Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively modified by European colonists, reducing the violence, to create its current collegiate and professional form.
2004 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff for the championship trophy, the Steinfeld Trophy, named after founder Jake Steinfeld. League attendance peaked at 6,417 in 2011 and the 2019 average was 4,587.
The New York Lizards, originally the Long Island Lizards, were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) team based in Hempstead, New York, located on Long Island. They are original members of the MLL. They lost the league's inaugural game on June 7, 2001 to the Baltimore Bayhawks, 16–13.
The Boston Cannons, formerly known as Cannons Lacrosse Club, is a professional men's field lacrosse team in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). Formerly based in Boston, Massachusetts, they played in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) from their inaugural 2001 season to 2020. The team's home field was Veterans Memorial Stadium in nearby Quincy. In the MLL, the team won two Steinfeld Cup championship games in 2011 and 2020, the latter being the MLL's final championship. The Cannons joined the PLL in 2020 following the MLL–PLL merger and were rebranded as the Cannons Lacrosse Club before later being rebranded as Boston Cannons once again when the PLL assigned home cities after the 2023 season.
The Denver Outlaws were a Major League Lacrosse professional men's field lacrosse team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They began playing in the MLL in 2006 as an expansion team.
Brodie Merrill is a Canadian professional lacrosse player. Merrill is recognized by the Premier Lacrosse League as having revolutionized the LSM position, and is the namesake for the Brodie Merrill LSM of the Year Award, being the only active PLL player to have an award named after them. Merrill is widely regarded as one of the greatest defensemen in lacrosse history, in both the indoor and outdoor game.
Ryan J. Boyle is a former lacrosse player who last played professional field lacrosse for the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse (MLL). He most recently played professional box lacrosse for the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) until his release in 2011. Boyle starred in both lacrosse and American football for Gilman School from 1996 to 2000. He starred as a member of the Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse team from 2001 through 2004. Boyle was also a member of the Men's Lacrosse Team USA for the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Lacrosse Championships.
Ryan Powell is a four-time All-American lacrosse player at Syracuse University and was on the US national team roster in 2006 and 2010.
Casey Powell is an American retired professional lacrosse player from West Carthage, New York. In 1998, he graduated from Syracuse University, where he was a four-time USILA All-American. Powell was the NCAA Division I Most Outstanding Player in 1997 and 1998. Powell was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2017, and the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2022. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time, and the greatest attackman of his generation.
Kyle Sweeney is an American professional lacrosse player who plays for the New York Lizards in Major League Lacrosse. He is the vice president of sports nutrition at Medifast, and co-founder of the Gotham Lacrosse League.
Maxwell Oren Seibald is a former professional lacrosse player for the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse. He played midfield position. He graduated in 2009 from Cornell University. He is a former Tewaaraton Award winner, and two-time Team USA player. He played for Team Israel in 2018.
Paul Rabil is an American sports executive and retired professional lacrosse player. He is currently the president of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL), which he co-founded with his brother, league CEO Mike Rabil.
Ben Rubeor is a former professional lacrosse player and coach. He was the head coach for Atlas Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League from 2020-2022. Rubeor previously played for the Chesapeake Bayhawks & Long Island Lizards in Major League Lacrosse. He was one of the nation's top collegiate lacrosse players at the University of Virginia. Ben also currently serves as the men's varsity head lacrosse coach and assistant admissions director at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts.
The Canada national indoor lacrosse team represents Canada in international tournaments of indoor lacrosse. It is the best national box lacrosse team in the world, having won all five World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, starting with the 2003 ILF World Indoor Lacrosse Championship held in Canada. Team Canada has never lost a game in the tournament. Their biggest rivals are the Iroquois Nationals, who have finished in second place in all four tournaments.
The Woodville Lacrosse Club was founded in 1899 and is located in the north western suburbs of Adelaide.
Trevor Baptiste is an American professional lacrosse player who plays as a face-off specialist for the Atlas Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League and the San Diego Seals of the National Lacrosse League. He attended the University of Denver, where he set the NCAA Division I season record for face-off wins by a freshman. During the 2015 regular season, Baptiste led all of college lacrosse in face-off win percentage (72%). He also set the Pioneers' school record for face-off wins during a season. He was selected first overall in the 2018 MLL Draft, by the Boston Cannons. Baptiste has won the PLL Faceoff Athlete of the Year Award four times.
The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is an American professional field lacrosse league composed of 8 teams. The league's inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major-market cities. The league was founded by the American professional lacrosse player Paul Rabil and his brother Mike Rabil. Investors include The Chernin Group, The Raine Group and Joe Tsai.
The 2019 Major League Lacrosse season was the 19th season of Major League Lacrosse. The regular season began on Friday, May 31 and ended on Sunday, September 22. It was the first time the league would ever begin its season after Memorial Day, allowing all players selected in the collegiate draft to play a full season. 2019 also marks the first time each team would play 16 games. The league has played a 14-game schedule since 2012. Additionally, the league returned to a Championship Weekend format instead of a two-week postseason for the first time since 2013. Championship Weekend was hosted in Denver with two semifinal games on Friday, October 4 and the 19th Steinfeld Cup was hosted at Dick's Sporting Goods Park October 6 on ESPN2.
The 2021 Premier Lacrosse League season was the third season of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The 2021 season represented a return to the tour-based format that the league followed in 2019 after playing a bubble tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. 2021 also represented a return to one unified professional Field Lacrosse format after Major League Lacrosse and the Premier Lacrosse League announced they were merging on December 16, 2020. This monumental merger saw the PLL adopt the naming rights to all former MLL teams, as well as Cannons Lacrosse Club moving from the MLL to the PLL as an 8th team set by expansion draft. The Whipsnakes Lacrosse Club were the two-time defending league champions. Chaos Lacrosse Club took revenge against Whipsnakes Lacrosse Club by defeating them in the championship game on September 19 at Audi Field by a score of 9–14.
