New Archers Teammates Ament, O'Keefe Have 'Unfinished Business'

Grant Ament and Mac O’Keefe first met in 2015 at tryouts for the U.S. U19 team. Ament remembers their first practice together. O’Keefe cutting across the crease, showing his stick in his left hand. Ament passing it inside to him. O’Keefe catching the ball one-handed before throwing it behind his back for a goal.

“I was like, ‘OK, well, that works,” he said, “and I think that was when I kind of realized I could throw anything inside to him and he was going to catch it and figure out how to put it on cage.”

Not long after, they formed a dynamic duo at Penn State, playing together from 2017-19. All three seasons were winning seasons, including an appearance in the Final Four in 2019.

After a few years apart, the pair reunited when O’Keefe was one of the first Premier Lacrosse League free agents to change teams, signing with the Archers after two seasons and a championship with the Chaos.

“When I had the opportunity to play with Grant,” O’Keefe said, mentioning Ament as a reason for his decision, “I think it was it was pretty cool, and I’m definitely excited about it.”

O’Keefe was considered one of the league’s marquee free agents. After a stellar college career that included breaking the all-time Division I goals record, O’Keefe was picked sixth overall by the Chaos in the 2021 draft. In two seasons, he helped the Chaos earn two trips to the PLL Championship game, winning it all in 2021.

In both years, the Chaos eliminated the Archers, with victories in the quarterfinals in 2021 and semifinals in 2022. After the semifinal loss, there was a heaviness at the postgame press conferences of head coach Chris Bates, attackman Marcus Holman and midfielder Tom Schreiber. There was a palpable sense that after four seasons of failing to reach the championship game — despite an explosive offense and two trips to the semis — change was coming.

Going into the offseason, Bates knew the Archers didn’t have many players locked up to multi-year deals. He also knew O’Keefe was going to be a free agent, and he was intrigued by the idea of signing a player who had hurt them in the past. O’Keefe said Bates was the first person to call him when the negotiating window opened.

“We knew we would be active or could be a player in [free agency] depending on how the season played out,” Bates said. “[Mac’s] a proven talent. He does a lot of good things. He’s going to add significant value to our offense. He’s got some preexisting relationships with guys on our team. Once the opportunity presented itself, we jumped at it.”

O’Keefe said he loved his time with the Chaos, but he was interested in exploring his options in free agency. He said he had interest from four teams, but one thing he was looking for was more responsibility on the ball.

“I played more of an off-ball sort of role, working the two-man game to get involved through the midfield,” he said, “but I was definitely looking to take on a bit more responsibility, maybe play down at attack.”

In addition to playing alongside Ament, O’Keefe said playing alongside Schreiber and Ryan Ambler made the Archers appealing. There were also more opportunities to carry the ball available after free agents Will Manny and Holman left to sign with the Whipsnakes and Cannons, respectively.

O’Keefe’s deal was made official on March 7. Ament was one of the first to know.

“Once he got his contract,” Ament said, “he texted me, “Done deal.”

While the O’Keefe signing was done, Bates was not finished remodeling the Archers roster.

“I think you’ll find we’re going to add another arrow to our quiver,” Bates said before the team announced it had also signed O’Keefe’s Chaos teammate, midfielder Challen Rogers.

Free agency was just one new wrinkle to the PLL offseason. There were two new playing opportunities that came about in the 2023 winter: the PLL Championship Series and an exhibition game in Japan against Japan’s national team.

Ambler, a midfielder, has gotten to experience all the offseason has had to offer. Not only was he chosen to play against Japan — he was also on the Archers roster for the Championship Series.

On the way to Springfield for the Championship Series, Rogers said there was a thought about it potentially being the last time he played alongside Manny and Holman, but once everyone arrived, he said that was never mentioned.

“As soon as we got to D.C., it was all business on how we were going to win the first game, how we would make adjustments to win the second game, and so on and so forth, so that we could win the Championship Series,” he said. “We didn’t, but I think what I respect about those guys the most was it wasn’t a topic of discussion because we were just dialed in and full steam ahead on how we could win.”

Ambler said he was disappointed the Archers couldn’t win a championship with the core group that had been together since the team’s inception. Not only did Manny and Holman leave in free agency, but so did goalie Adam Ghitelman. Defensive midfielder Dominique Alexander and long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff both retired.

In Japan, Ambler played alongside Chaos long-poles C.J. Costabile and Jarrod Neumann, who gave O’Keefe and Rogers glowing reviews.

“Moving forward, I’m excited about the new opportunities and some of the guys that we’re bringing to our team. Obviously, they’re ballers, and they’re incredible lacrosse players,” he said. “All of [the Chaos players] said how great of teammates those guys are and how fortunate we are to have them.”

The original roster the Archers put together had a lot of close ties. Bates had coached Schreiber and Ambler at Princeton. Schreiber and Holman won a Major League Lacrosse championship together with the Ohio Machine. Ratliff and Ghitelman founded the Give and Go Foundation together. Holman, Manny, and Ghitelman were not only close friends but also assistant coaches with Utah in the team’s first season at the Division I level — under now Cannons head coach Brian Holman, Marcus’ father.

While some of those ties no longer remain, the new additions bring their own close relationships. Rogers plays on the Rock in the National Lacrosse League with Schreiber and midfielder Latrell Harris, and of course, there is the longstanding friendship of Ament and O’Keefe.

O’Keefe is excited to rekindle the magic they had playing together as Nittany Lions.

“Grant is just a super competitive kid, and I think we worked well off each other,” he said. “Seeing him grind as hard as he did when he was the best player on the team, it was pretty motivating to the rest of the guys and me as well.”

In 2019, Ament and O’Keefe helped Penn State earn a trip to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in program history. In the team’s quarterfinal victory over Loyola, both Ament and O’Keefe had nine points apiece.

“He was scoring everywhere and in every way possible,” Ament said of O’Keefe, who tied the NCAA tournament single-game record with nine goals.

In the team’s 21-17 semifinal loss to Yale, Ament had three goals and five assists, and O’Keefe scored three goals.

There was a lot of optimism about Penn State in 2020, and the team was off to a 5-2 start with a win over No. 20 Villanova and a thrilling 18-17 overtime victory over No. 6 Penn. Even their losses were great efforts, losing to No. 3 Yale and No. 7 Cornell by a combined three goals. Unfortunately for Ament and O’Keefe, that season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, offering nothing but the question of “What if?”

With O’Keefe reuniting with Ament on the Archers, they hope to answer that question in the PLL.

“We had some unfinished business,” Ament said. “The fact that we’re able to give this thing another shot with a really talented group around us, it is pretty special. I think we’re both excited to strap back up together.”