From backyard gigs to the big stage: How Matt Campbell prepared for this moment

With nine seconds remaining in the second quarter of the 2025 Lexus Championship Series final, the Boston Cannons used a timeout to draw up a play. Every point mattered. Boston had taught New York that the night before when it erased a three-point lead in 27 seconds. A goal before halftime could be the difference.

“[Expletive] it,” Matt Campbell said. “Just give me the [expletive] ball, and I’ll score.”

It was even more than goalie Adam Ghitelman had hoped for when he’d challenged the team’s younger core earlier in the week. In a team meeting, Ghitelman looked around the room and reminded everyone that sports are ageist. He and Marcus Holman — in their 15th and 13th seasons, respectively — will not always be there to lead them. The younger players needed to mature as leaders. And Campbell wasted no time answering the bell.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard him speak in a huddle,” head coach and general manager Brian Holman said, equal parts proud and surprised.

“I don’t think anyone even questioned it,” Alex Vardaro said.

Campbell went on to score, sending the Cannons into halftime with a 13-7 lead. It was one of his team-high seven goals on the day. He finished with 13 shot attempts on 24 touches — the box score embodiment of “Just give me the [expletive] ball” — en route to leading the Cannons to their second straight Lexus Championship Series title and earning the Golden Stick Award with 23 scoring points.

“He was just unguardable,” Marcus Holman said. “In the huddles … being like, ‘We’re good. We’re not tired. We’re ready for this.’ It wasn’t just about him. It was about him stepping up and being the voice for everybody.”

It might’ve been the first time Campbell drew up the play, but it wasn’t the first time a play had been drawn up for him in a huddle. Connor Kirst remembers a crunch-time huddle at Villanova during his senior year (and Campbell’s freshman year) when teammates looked around and said, “Let’s just give Matt the ball.”

Plays designed to give Campbell the ball often work out for the offense. Whether he’s starting the party or standing at the end of the rainbow ready to finish, he’s able to execute everything that coaches have asked of him over the years.

Trailing by two in the second game of his pro career, then offensive coordinator Jim Mitchell drew up a fourth-quarter action to get Campbell’s hands free from two-point range. Ryan Drenner dodged down the alley while Marcus Holman and Jonathan Donville set a double down-screen for Campbell. Ryan Boyle referred to Holman as a “snowplow”; Quint Kessenich compared them to “two pulling guards.” As Campbell curled off the screens, Drenner rolled back to find the rookie wide open. Campbell bounced a two-point goal to knot the game at 13-13.

“Holy [expletive], this kid is the real deal,” Ethan Rall remembers thinking.

Campbell had been practicing for that moment for a long time. Putting in reps, hunting for competitive advantages and the pursuit of improvement is what drives Campbell — both on and off the field.

While home for winter break during his freshman year at Villanova, Campbell found a guitar. It belonged to his sister, Riley, a First-Team All-Ivy League attacker at Harvard before taking her fifth year at Northwestern, who was a “huge, huge, huge” Taylor Swift fan, according to Matt. The guitar had been collecting dust until Matt picked it up.

Two of Campbell’s friends and teammates — Jimmy Gabrielsen and Stelios Kroudis — were also learning to play guitar. He decided to give it a shot. The pandemic hit, and the guitar was Campbell’s way to waste time between workouts and Fortnite.

“I got addicted to learning how to do it,” Campbell told Rall. Senior year, the friends all lived together on Mt. Pleasant Road, where they turned one room into the band room. Campbell (midfield/guitar), Gabrielsen (midfield/guitar), Kroudis (attack/drums), Brody Laporte (defense/bass) and Luke Raymond (attack/vocals) formed a band: Pleasure Ave.

They played a couple backyard gigs at sororities on campus. Raymond was a freshman at the time. Campbell and his bandmates picked him up from his Spanish final and drove him straight to the show.

The setlist opened with “Santeria” by Sublime. They covered a range of classics: “Beast of Burden” by The Rolling Stones, “Dani California” by Red Hot Chili Peppers and “Take It Easy” by The Eagles. Some country songs “that people love to sing along with”: “Tennessee Whiskey” by Chris Stapleton and “Revival” by Zach Bryan. Some newer hits, like “Kilby Girl” by The Backseat Lovers. Campbell played the harmonica on “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. And they ended with “Don’t Look Back in Anger” by Oasis.

