🍁 FALL CLASSIC: USA VS. CANADA

It’s a big weekend for international lacrosse.

To start, the USA Lacrosse Fall Classic will be held in Sparks, Md. from Oct. 13-15. Among the teams set to compete are the USA and Canada men’s national teams, U20 women’s squads from both USA and Canada, the Penn State men’s team and the Northwestern women’s team.

Meanwhile, the Sixes version of the sport is inching closer to Olympic inclusion. A final vote is still to come, but it’s starting to look like lacrosse will be played at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Keep scrolling for more information on both of these topics, as well as some other notable headlines from around the lacrosse world…

👋 USA, Canada Rosters & Schedule

Here is the Team USA roster heading into the Fall Classic (via USA Lacrosse Magazine):

TEAM USA ROSTER
Chris Aslanian, Attack (Cannons/Hobart ‘19)
Xander Dickson, Attack (Atlas/Virginia ‘23)
Asher Nolting, Attack (Cannons/High Point ‘22)
Mac O’Keefe, Attack (Archers/Penn State ‘21)
Logan Wisnauskas, Attack (Chrome/Maryland ‘22)
Matt Campbell, Midfield (Cannons/Villanova ‘23)
Connor Kirst, Midfield (Whipsnakes/Rutgers ‘21)
Cole Kirst, Midfield (Redwoods/Syracuse ‘23)
Jeff Trainor, Midfield (Cannons/UMass ‘21)
Jackson Bonitz, Defense (Navy ‘24)
Brett Makar, Defense (Atlas/Maryland ‘23)
Colin Squires, Defense (Whipsnakes/Denver ‘21)
Matt DeLuca, Goalie (Waterdogs/Delaware ‘20)
Colin Kirst, Goalie (Cannons/Rutgers ‘22)
Jared Conners, LSM (Archers/Virginia ‘21)
Ryan McNulty, LSM (Chaos/Loyola ‘22)
Ethan Rall, LSM (Cannons/Rutgers ‘23)
Bubba Fairman, SSDM (Cannons/Maryland ‘22)
Zach Geddes, SSDM (Chaos/Georgetown ‘22)
Connor Maher, SSDM (Archers/UNC ‘23)
Matt Whitcher, SSDM (Waterdogs/York ‘18)
Petey LaSalla, FO (Whipsnakes/Virginia ‘23)
Mike Sisselberger, FO (Archers/Lehigh ‘23)

Now here’s a look at the Team Canada roster, via Twitter/X:

Below you’ll find a schedule of Fall Classic events, which will be streamed live on YouTube (via USA Lacrosse):

Oct. 13
12:30 p.m. — Brogden Cup Games
5 p.m. — USA U20 vs. Canada U20 (Women)
7:30 p.m. — USA vs. Canada (Men)

Oct. 14
8 a.m. — Brogden Cup Games
9:30 a.m. — Canada U20 vs. Northwestern (Women)
12:30 p.m. — USA U20 vs. Northwestern (Women)
3 p.m. — USA vs. Penn State (Men)
5:30 p.m. — Canada vs. Penn State (Men)

Oct. 15
8 a.m. — Brogden Cup Games

*ALL TIMES EASTERN

👀 Expect Lacrosse at LA28

This week, we’ve seen some monumental movement when it comes to getting lacrosse into the Olympics.

On Monday, the Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee recommended Sixes Lacrosse among four other sports (Baseball-Softball, Cricket, Flag Football and Squash) for inclusion to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Although there is still a final vote scheduled for Monday (Oct. 16), the IOC Executive Board has accepted the proposal to add all five sports — including lacrosse.

Lacrosse was last played as an official Olympic sport in 1908, but it was included as a demonstration sport in the Summer Olympics of 1928 and 1932.

Stay tuned for the final announcement next week, because this development is a massive step forward for the growth of the game internationally.

📈 Florida State Women Going D1

In an interesting twist of fate, the Florida State women’s club lacrosse team is being elevated to Division I after the University was found to be in violation of Title IX.

A USA TODAY Sports investigation in May of 2022 originally uncovered the Title IX violation, claiming that Florida State was using roster manipulation and over-counting female athletes. Then, in August of this year, the FSU women’s lacrosse team threatened legal action in a petition to gain varsity status.

Arthur Bryant is the lawyer who consulted with the FSU team to raise the petition.

“The only thing that works is women being willing to fight,” Bryant told USA TODAY. “I know people don’t normally go to their schools to sue them, and I know it’s hard … but what this case shows is that if they fight, they win.”

Florida State is now on track to become the 11th ACC school with women’s lacrosse at the varsity level by the 2025-26 academic year.

🔙 NEC Lacrosse Returning in 2024-25

Turning now to the Division I men’s lacrosse landscape, the Northeast Conference is set to return during the 2024-25 academic year.

This conference will feature seven teams, meaning it will have an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. Those teams will be Le Moyne, LIU, Merrimack, Sacred Heart, Wagner, Detroit Mercy and VMI.

The NEC last sponsored men’s lacrosse in 2022. St. Joseph’s (now in the Atlantic 10) won the conference with a 7-0 record that year, then fell to Yale in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

While Le Moyne (formerly D2) is newly Division 1 this year, four of the 2025 NEC teams currently compete in the MAAC: LIU, VMI, Wagner and Sacred Heart. Merrimack is in the America East Conference; Detroit Mercy is in the ASUN.

🍀 Jordan Faison: ‘FLAX Player’

From Navy’s Xavier Arline to Maryland’s Dante Trader, we’re seeing more and more dual-sport athletes strike a balance between lacrosse and football. Notre Dame freshman Jordan Faison is the latest example.

Faison was a four-star recruit who originally committed to Notre Dame for lacrosse. The midfielder decided to walk onto the Fighting Irish football team this fall, and now he’s thriving as a wide receiver in South Bend.

Faison caught his first collegiate touchdown pass — a 36-yarder against Louisville — last weekend.

Faison has now earned a football scholarship from Notre Dame, but he still plans to play lacrosse this spring. In fact, he has even invented a new word to describe himself as an athlete.

“I love both sports equally,” Faison said, per Inside ND Sports. “So if you could, a flax player or something. Just change the words or something.”

Faison was a standout playmaker in both lacrosse and football for Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The Miami Herald named him Broward County Athlete of the Year, after he racked up 72 points (56G, 16A) on the lacrosse field last spring.