SPARKS, Md. — Bryan Costabile got a taste of the U.S. men’s national team experience when he played alongside the likes of Michael Sowers and Jared Bernhardt on the U19 team, which won gold against Canada five years ago Friday.
The two-way middie had just finished a successful career at Mount Saint Joseph (Md.) and was headed for Notre Dame in the fall. Costabile was a gold medalist before he even stepped foot on campus at South Bend.
On July 15, 2016, the U.S. trailed Canada 8-2 at halftime in the gold medal match. Costabile and the U.S. offense mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback, scoring the final four goals — including the game-winner from Ryan Conrad — with eight seconds left.
Five years later, Costabile was part of another U.S. national team scoring at an unprecedented rate. This week, he suited up for the first-ever U.S. Men’s Sixes national team for its inaugural training camp — one that featured multiple training sessions, a Blue-White exhibition and a co-ed scrimmage.
When Costabile was asked to join another U.S. national team process, he didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation.
“I know the culture that USA has, and I just wanted to bring that over here,” Costabile said after Wednesday’s scrimmage. “Most importantly, just talking and bonding with the guys is one thing I really wanted to get out of this whole experience. That’s something I realized in 2016, you go through all of this together, but making friends with them off the field is the ultimate goal.”
Costabile, the Atlas LC midfielder, is no longer a rising college freshman looking for U19 gold. He’s a blossoming professional lacrosse star and former All-American at Notre Dame. He’s seen plenty of high-quality lacrosse in his five years since he last put on a national team jersey, but this week’s training camp gave him a glimpse at something entirely new.
In the first U.S. Sixes training camp for both men and women, players got a crash course in the speed of the new discipline, which will debut at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.
Costabile is used to running up and down the field, but the Sixes experience was even more strenuous.
“I’m in good shape, but I didn’t expect it to be that tiring,” Costabile said. “I thought it was going to be more like box, but it’s a lot of fast breaks, getting back in the hole, managing your tiredness. It’s pretty similar to hockey and basketball, and it’s a good thing to watch to see how they sub. It was unlike anything I’ve done before.”
Costabile seemed to adapt to the game quickly. He was a threat on offense, and he could line up on defense to shut down opposing attackmen.
The highlight of his week came in Wednesday morning’s scrimmage, when he dodged out of a two-man game and found yards of space between him and the cage. With his body moving left, he ripped a right-handed shot top shelf past Brian Phipps.
“I came topside with my right hand and split back to my left,” he said. “No one came because it’s hard to slide with it being so quick, so the shot I got off was pretty nice.”
The highlight-reel goal was an exclamation point of training camp for Costabile, who sits in the top 10 among midfielders in points (15) during the PLL season. His profile is rising in the game, but he’ll always be energized by the U.S. national team experience.
“[The World Games are] pretty far away, but it was an honor to be picked and come here,” he said. “Right when I saw it, I knew I wanted to do it. It was such a fun process before.”