The greatest moment in David Mather’s life took place in the cage at Oncenter War Memorial Arena in Syracuse — site of the 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship.

Mather, a 22-year-old backup goalie for the U.S. indoor team, was inserted into the game against Lyle Thompson and the Iroquois Nationals. He had two saves already when the U.S. was called for too many men on the floor, a violation that eventually resulted in a penalty shot.

Thompson lined up to take the shot. Mather, who grew up in Seattle and drove up to British Columbia to train, was facing his toughest challenge to date.

Thompson trotted down the floor, faked twice and looked to have the U.S. goalie beaten in the top right corner. But somehow, the goalie stick flew from Mather’s left side to stone Thompson in front of a roaring crowd. The U.S. lost that game 13-9, but it was a pivotal point in Mather’s development as a goalie.

A milestone.

“That was the moment that it clicked and it was like, ‘This is what I’m trying to do,’” Mather said. “Making that save meant the world to me. It was the biggest moment of my life by far.”

He still shows the Instagram video of his memorable save to friends — he posted it twice and it, according to him, amasses half of his profile views. It was the moment that affirmed the work he put into becoming a successful American indoor goalie, a phrase that hasn’t often been synonymous with the program.

Mather, who moved from his home on the West Coast to Syracuse to train with members of the Onondaga Nation, is back as part of a crop of U.S. goalies looking to crack the final roster for the 2019 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship. It’s a position where the U.S. has lacked depth in the past due to lack of resources.

“All over the country, it’s tough for American goalies,” Mather said. “It’s just a bunch of guys making it up as they go. They have no one to look up to and no one to teach them. There are a few pockets — Dillon Ward is teaching kids in Colorado, there’s a good goalie in Columbus. It’s starting to pop up and develop, and that’s good to see. But it’s going to take some time before we start turning up.”

And Mather is doing his part to help develop young indoor goalies — stopping by local practices and giving pointers to anyone who will listen. He knows just how difficult it can be for an aspiring indoor goalie in America.

Mather picked up the indoor game when former Washington Stealth star Lewis Ratcliffe started an academy in Seattle. He was the only goalie for any of the six teams, so he’d play six consecutive games in the cage to compensate.

He continued with both box and field through high school, where he’d get off school and drive three hours to British Columbia to play Junior A for the Coquitlam Adanacs. By senior year, he quit field lacrosse and pursued indoor lacrosse wholeheartedly, leaving school at 3 p.m., practicing with Coquitlam and Burnaby, and driving back home.

Mather spent college studying in the fall and winter, and taking the spring semester off to play lacrosse.

“I couldn’t work. I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “I was just sitting around and playing lacrosse. Not a bad thing at all. There were a couple years where I lived up there and was driving back, depending on how much money I had and how much I could do. It was a grind out there.”

Mather watched as the 2011 U.S. indoor team headed to the Czech Republic for the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship. Looking at the roster, Mather thought he could reach that level. A few years later, after Mather had moved to Senior A with the Langley Thunder, he received an invitation to join to the U.S. team for tryouts ahead of 2015.

After the tryout process, Mather was named to the national team ahead of the WILC in upstate New York. Mission accomplished.

“I knew if I put the work in I could do it,” he said. “People said I was crazy when, in my senior year, I quit field to go follow box. They asked ‘Why would you do that?’ I said ‘I could play another year of field here and fizzle out and go play club ball in college, or I can go out and get after this.’ I was telling them when I was a senior that I was going to make Team USA. Here we are.”

Mather’s time with the bronze-medal-winning U.S. team was well documented. But after the games, he was still looking for opportunities to play. The grind of traveling to B.C. was taking a toll on him and his game, and he was thinking about stepping away for a while.

But then he got a call from Regy Thorpe’s staff with the current U.S. indoor team. They wanted him back to try out for 2019. He couldn’t say no to another chance to play for his country. This time, he wanted extra training, so he made the decision to move to Syracuse. That way, he could drive 10 minutes four days a week to the Onondaga Reservation to play with some of the most talented indoor lacrosse players in the world. He spent time with the Onondaga Redhawks in the Can-Am Senior B league while getting ready for another shot at Team USA.

