Conrad during the 2019 NCAA championship and then has coached Conrad in the U.S. sixes program at both The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Ala., and during the USA Lacrosse Experience in Indianapolis in 2024.
That hasn’t stopped Conrad from reaching out to Shay and the U.S. staff to let them know he’s still interested and available.
“When you’re not playing in the league, the PLL and everything, you’re kind of losing relevance to an extent,” Conrad said. “I just wanted to let them know I’m still hanging around there and getting healthy. Obviously, any opportunity to get to put USA on your chest, I wanted to put myself in the best position for it.”
Conrad looked sharp during the first session on Saturday evening and there are plenty of opportunities ahead with the U.S. sixes program. Following the Pan-American championship, USA Lacrosse will welcome Canada, the Haudenosaunee Nationals and Ireland to its headquarters for the Atlas Cup from Oct. 23-25. The inaugural Global Lacrosse Games are then set for Dec. 8-13 outside of Washington D.C.
“When I saw all the sixes events coming up, I saw it as an awesome opportunity to try and get back in there,” Conrad said. “Sixes is just such a cool opportunity. Obviously, we haven’t didn’t have our best showing when we’ve been out there against Canada recently. I think we’re all just trying to figure out what our game is as American sixes headed to the Olympics. We want to put ourselves in the best position. If I’m there or not, I want to be a part of it and try and help the team get there.”
Casting a Wide Net
The U.S. will play for three championships – Pan-American, Atlas Cup and Global Lacrosse Games – over the next two-plus months, but head coach Andy Shay is still focused on the long game – the 2028 LA Olympics.
“This whole fall we’re going to give as many guys a look as we can,” Shay said. “We want to compete and we want to win when we go out against anybody, but the biggest thing is down the road we want to make sure we get the right guys. We want to make sure we get enough tape on every guy, every grouping of guys. Guys that play defense, guys that don’t normally play defense, guys who have played box, guys who haven’t. The key for us is making sure every guy in the pool gets enough of a look and it’s going to hopefully give us the best team.”
To that end, this weeks’ training camp includes some fresh looks at four 2026 college graduates – Adelphi’s Kyle Lewis, Duke’s Aidan Maguire, Syracuse’s Joey Spallina and Towson's Mikey Weisshaar – along with one current college player – North Carolina’s Dom Pietramala. It’s the first sixes experience with the U.S. program for all of them except Weisshaar, who previously competed in a training camp. Maguire, Spallina and Weisshaar will go on to the Pan-American championship following the camp.
Everything about sixes continues to be a learning process on this relatively new format of the game.
“We learn every time we come out,” Shay said. “Tony [Resch], Jim [Mitchell] and I talk a lot and USA Lacrosse has done a really good job of helping us look at it through a different lens, but I think we’re a little closer to playing our way and hopefully being more successful. As simple as this version of the game is, there’s certain complexities that we continue to learn.
“I enlist the help of the guys. A lot of these guys coach, they’re smart players. I ask them a lot of questions. What do you think about this? What are your thoughts on this? It’s all hands on deck to try and figure this out.”
Notes
The U.S. wraps up training camp with a practice on Monday in Buffalo and then travels to Canada before opening play in the Pan-American Men’s Sixes Championship on Tuesday afternoon against Chile. It will be the first time a U.S. national team has competed against Chile. The games will be streamed on World Lacrosse TV … The rosters for World Lacrosse sixes championship events include only 12 players and for the Olympics it will just 11, so Blaze Riorden’s versatility could be bonus. A goalie in field lacrosse and a runner in box lacrosse, Riorden, one of four goalies at the camp this weekend, switched sticks and gear and played as a runner during Sunday morning’s scrimmage.
