‘This is Mac’s event’: Championship Series ‘perfect setting’ for Andrew McAdorey

Andrew McAdorey enjoyed a stellar rookie season with the California Redwoods. He was selected to play in the All-Star Game. He was a Gait Brothers Midfielder of the Year finalist and a First-Team All-Pro.

Transitioning from college to the professional level isn’t without its challenges, and McAdorey gave a lot of credit to two veteran teammates – Romar Dennis and Dylan Molloy – for teaching him how to handle being a professional athlete, how to train and how to look for specific things in the flow of the game.

All three will play for the Redwoods at the 2026 Lexus Championship Series. Dennis and Molloy have each had memorable performances in the annual tournament, including Dennis winning the inaugural Golden Stick Award in 2023 and Molloy winning the championship with the Chrome that same year.

Both players think McAdorey will come out as a star in this year’s competition. Molloy said McAdorey will be “a huge threat,” while Dennis added: “I think McAdorey and [Josh Balcarcel] were definitely made to dominate any form of lacrosse. This one, they’ll definitely do well.”

Defensive coordinator Chris Collins, who coached the Redwoods at the 2024 Championship Series, agreed.

“If you’ve seen Andrew McAdorey play in the PLL, if you’ve seen him play for the California Redwoods, then you want to see him in Sixes,” he said. “This is Mac’s event. I’d put him in the top three guys I want to see in this event, and it doesn’t have to be my guys that are playing in this. He’s at the top of my list.”

The second overall pick in the 2025 College Draft has an array of skills that make him must-see TV. He has explosive speed that he can use to blow by someone coming out of the box or isolated from behind the cage. The up-and-down nature of Sixes plays to his strengths.

So does the absence of long poles in this format. After two strong games to open his rookie season (four points in each), McAdorey drew a pole for the remainder of the season. While he hasn’t thought much about going up strictly against players with short sticks (“Across the entire league, everyone is super athletic,” he said), it’s something head coach Anthony Kelly thinks will make a big difference.

“I think this setting is perfect for his skill set: open space, on short sticks when he’s used to running against long poles,” Kelly said. “I think he’s going to absolutely go off at this event. The fact that you sprinkle in a guy like Romar with his stretching abilities, with his long shot that these guys are going to have to respect, that opens up guys like Mac and Molloy and [Aidan] Danenza to have an absolute field day.”

It’s not just his speed and ability to blow by players that make McAdorey an ideal fit for Sixes. At some point, everybody on the field is going to have to play defense. Even after the first Championship Series, Molloy – who had played only at attack at that point in his pro career – said he had never gone over the midfield line but had focused on that part of his game because he didn’t want to hurt his team.

McAdorey is not considered a liability on the defensive end, however. Part of the reason he was drafted second overall was that he has a Swiss Army knife element to his game. Unlike most midfielders, he is capable of doing everything.

Collins said McAdorey was the one guy he would feel comfortable never subbing during the Championship Series because of what he could do at both ends of the field. He compared McAdorey to the way Ryan Conrad played for the Philadelphia Waterdogs in the 2024 Championship Series; Conrad was an end-to-end player who ranked fifth in the tournament in points, helping the Waterdogs reach the championship game.

Collins also compared McAdorey to another Duke athletics icon.

“Think of Jay Williams from Duke basketball,” Collins said. “He strips somebody on defense and then pulls up at the three-point arc and cans a three. In Mac’s world, I can see him making a play on defense, sprinting down and pulling up for two and canning one, and then he drops back on defense.”

McAdorey learned the value of being a multifaceted player from an early age, and he passes that advice on now.

“Something my coaches have always said to me when I was young, something Coach [John Danowski] said at Duke, is you want to be positionless,” McAdorey said. “You don’t want to limit yourself. It’s something I try to tell younger guys when they’re playing. Be positionless. Be willing to do anything.”

“It helps when you get to high school and college in your ability to play early because the coaches might need you to be able to do something else,” he added. “If you’re able to do these other things and be a lacrosse player instead of positioning yourself to be good at one thing, then you’ll be able to play earlier.”

McAdorey has never played organized Sixes before, but he’s put in the work to get ready for his debut. He’s done a lot of extra conditioning, he’s reached out to Molloy and Dennis for advice, and he’s watched previous Championship Series games.

Though the athletic elements of the style stand out the most, McAdorey said his biggest takeaway about the Championship Series is the mental side of it.

“There’s a patience aspect to it,” he said. “It’s a run-and-gun kind of game. The biggest comparison has been to basketball. I think there’s also an IQ piece of it that’s not talked about as much. …  It’s taking the smart shots, the correct shots, and not settling for the first shot that will separate good teams from great teams in this Sixes Champ Series.”

McAdorey is excited to get back on the field with his Redwoods teammates. He is focused on what he can do to help the team win games. A strong showing in this year’s Championship Series, however, could propel him into an even bigger conversation about potentially representing the United States in the Olympics in 2028.

Over his two Championship Series in 2024 and 2025, Boston Cannons midfielder Matt Campbell racked up 62 points, won two championships and earned the Golden Stick Award. Cannons head coach Brian Holman called him “the poster child” for Sixes and “the best player in the country.” The Lacrosse Network’s Kevin Boilard wrote that Campbell was a lock to make Team USA in 2028.

Collins said McAdorey should also be in that conversation, while the second-year pro admitted it would be a dream of his.

“It’s the biggest honor to represent your country, and it’s something I would love to be a part of,” McAdorey said. “I know that’s everyone’s dream. [The] United States is super competitive in that aspect in lacrosse. Eventually, I hope someday I can do that.

“It’s really been cool how the PLL has used the Sixes game and this event for us to be able to have an opportunity to play that game. That’s the only way to get better at it, is to continuously play it. It’s just a great opportunity.”