This time around, Mather is joined by two U.S. national team newcomers in Hunyahdengowah Abrams and Jacob Lazore. It’s a new group of U.S. goalies, but one that gelled quickly during the Lax All Stars North American Invitational and last weekend’s training camp in Columbus.

“This is one of the most fun groups I’ve played with,” Mather said. “We work together really well. There are a lot of times you get caught up fighting for a job, but at the end of the day, we aren’t the one making the decisions. It’s not our job. We just go out and play and try to win a game. That’s our goal.”

The most exciting moment of the U.S. national team’s training weekend, outside of a scrimmage with Ohio State, was a simple 2-on-1 drill. The team rotated 2-on-1s on each side of the floor, giving the goalies plenty of action.

Toward the end of the play, Thorpe issued an ultimatum — score two straight goals and the drill is finished. Thus commenced a wild 20-minute sequence where the offense frequently scored the first goal, but failed to find a second one.

Mather, Abrams and Lazore loved every second of it.

“Goalies don’t win any drills,” Mather said. “Just to keep them hung up on those shots. Knowing that if I slipped up, Jake had my back on the other end. If he let one in, I never wanted to make a save more in my life.”

“You could see the players’ interest fall fast,” Abrams said, smiling. “Every time they scored, a sense of hope came and they were like, ‘Let’s go.’ Then, boom, someone made a save and there we go again.”

It was a testament to the strong weekend the trio of U.S. goalies had in Columbus. Thorpe knew what he had in Mather, but Abrams and Lazore have stepped into their roles on the U.S. training team.

Abrams, who was born on the Tonawanda Reservation in the Seneca Nation, is gearing for his second WILC experience. As a citizen of Canada, the United States and the Six Nations, Abrams tried out and made the Iroquois Nationals for the 2015 event in Onondaga.

That exposure helped him meet Rich Kilgour, who invited him to try out for the Buffalo Bandits — the team for which Kilgour served as an assistant. Abrams had already played under Kilgour’s brother, Darris, with the Seneca WarChiefs in Junior B. Abrams made the Bandits roster in 2015, but was cut after a knee injury. He spent time on and off of rosters in Rochester and Buffalo over the past two seasons.

When it came time to decide if he wanted to play in the 2019 WILC, Abrams was conflicted. He wasn’t getting playing time with the Iroquois, so he considered making a run at the U.S. indoor team.

“It was kind of tough. It’s always been about Iroquois,” he said. “I talked to friends, family, Darris. I looked up to him for guidance and he told me, ‘Do what will get you where you need to be.’ At the time, I thought this was better for me.’”

Now, Abrams is a fixture on this U.S. indoor training team. Thorpe and the other coaches don’t call him by his full name, which means great turtle. Instead, they’ve settled on “Gary,” even though his uncle had given him the non-Native name of David.

“Coach just goes, ‘You know what? You don’t really look like a David,” he said. “We’re going to call you Gary. It just stuck with me.”

Like Abrams, Lazore developed his game in the minors of the Six Nations. He spent most of his childhood playing in Akwesasne, eventually making it to the Junior A ranks. His strong play in Junior A earned him a tryout with Philadelphia Wings in 2013 at age 20. 

Lazore made the Wings and stayed with the team until an injury forced the team to shuffle its roster, ending in his release. Eventually, he landed in the CanAm professional league with the Native Sons, where he played for two seasons alongside Abrams.

Rochester offered Lazore a tryout, but the Knighthawks released him after finding out he had been playing with a dislocated shoulder since his high school days. Lazore knew he could play with the injury, but the team took no chances.

“They told me I needed surgery right away and I shouldn’t be on the field,” Lazore said. “They sent me a text telling me they released me, and I asked them why, and they were like, ‘It’s your shoulder.’ I told them it had been like this for eight years and I could play. They couldn’t take that risk.”

Once Lazore got the shoulder surgery, he was ready to take on a new challenge: Team USA. He filled out the application and made his debut at LASNAI. He, too, felt conflicted with his Six Nations heritage, but eventually felt the opportunity was worth a shot.

To Abrams and Lazore, the ability to play the game they love is a gift.

“Lacrosse is lacrosse wherever you go,” Abrams said. “The whole Lyle Thompson saying, ‘It’s not for the name on the front or the back. It’s for the Creator.’ We all play for one guy. I don’t care what jersey I have on. As long as I get a chance to play, it’s a win in my book.”