This article appears in the January edition of US Lacrosse Magazine, available exclusively to US Lacrosse members. Join or renew today! Thank you for your support.

Tufts is no stranger to having elite attackmen on its roster. When the Jumbos won three NCAA championships in six seasons from 2010-2015, they regularly churned out pro draft picks at the position. John Uppgren (418 points) is the No. 3 scorer in NCAA history. D.J. Hessler (321) and Cole Bailey (312) also put up prolific numbers. Danny Murphy (290) came just after the last of those titles and now is an assistant coach at Tufts.

Head coach Casey D’Annolfo thinks Mac Bredahl could surpass them all — if not on the scoring charts, then in sheer impact on the program.“He could be the best player ever to play at Tufts,” D’Annolfo said.

Don’t expect that lofty claim to get to Bredahl’s head, though. If anything, the former Villanova commit brushes it off. He was the 2018 US Lacrosse New Jersey Player of the Year and a two-time US Lacrosse All-American in high school.

“I don’t spend too much time thinking about that stuff,” Bredahl said, “even if it’s nice to hear.”

Bredahl might not be the obvious pick for US Lacrosse Magazine Preseason Player of the Year. Wesleyan’s Ronan Jacoby or Salisbury’s pick-your-poison quintet of first-team All-American caliber talents — Cross Ferrara and Josh Melton on attack, Brett Malamphy on faceoffs and Brad Agpar and Kevin Murphy on defense — have better name recognition.

Compared to those players, Bredahl, who managed 12 points in 10 games as a freshman and played in all four of Tufts’ games in the shortened 2020 season, seems like a reach. It’s not a huge sample size, but the signs were there for a major breakout campaign.

Bredahl was on pace for a 101-point regular season last spring before the COVID-19 pandemic brought college lacrosse to a screeching halt. Add in the NESCAC tournament and NCAA tournament — Tufts won all but one NESCAC championship from 2010-19 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2018 and 2019 — and that projection jumps to 141 points. That would be tied for the fourth-most prolific campaign in NCAA Division III history alongside Will Van Dorn’s 1998 season at Kean.

Plus, Bredahl wasn’t even playing the full 60 minutes during Tufts’ four games, with D’Annolfo estimating his star attackman was out there for roughly two-thirds of each contest.

“I don’t think I went into sophomore year as my time to shine,” Bredahl said. “We put in a ton of work as a team and I did myself as well. I knew I could play and compete at a high level.”

Bredahl also competes for Tufts’ golf team. He’s a two-sport NCAA athlete who played point guard for his high school basketball team. That’s why he chose to spend his college years in Medford, Mass., in the first place.

Bredahl originally committed to Villanova as a sophomore, but reversed course early in his senior year, hoping for a more balanced experience. Fellow Chatham High School alumnus Kyle Howard-Johnson had played at Tufts, so Chatham coach Tony Calandra contacted D’Annolfo to advocate for his open-and-available star.

“Usually when you get a call from a coach at that stage of a senior year you say, ‘OK what happened or who said no?’” D’Annolfo said. “You’re a little bit skeptical. He’s like, ‘This kid is good. He’s been an All-American.’ And then your ears really perk up as you learn more.”

Bredahl pivoted to Tufts, wanting to join a lacrosse program that competes annually for national championships while also honing his scratch golf game. He hits from the No. 2 position for the Jumbos.

A specter looms over this lacrosse season. The NESCAC was the first conference to cancel spring sports last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its 11 member institutions didn’t have fall sports, while conference competition for winter sports got canceled, too. NESCAC teams typically play their first game in late February or early March.

Bredahl said he’s focusing on what he can control, even with potential challenges ahead posed by the unknowns surrounding COVID-19.

“I can only speak for us at Tufts, but we’re expecting a season and putting in the work like any other offseason,” Bredahl said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Bredahl has three years of athletic eligibility remaining. D’Annolfo said they’ve had preliminary talks about what that means for Bredahl’s long-term future, but they also aren’t getting ahead of themselves. 

One advantage, from a Tufts perspective, is the school is one of two NESCACs (Wesleyan is the other) to have a graduate school, so there’s the chance for an extended runway with the Jumbos.

In the meantime, D’Annolfo hopes that others around Division III can see Bredahl at his full potential, not just the limited viewing they received in 2020. Asked about Bredahl’s strengths, D’Annolfo described him as a mix of Bailey, Hessler and Uppgren.

“With Cole Bailey, it was the vision and quickness. Mac has that,” D’Annolfo said. “When you think of Uppy, it’s scoring ability and competitiveness. Check them. The only thing he didn’t have from Uppy is the physicality. D.J. had vision that was out of this world, and Mac has very similar vision to what D.J. had. So you take all the strengths of the top three guys minus Uppy’s size, you get a guy like Mac.” 

Lofty expectations, not that Bredahl pays them any mind.