BUFFALO, N.Y. – It’s less than a mile from Sam Apuzzo’s new office at the University of Southern California to BMO Stadium, the venue where lacrosse makes its return to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
“I drive past it every morning going to work and I’m in awe,” said Apuzzo, who was named as USC’s new head women’s lacrosse coach in June. “I think, ‘Wow, this is where it’s going to be. This is where people are going to make history.’”
Apuzzo hopes to be a part of that history. She’s already won two World Lacrosse championships with the U.S. field national team and last summer she won a gold medal with the U.S. sixes team at The World Games in China.
She’s competing with the U.S. women’s sixes team during a training camp in Buffalo before the team crosses the border on Monday to get ready for the first official step on the way to the Olympics – a continental qualifier for next year’s World Lacrosse Sixes Championships in Colorado.
Eight women’s teams will compete at the Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championship in Oshawa, Ontario from Sept. 29 – October 4 with the U.S. women opening play on Sept. 30 against Argentina.
Apuzzo was on the ground floor of the sixes movement in the United States — a training camp for the U.S. women’s team at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in November 2018. Then U.S. senior team head coach Jenny Levy introduced her players to the new discipline and encouraged them to embrace the new format and push the envelope. Over the last eight years, they’ve been doing that.
“I think the first time we played it, it was almost like a backyard game and no one really knew what they were doing, all kind of learning together,” Apuzzo said. “Now, I feel like we have a better grasp of what our style is going to be like – what we’re going to be on offense and defense. It’s evolved a lot, but I think we’re still learning though. It’s a brand-new game for everyone and it’s been a lot of fun to try and figure it out.”
Marie McCool was also at that inaugural inner-squad scrimmage – later followed by exhibitions against the two pro leagues of the day – and has seen the progression up close.
“We’ve grown so much from just running up and down the field to actually understanding the tactical part of the game – what works, what doesn’t, how the shot clock impacts things,” said McCool, the MVP of The World Games in 2025 and a five-time world champion. “It’s obviously super-fast, but how can you play fast and find those slower moments to allow plays to develop?”
One of the keys to playing fast is familiarity and the U.S. team has plenty of that. Ten of the 12 players that won The World Games last year competed in the training camp this week, only missing Charlotte North and Cassidy Weeks who were out with injuries though North has been here in Buffalo with the team. The U.S. also had a sixes training camp last month in Maryland and 15 of the players that helped the U.S. win gold in field lacrosse in Japan this summer are in this week’s camp.
“The chemistry we’ve built on the senior team translates immediately,” McCool said. “When I got off of the plane and saw everybody we were in Japan with a month ago, I felt like it we were just there.”
The competition also pushes players. Only 11 will ultimately make the final Olympic roster and the players know how special the opportunity is.
“We all have the same goal and obviously it’s going to be a small roster in the Olympics,” McCool said. “Every single person here is a part of that.”
“My commitment physically for myself is still there – this is what I want to do,” Apuzzo said. “My goal is still the same.”
The goal stays in the forefront or her mind at USC, where the LA Coliseum was home to the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics in 1932 and 1984. The Coliseum, located directly across the street from the lacrosse venue at BMO Stadium and home of the USC football program, will also host the closing ceremonies in 2028.
“Walking through campus, the Olympic branding is all over USC,” Apuzzo said. “It’s so inspiring for me. All these athletes, all these coaches have done this here. To know that our opportunity is coming up is really cool.”
Getting Better
With three of four practice sessions in the books at this weekend’s training camp, U.S. head coach Lindsey Munday had a pretty simple assessment of how her team is progressing.
“We’re getting better,” Munday said. “I think that’s all you can ask when you have two training camps before an event. You want the group to get better at every single session and I think we’re doing that. I think today was our best day.”
The event, the Pan-American Sixes Lacrosse Championship, is the first sixes championship under the World Lacrosse umbrella for the women’s team. The top five finishers will qualify for the 2027 World Lacrosse Sixes Championship in Colorado Springs.
“To have opportunities to play is what we want," Munday said. "It’s another opportunity for us to come together and get better. We are not at our ceiling right now and I think that’s exciting. That’s the goal, to use every opportunity we have to continue to get better, to continue to learn this game, to continue to be at the forefront of this discipline. So, this next week is another opportunity for that and to play against great competition.”
