Change has been the motif in Major League Lacrosse. Some players are gone. Some teams are gone. Some players have moved on to new teams. Others are making their league debuts.
It’s also been a season of change for Atlanta Blaze captain Liam Byrnes. He has a new haircut. He has a new number. He has a new role on the team.
The differences are many and easy to see; his goal, however, remains the same.
“We have everything we would need as a team or in a program to compete at the highest level,” he said. “Obviously, our goal is to make the playoffs, and once that happens, anything is possible from there.”
Making the playoffs may seem like a small goal, especially when four teams in a six-team league get in, but it would be big for the Blaze. In its first three seasons, Atlanta failed to make the playoffs. The team finished eighth in its first two seasons and sixth in 2018 (There were nine teams in the league before Charlotte, Florida, and Ohio ceased operations this year).
There is cause for optimism in Atlanta, however. The Blaze have improved their win total each year, from four to six to seven, and in 2018, the team missed the playoffs by only one game. Atlanta had a chance to earn its way in during the final game of the season before losing to eventual MLL champion Denver by one goal.
Byrnes is in his fourth season in MLL and his second as a member of the Atlanta Blaze. Creating historic moments — like a first playoff appearance — is something he’s been a part of his entire post-high school lacrosse career.
He grew up on Long Island, 20 minutes away from Hofstra, and won the 2010 New York Class A state championship with West Islip High School. From there, he went to college at Marquette, coinciding with the program’s first NCAA Division I season.
Milwaukee, Wisc. is not known for lacrosse.
“On Long Island, every town has at least 10 teams. I remember when I was growing up there, you could be driving through any town, and you would see kids all over the place playing lacrosse,” Byrnes said. “Then I went out to Milwaukee, and it was the polar opposite. If you told people you played lacrosse, they would ask if that was the one where you ride horses. They thought it was polo. Going out there was interesting.”
Byrnes helped to put the Golden Eagles on the map. He was a part of the first game, first win, first Big East championship and first NCAA tournament appearance. He was one of the first Marquette players to earn Big East weekly honors and was the first Marquette player to be drafted by Major League Lacrosse. (Teammates Jacob Richard and B.J. Grill were also drafted later in the 2016 collegiate draft.)
Byrnes was proud of what he, his teammates and former coach Joe Amplo helped build at Marquette.
“What Coach Amplo did a great job of out there was using the players to reach out to the community, give free lessons and clinics, just to get more people bought in to the sport,” said of Amplo, who spoke glowingly of Marquette after recently accepting a job as the head coach at Navy. “Now you have almost 1,000 kids in the Milwaukee lacrosse program.”
Byrnes was drafted by the Florida Launch, joining the team for its third season in the Sunshine State. While his rookie season saw the team win only three games, he helped Florida earn its first trip to the MLL playoffs in 2017.
Now with the Blaze, Byrnes lives in Atlanta and coaches with Thunder LB3 Lacrosse, whose president is Liam Banks, who is also the Blaze’s head coach.
Banks said Byrnes was a crucial addition to the team.
“I just think he’s a great guy. Guys on the team love him,” Banks said. “He is tough. He is tough one-on-one. He’s tough between the lines. He’s a winner. It’s been great. We were so fortunate to be able to bring him in last year and to have him again with us this year and be one of the faces of our organization. He is one of the best defensemen in the world, and we’re happy that he represents us.”
While Banks puts Byrnes in an elite category of defensemen today, it has been easy for Byrnes to be overshadowed throughout his career.
Even as the first player from Marquette to be drafted into MLL, six other defenders were selected before him. He didn’t play in his first MLL All-Star Game until 2018 when he battled the MLL All-Stars as a member of the U.S. men’s national team, a team he was cut from heading into the world championship.
His talent, however, has not been lost to those who play alongside and against him.
“Liam is the silent assassin,” said Blaze goalie Chris Madalon, who also joined Atlanta for the first time in 2018. “Coming to Atlanta last year, I’d only seen him and hadn’t gotten to play with him ever. Being years ahead of him in college, I never got the chance to watch him. He’s an incredible player. He’s had both experience indoor and outdoor at this point, and I think he’s gained from playing both. He can do it all as a defender. If you need him to shut down a guy, he can shut them down. He’s a very good communicator down low. His most amazing trait is that he can pick off passes better than anyone else. It’s been a pleasure having him as another captain on the defense.”
Last Friday against the Dallas Rattlers, Byrnes was matched up for most of the game against Bryce Wasserman. Atlanta won 13-11. Byrnes caused a turnover and picked up eight ground balls, tied for the second most in the game behind only Atlanta’s faceoff specialist Alex Woodall, and he was very instrumental in the transition game.
Wasserman did score a goal and add an assist in the contest, but he had to earn those points against Byrnes.
“Liam is a special player,” Wasserman said. “This is a game I had circled just because he’s the best defenseman in the league, so I was excited to compete against him. Liam did a great job. He’s the best in the league. Nothing but respect for Liam.”
It is a challenge to take on talented dodgers and goal scorers like Wasserman as the team’s top pole, but there is more responsibility on Byrnes’ plate now.
Although he is only in his fourth season, Byrnes is the elder statesman of Atlanta’s defense. No defender on the roster — which includes Erik Evans, Fred Freibott, Dylan Gaines, David Manning, William Nowesnick and Leo Stouros — has more experience than Byrnes.
Byrnes said the biggest change he’s had to make has been adjusting to his new leadership role.
“Year four, I guess you could consider yourself a vet, but since I am the defender with the most experience, I’ve got to wear that and take that title,” he said. “Coming out, setting an example for the younger guys. A lot of them really had no idea what to expect coming into the league. It’s crazy. I think we’ve dressed 10 to 12 rookies every game so far. The older guys who have been around it and know how this league works, it’s just setting an example for them, letting them know how to stay in shape during the week, because obviously, we’re not together here, staying in touch using the group chat, watching film. We do a conference call defensively every Wednesday to get everyone on the same page, so that way, when everyone comes in on Friday, we’re already on the same page. We know who’s covering who, what we’re trying to do defensively, what their strengths are and just going from there.”
On the field and off, Byrnes is lifting both his personal profile and that of the sport of lacrosse in non-traditional markets. Whether it be Milwaukee, Boca Raton or Atlanta, Byrnes has made every effort not only to help his teams be successful, but also to help grow the fanbase in each of those cities.
“Trying to get kids excited about the sport and inspire a passion and a love for the game in them,” Byrnes said when asked what it means to him to be someone fans admire. “This game has provided so many of us so many great opportunities. Myself, getting into a Division I college the way that I did and getting a scholarship, I think that’s awesome. As more kids start playing, [there are] more fans, and our league does a lot better. I want to see these kids engage in a sport they love to do, whether that’s at the club level, their high school level, whatever it takes to get the kids interested in a non-hotbed.”