When reflecting on how the guitar translates to lacrosse, Campbell had two thoughts: You (sort of) hold it similarly to a stick, and it requires a lot of time put in.

“Similar to lacrosse, you have practice and games,” Campbell said. “You saw the clip of us playing. And you’re probably like, ‘Oh, that’s really cool, I wish I could play.’ But what you didn’t see is the three years I spent alone in my room practicing. And not because I wanted to play for that moment. Just because I enjoyed it.”

Striving for improvement — and spending time with people he cares about — is what fuels Campbell.

He studies lacrosse the same way. Not with the Lexus Championship Series or a game-tying two-point shot in mind. Just because he enjoys it.

On the road, Campbell rooms with Rall. When they watch other games across the league together, Campbell keeps a close eye on midfielders across the league.

“Every time Tom [Schreiber] plays, it’s kind of like, ‘Alright, notepad is out,’” Campbell said.

His coaches are studying the three-time MVP, too, and they’re starting to draw up sets that put Campbell in similar spots. Their high pick-and-roll look has shades of Utah’s “JACKIE” set: a 4-2 set (hence why it’s named after Jackie Robinson) with a high pick-and-roll and mumbos on each side.

It’s not a carbon copy, but that they’re borrowing concepts of what seemingly only Schreiber can do and entrusting Campbell to do them speaks volumes to the coaching staff’s confidence in the third-year pro.

Those high picks are even more dangerous in the sub game, when a short-stick defensive midfielder sets the pick on his way to the box. An opposing offensive midfielder doesn’t want to switch onto Campbell; he wants to get off the field.

“If you wanna go under picks, it’s like going under [against] Steph Curry at the three-point line,” offensive coordinator Alec Jernstedt said.

The defense went under this beesting by Jeff Trainor, giving Campbell just enough space to unleash a 101 mph rocket:

While that two-point shot has been there since his rookie season, Campbell is adding new elements to his game every year. He studies Schreiber’s vision and passing — something he really wants to improve on. When the Cannons install a new set, Campbell asks questions to understand his role and everyone else’s.

“He was a dang sponge,” Brian Holman said.

“Am I coming out of the box third? What do you want me to do if I come out first?” Holman recalls Campbell asking.

Understanding the nuances of the Cannons’ offense and the way that defenses try to slow them down has helped Campbell. He’s trying to develop his passing in an era when no defense wants to slide. It’s always been tough to feed from the midfield; it might be tougher than ever in 2025. But Campbell knows when the windows will open. Defenses try to sneak up on him when he rolls back. That leaves a sliver of space for him to find Drenner — and zip this pass in, like he’s seen Schreiber do hundreds of times.

“It’s awareness of knowing when you’ve gotta throw a feed with touch and lead a guy, versus ‘I’ve gotta get this on his stick right now,’” Ryan Boyle broke down on the ESPN broadcast.

Schreiber isn’t the only player whom Campbell studies. He has clipped up reels of Brad Smith’s split dodge and Jack Hannah’s footwork. He admires the intensity with which Bryan Costabile dodges. You can see more of each player’s game in Campbell’s each week. He’s attempting a few more right-handed shots, which is opening up looks for his dominant left. He’s improving as a passer but understands he doesn’t need to do it all himself. If he draws a slide, he’ll generally throw it forward and let a teammate like Asher Nolting scan the field for the open man.

Late in the first half on the road against Philadelphia, the Cannons drew up a play for Graydon Hogg to attack a short stick. Hogg drew a hedge and moved it to Campbell with three seconds remaining. Campbell could’ve easily stepped into a two-point attempt — but he saw Nolting wide open on the wing.

“A lot of guys would’ve shot a contested two, because that was kind of the look. We never talked about moving it one more,” Jernstedt said. “He’s been just as willing to give up that shot as he has been to take the shot.”

Entering Homecoming Weekend, the Cannons offense is clicking. Teammates feel Campbell’s ascent — from All-Star to First-Team All-Pro to frontrunner for the Gait Brothers Midfielder of the Year Award — gives them their best shot at a title since their rebuild.

“He is that guy for our team,” Drenner said. “When we need somebody to go win a matchup, we’re trying to get him the ball.”

When the Cannons do need somebody to go win a matchup, Campbell will be ready for it. But not because he’s been dreaming about that moment. Just because he enjoyed the reps it took to get there.