USA Lacrosse will welcome the men’s and women’s national teams from Colombia, Great Britain and Puerto Rico to Indianapolis to compete against the U.S. teams during the international portion of the inaugural USA Lacrosse Experience from Oct. 11-13.
In addition to international competition, the USA Lacrosse Experience will feature a festival-type atmosphere with King & Queen of the Park events for players of all ages utilizing small-sided formats along with educational and training opportunities for players, and officials all located within walking distance of each other in the downtown Indy area. National team athletes will interact with the youth players competing in the King & Queen of the Park, including offering individual skill sessions included in the registration.
The international competition will utilize the new sixes discipline that will be used in the LA28 Olympics. Sixes is a fast-paced version of the sport played on a smaller field (70 x 36 meters), with fewer players (6 v 6), a condensed game length (four 8-minute quarters) and a 30-second shot clock.
The U.S. men and women have been the dominant country in international field lacrosse over the last five decades and won the silver medal in the first major international competition utilizing the sixes discipline, finishing as the runner-up to Canada at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Ala.
“We’re really excited about the competition for this year’s USA Lacrosse Experience,” said Jason Vescovi, VP of high performance for USA Lacrosse. “Every opportunity to further explore the sixes discipline is key as we head towards the inaugural World Lacrosse Sixes Championship and the 2028 Olympics. In Indianapolis, we’ll have the chance to compete and train with a longtime rival in Great Britain and two rising nations from our own continental federation [the Pan American Lacrosse Association] in Colombia and Puerto Rico.”
Great Britain is comprised of players from the England, Scotland and Wales national teams for international competition in the sixes discipline. Great Britain finished in fourth place in both the men’s and women’s sixes competitions at The World Games 2022 with the men narrowly missing a medal after falling to Japan 19-18 in overtime in an epic bronze medal game.
Puerto Rico Lacrosse was founded in 2016 and has found instant success on the men’s and women’s international lacrosse scene. Most recently, Puerto Rico’s men’s team won the Pan-American Lacrosse Association Sixes Cup in Jamaica in 2023 while its women’s team finished as the runner-up.
Colombia Lacrosse was founded in 2013 and each of the men’s and women’s programs have competed in two world championships. In the summer of 2024, Colombia’s men and women each placed in the Top 20 at the Heritage Cup with the women finishing 16th and the men finishing 17th after winning three overtime games.
All international games during the USA Lacrosse Experience will be played at Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium on the campus of Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI). Games will be played on Friday, October 11 (9 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.) and Saturday, October 12 (4 p.m. - 9 p.m.). The full game schedule will be announced at a later date.
