SPARKS, Md. — Four years ago this summer, the U.S. men’s team nipped Canada 9-8 on Tom Schreiber’s last-second goal in Netanya, Israel to win the 2018 men’s world championship. Since then, the U.S. men’s team has reconvened under head coach John Danowski for a handful of events, but the leadup to the next world championship was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, the preparation for the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship begins in earnest. Danowski and his staff will welcome 67 of the nation’s top men’s lacrosse players to USA Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks, Md., for the opening round of the tryout process this week from Tuesday through Thursday.
The list of invitees includes seven gold medalists from 2018 — Trevor Baptiste, Jesse Bernhardt, Michael Ehrhardt, Marcus Holman, Jack Kelly, Rob Pannell and Schreiber. Bernhardt, Holman and Pannell are bidding to make their third U.S. senior team.
The list of invites includes numerous other players with national team experience on the international level: Liam Byrnes (World Games Sixes, 2022), Ryan Conrad (U19, 2016 and World Games Sixes, 2022), Bryan Costabile (U19, 2016), Matthew Dunn (Box, 2019), Adam Ghitelman (U19, 2012 and World Games Sixes, 2022), Zach Goodrich (World Games Sixes, 2022), Justin Guterding (World Games Sixes, 2022), Connor Kelly (Box, 2019), Stephen Kelly (U19, 2012), Connor Kirst (World Games Sixes, 2022), Mac O’Keefe (U19, 2016), Matt Rambo (Box, 2019), Blaze Riorden (Box, 2019), Jack Rowlett (U19, 2016), Brad Smith (U19, 2016 and World Games Sixes, 2022) and Michael Sowers (U19, 2016 and World Games Sixes, 2022).
Following the tryout, an initial training roster of approximately 46 players will be named to participant in upcoming team activities this fall.
The 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship will be held from June 21 through July 1, 2023 in San Diego on the campuses of San Diego State University and the University of San Diego. A total of 30 nations are expected to compete as the U.S. looks to win its record 11th championship since the event was first held in 1967. Canada is the only other country to have won the quadrennial event, winning in 1978, 2006 and 2014. No team has repeated as champion since the U.S. won six straight championships from 1982 through 2002.
Here’s the full list of U.S. team players invited to the opening tryout:
| Name | Pos | College | Pro Team(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dominique Alexander | M | Ohio State '13 | Archers |
| Trevor Baptiste | FO | Denver '18 | Atlas/Philadelphia |
| Jesse Bernhardt | D | Maryland '13 | Chrome |
| Charlie Bertrand | M | Merrimack '20/Virginia (Gr.) | Redwoods |
| Will Bowen | D | North Carolina '21/Georgetown (Gr.) | |
| Liam Byrnes | D | Marquette '16 | Waterdogs/Panther City |
| Jack Concannon | G | Hofstra '18 | Atlas |
| Jared Conners | LSM | Virginia '21 | Archers |
| Ryan Conrad | M | Virginia '19 | Waterdogs |
| Bryan Costabile | M | Notre Dame '20 | Atlas |
| John Crawley | M | Johs Hopkins '17 | Atlas |
| Peter Dearth | M | Syracuse '21 | Atlas |
| Romar Dennis | M | Loyola '17 | Atlas |
| Matthew Dunn | D | Maryland '16 | Whipsnakes |
| Michael Ehrhardt | LSM | Maryland '14 | Whipsnakes |
| Garrett Epple | D | Notre Dame '17 | Redwoods |
| Ryder Garnsey | A | Notre Dame '19 | Redwoods |
| Adam Ghitelman | G | Virginia '11 | Archers |
| JT Giles-Harris | D | Duke '21 | Chrome |
| Eddy Glazener | D | Notre Dame '16 | Redwoods |
| Mark Glicini | M | Yale '16 | Chaos/San Diego |
| Eli Gobrecht | D | Ithaca '16 | Waterdogs/San Diego |
| Zach Goodrich | M | Towson '19 | Cannons |
| Justin Guterding | A | Duke '18 | Whipsnakes |
| Sam Handley | M | Penn '22 | |
| Colin Heacock | M | Maryland '17 | Chrome |
| Jules Heningburg | M | Rutgers '18 | Redwoods |
| Marcus Holman | A | North Carolina '13 | Archers |
| TD Ierlan | FO | Yale '20/Denver (Gr.) | Redwoods |
| Myles Jones | M | Duke '16 | Redwoods |
| Connor Kelly | M | Maryland '18 | Waterdogs |
| Jack Kelly | G | Brown '16 | Redwoods |
| Stephen Kelly | FO | North Carolina '17 | Cannons |
| Jack Kielty | D | Notre Dame '21 | Cannons |
| Connor Kirst | M | Villanova '20/Rutgers (Gr.) | Whipsnakes/Georgia |
| Danny Logan | M | Denver '21 | Atlas |
| Brett Makar | D | Maryland '22 | |
| Will Manny | A | Massachusetts '13 | Archers |
| Tim Muller | D | Maryland '17 | Whipsnakes |
| Joseph Nardella | FO | Rutgers '15 | Whipsnakes/Albany |
| Jack Near | M | Notre Dame '15 | Redwoods |
| Jarrod Neumann | D | Providence '17 | Chaos |
| Brendan Nichtern | A | Army '22 | Chrome |
| Asher Nolting | A | High Point '22 | Cannons |
| Mac O'Keefe | A | Penn State '21 | Chaos |
| Rob Pannell | A | Cornell '13 | Redwoods |
| Brian Phipps | G | Maryland '10 | Whipsnakes |
| Matt Rambo | A | Maryland '17 | Whipsnakes/Philadelphia |
| Ben Randall | D | Ohio State '18 | Waterdogs |
| Patrick Resch | M | Dartmouth '15 | Chaos |
| Michael Rexrode | D | Rutgers '18 | Atlas |
| Troy Reh | LSM | Albany '18 | Chaos |
| Payton Rezanka | M | Loyola '22 | |
| Jacob Richard | M | Marquette '16 | Atlas |
| Blaze Riorden | G | Albany '16 | Chaos/Philadelphia |
| Kevin Rogers | M | Lynchburg '20/High Point (Gr.) | Chrome |
| Jack Rowlett | D | North Carolina '19 | Chaos |
| Mikie Schlosser | M | Michigan '17 | Waterdogs |
| Tom Schreiber | M | Princeton '14 | Archers/Toronto |
| Connor Shellenberger | A | Virginia '24 | |
| Michael Sisselberger | FO | Lehigh '22 | |
| Brad Smith | M | Duke '19 | Whipsnakes/Albany |
| Michael Sowers | A | Princeton '20/Duke (Gr.) | Waterdogs |
| Ryan Terefenko | M | Ohio State '21 | Chrome/Halifax |
| Tim Troutner | G | High Point '19 | Redwoods |
| Cade van Raaphorst | D | Duke '19 | Atlas |
| Logan Wisnauskas | A | Maryland '22 | Chrome |
