Matt Dunn’s earliest Olympic memory involved watching swimmer Michael Phelps burst onto the international scene at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece, by capturing six gold medals and two bronzes. For a fellow Towson native, that memory continues to linger with Dunn.
“I just remember watching him swim and just thinking it was one of the coolest things to watch,” said Dunn, who graduated from Loyola Blakefield and Maryland. “The magnitude of that didn’t really weigh on me at the time, but to think that the greatest and most decorated Olympian of all-time was from Towson, that’s what I remember.”
Dunn, a defenseman for the Maryland Whipsnakes, and fellow Premier Lacrosse League players might create their own Olympic memories soon. Lacrosse will be part of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles for the first time since it was a demonstration sport in London in 1948 and a medal sport in London in 1908.
With the 2024 Games currently underway in Paris, the next Olympics seem awfully close to several players who participated Saturday afternoon in the PLL’s Homecoming weekend at Johns Hopkins’ Homewood Field in Baltimore.
“I think ever since it’s been rumored for the past couple years, everybody’s been a little bit abuzz,” said Philadelphia Waterdogs midfielder Ryan Conrad (Virginia), a Timonium native and Loyola Blakefield graduate. “Seeing the Olympics and all of the attention that it’s getting and all of the hype around it, I think it’s getting everyone excited about playing lacrosse at that stage.”
Added Whipsnakes faceoff specialist Joe Nardella (Rutgers): “It even feels closer than that because of the training commitments leading up to it. So I think it’s super exciting. I think people are going to be chomping at the bit to make those rosters, and with the roster sizes being smaller than even ours in the PLL, it’s going to be super competitive.”
For its debut in the 1904 Games in St. Louis, only four nations competed. There are currently 92 countries that are members of the World Lacrosse organization.
Premier Lacrosse League co-founder Paul Rabil said the sport’s return to Los Angeles adds a sense of legitimacy and will provide a shot of adrenaline.
“In the U.S. and Canada, there is going to be a massive influx in resources, and probably for countries like Japan and Australia as well that have an opportunity to medal,” said Rabil, a Gaithersburg native and former All-American midfielder at Johns Hopkins. “Lacrosse has never seen this amount of attention and has yet to have the moment that it will have in LA28 because when you think about aggregate viewership, it’s 3 billion people watching the Olympics. That type of attention for a historic but also emerging sport like lacrosse is going to be magnificent.”
ESPN analyst Quint Kessenich said lacrosse offers plenty of poignant storylines for viewers and readers. He emphasized that the sport’s cultural and spiritual significance to the Haudenosaunee peoples, who invented lacrosse, should be a high priority.
“They will be rockstars at the Los Angeles Olympics, and everybody will want to cover them and tell their story,” the former All-American goalkeeper said via text. “Coverage is good, and funding for lacrosse programs in emerging nations is critical for the greater development of the sport. There will be hundreds of thousands of people who will be exposed to lacrosse for the first time because of Olympic inclusion.”
Like rugby which altered its format from 15 players playing 40-minute halves to seven players playing seven-minute halves for the Olympics, lacrosse will do the same. Instead of the traditional 10-on-10 alignment, Sixes — as it is called — will adopt a 6-on-6 style with smaller fields and faceoffs only to start quarters in a bid to pique the interest of international viewers.
When the United States lost to Canada in the gold medal match of the 2022 World Games under the Sixes format, the two teams did not roster defensemen with their traditional 6-foot sticks in favor of short-stick defensive midfielders who could play both ends of the field. Dunn isn’t sure whether the national team will continue that philosophy to 2028, but he acknowledged that he would love the opportunity to complete a career that includes competing in NCAA Tournament finals in 2015 and 2016, helping the Whipsnakes win PLL titles in 2019 and 2020, and contributing to the United States capture the World Lacrosse Championship in 2023.
“Getting to participate in the Olympics would certainly be an amazing cherry on top of a career,” the seven-time PLL All Star and two-time Defensive Player of the Year said. “All of these things are a little surreal — playing in a national championship, playing in the World Games. But the Olympics, that would probably be another level up because it’s something I would never have imagined. As a kid, I didn’t even think about the Olympics except watching it. So it would be one of those things that would almost be a pinch-me moment.”
Because the Sixes rosters are limited to 12 players, Nardella — a five-time All Star and the 2020 Faceoff Specialist of the Year — said he is looking into trying out for Italy to honor the heritage of his grandfather Leon Anthony Nardella, who died last December.
When the 2028 Games roll around, Nardella, who is 31 years old, and Dunn, 30, will be in their mid-30s. But Kessenich predicted age won’t be a deterrent for them or others in their bracket.
“I don’t think you’ll see any retirements in the two years before the Olympics,” he said.
There are a few who are realistic about their prospects. Whipsnakes attackman Matt Rambo noted he will be 34 in 2028 and that he was not part of the U.S. team that competed in the Sixes format of the 2022 World Games.
“It’s a Sixes-style game,” Rambo (Maryland) said. “That’s for the younger guys. That’s not for me.”
Whipsnakes midfielder Colin Heacock, a teammate of Rambo’s with the Terps, was a member of that 2022 U.S. squad, but also quipped he might have a better shot at trying out for handball.
“Whenever you get the opportunity to put ‘USA’ across your chest, it’s super special,” the Catonsville native and Boys’ Latin graduate said. “Whatever happens and when that time comes, I know we’re going to put the right guys out there. So we’ll see what happens.”
Many of the players watched the opening ceremony in Paris on July 26. Envisioning themselves participating in the event with the likes of LeBron James, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky still feels surreal.
“You’d have to kind of laugh a little bit to yourself and think, ‘This is just amazing,’” Dunn said. “That would be incredible.”