In 2024, USA Lacrosse hired Lindsey Munday as its first-ever women’s Sixes national team head coach.
Munday spent 14 seasons as the head coach at the University of Southern California, where she built the program from scratch and won four conference titles. She won two national championships during her collegiate playing career at Northwestern and competed with the USA national team in two world championships, winning gold in 2009 and 2013.
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Needless to say, Munday brings a wealth of knowledge, heart and experience to her role coaching a USA team that is in the beginning stages of preparing for its 2028 Olympic debut.
The women’s USA Sixes team is gearing up to compete against some of their top international opponents at the Lexus Global Lacrosse Games on Dec. 8-13. Ahead of this exciting event, Munday shared her thoughts on building this particular USA roster, what she and her team have learned about the Sixes discipline, and how they are prepping for the spotlight.
Responses have been lightly edited for clarity.
“Being a part of Team USA as a player is so incredibly special, so when the job opened up to apply to be a coach and still be involved and represent your country… there’s nothing better. My experience as a player was amazing, so I wanted to be able to give that back to other players as well.”
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“It can’t be lost how special it is. You can’t forget that competing for your country, wearing Team USA across your chest, is the most special and incredible honor. That has to be No. 1. You have to understand how many little girls are looking up to you and dreaming about being in your shoes one day. Being the best representation for the sport and for younger players to look up to I think has to be No. 1.”
“We learn every single time we’re out there. And I think you have to. You have to be adaptable, and that was the goal coming in. We have to be open to learning, to growing, to changing because this is a new discipline. It’s so exciting, so fun, and so fast. It’s just a cool version of our sport to see the best players in the world playing the fastest pace of lacrosse that’s out there.”
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“The culmination of it — the whole game is why it’s special. It’s not breaking it down to offense or defense, it really is everything. When you see some of the best attackers in the world playing lockdown defense, that’s awesome, and it fires up the group. That’s what’s special about Sixes. It’s not one certain aspect of the game; you have to play a full game in order to win.”
“She was the first person I thought of when I got hired, because I agree, I looked up to her while I was coaching. She’s so dynamic, and she’s so fun. With her style of play, she would’ve honestly been an incredible Sixes player. The creativity that she brings, the energy, the passion, the fun aspect of lacrosse — that’s what Sixes is, and that’s why she’s a perfect fit.
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“Sarah Albrecht Meehan is our manager, too, and she was a college teammate of mine. Sarah, myself and Michelle all played together at the same time with the USA team. The three of us took a moment in Oshawa at the PALA event in October to remember that we had all been together playing for Team USA a while back, and how special it was that they were now together coaching Team USA in the same place.”
“Every opportunity we’ve gotten this year in particular — we had a training camp in August, two events in October and now the Global Lacrosse Games — it’s given us an opportunity to see a lot of new faces and to continue to develop this roster with trying different combinations.
“We’re working with the best players in the world, and the roster is 11 for the Olympics. It’s going to be incredibly difficult, so it’s in our best interest as coaches and it’s only fair to the players to give them opportunities against the best.
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“We’ve been able to see not only different faces but different combinations of positions because that’s going to be such a big factor of making the final roster. How many midfielders, how many attackers and defenders — what is that best combination? That’s what’s exciting is continuing to see new faces and new positional makeup of the roster.”
“They are two of the best, and it’s important to give both opportunities and use the information that we have as we continue throughout the games to make those decisions. They’re both great, they both bring very different things, and having to adjust to a new goalie is difficult in Sixes no matter what.”
“Taylor is so sturdy. She doesn’t really bite on fakes. She’s so poised and consistent. Jenika has those qualities but also has a little bit of that flair to her game, a little spark that she can bring to her consistency. Both of those things play extremely well to sixes. Atlas Cup was the first time Jenika ever wore Team USA, and I mean, we saw what she did, so it’s fitting to give her another opportunity.”
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Cuocco had 14 saves in USA’s 12-6 win over Canada in the Atlas Cup championship, including eight in the second half. She only allowed one goal after halftime.
“It’s incredibly physical, so you have this ability to be really physical, but you still have to be really poised. It’s only five players out there, so to get a penalty and go down to only four is not ideal.
“Especially the off-ball defense is more important in Sixes, because you have that ability to sink in a little bit. With only five players out there, it truly is a team system where everyone has to be on for the entire set while they’re exhausted from running up and down the field.
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“It’s all-encompassing. You have to be physical on-ball, be ready to stop great attackers — but also play team defense, as well.”
“Sam Apuzzo is a winner, a leader, and she really steps up in those moments when we need someone. Marie McCool is a veteran we rely on, and Ally Kennedy stepped up as our leader at the Atlas Cup.
“This structure we’ve had throughout this fall with different rosters has allowed us to give different people opportunities to step up. You really need every single person to step up, but these three definitely come to mind [when it comes to leadership].”
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“For us as Team USA, we can run, we’re fit, we’re fast. Transition is a key point for us, but we have to execute in settled. That’s really the focus. We need to make sure we can execute in settled offense and make stops on settled defense.”
“We have to be scorers, not shooters. The shot clock is only 30 seconds, so we can’t just throw the ball at the cage. We need to be able to put it away. Specifically in the PALA tournament in Canada in October, we weren’t great finishers, so that has to be a point of emphasis. We also can’t get out-physicaled. We need to be in charge, be physical and handle their physicality.”
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“To have the platform that the WLL and PLL does is incredible for our sport. When you know you have more eyes on you, you have to be able to handle that pressure and perform — it brings a different level to it. Certainly with the Olympics in mind, we need to practice that pressure — we need to practice having more people in the stands and more people viewing at home. So these events are incredible for us to play the top opponents and to see who can step up under pressure.
“More so it’s the visibility, and that’s what LA [in 2028] will bring — millions of people seeing lacrosse for the first time — and we need to do our best to showcase this sport at the highest level.”
Photo via USA Lacrosse
