‘You win or you learn’: How Bryan Costabile made 2025 his best season yet

Bryan Costabile was frustrated. Steven Brooks could tell.

Costabile wasn’t happy with how he’d played in the third quarter of the U.S. Bank Championship. In that 12-minute stanza, he shot 0-for-2 with a turnover that led to a Denver Outlaws goal at the other end.

Brooks could’ve pulled Costabile aside to chastise him or tell him what to do differently. But he didn’t. He let him be.

Brooks retired from playing for the New York Atlas after the 2019 season, becoming the club’s offensive coordinator in 2020 after a storied playing career. Costabile was the Atlas’ No. 2 overall pick that summer. He’s one of two Atlas players still on the roster since that season, while Brooks stuck around through a coaching change in 2023. The two have formed a special relationship across their six seasons together.

A meaningful part of that is Brooks’ understanding that Costabile is his own toughest critic.

“He beats himself up over those little things, and players can really bog themselves down with making mistakes that can just hang over their heads,” Brooks said. “Either you win or you learn.”

The veteran midfielder took New York’s recent postseason struggles particularly hard. After the overtime loss to the Maryland Whipsnakes in the 2024 semifinals, Costabile spiked his helmet in the turf, hurling it with such force that it bounced 10 feet in the air.

The defeat in the 2025 Lexus Championship Series was another tough pill to swallow. In the semifinals against the Boston Cannons, New York had the ball up one with 11 seconds left and the shot clock off. Costabile – one-on-one with the goalie at that moment – scored to push the lead to two instead of running the clock out. Boston then scored a last-second two-pointer to tie the game before winning in overtime.

Costabile went to Brooks after that loss.

“I saw an opportunity to get to the goal,” he told him. “I should have held it back. I’m so sorry.”

“Dude, this is a coachable moment,” Brooks responded. “This is a moment where we can just work through this and learn, and not let this hang over our heads.”

“You’ve got to try to capitalize on those [moments] to make sure that the player knows that you still love them and you care about them,” Brooks explained. “At the same time, this was an opportunity to make him a better player. I think it really, truly did. It made him a really better player, more conscious of those types of situations.”

Since February, Costabile has had what Brooks called the “greatest season of your career.” He scored 23 points in the regular season (fourth among midfielders) while being named a Midfielder of the Year finalist and a second-team All-Pro.

Beyond the raw production, Costabile was a more complete, more sound lacrosse player in 2025. He pushed the envelope less, taking opportunities when he saw them but playing within the system of New York’s pass-first offense more. He dodged to draw slides and move the rock rather than dodging to shoot.

“We have two MVPs at attack (Jeff Teat and Connor Shellenberger), and the best inside finisher in the world in Xander Dickson,” Costabile said. “So, I never felt as though I needed to do too much.”

That represents a mindset shift for Costabile. Whereas, in the past, he’d catch the ball up top looking to dodge to score, he thought simpler in 2025.

“My job is to swing the ball around and, when it gets to me, dodge, draw some [attention], move it,” he’d tell himself.

“I think that mindset kind of allowed me to kind of play more free, play more unselfish,” he said.

That played out in the title game against the Outlaws.

Just minutes in, Costabile dodged down the right alley. He got a slight step on his defender and drew a slide from Denver’s crease defender. Instead of forcing a shot, he moved the ball forward to Teat at X.

“Because he draws a slide, they had to come off Dickson,” Brooks explained. “Teat finds Dickson. Goal.”

At the end of the first quarter, Costabile dodged from nearly the same spot. He swept over the top before rolling back to his right, drawing the attention of three Outlaws in the process.

“I got swarmed,” he said. “They got three people immediately coming straight to me. So, I saw Shelly down on the low pipe. I figured he might be able to do something with it.”

Shellenberger did do something with it. Because Costabile drew so much attention, the entire Outlaws defense sloughed into the crease to recover. That left Hugh Kelleher wide open for a step-down on the backside.

“The theme was, let’s try to get the ball to the back side when they slide and fill,” Brooks said. “Those two hockey assists he had, he did a fantastic job.”

“Maybe in a past life, I would have rolled and shot that one myself,” Costabile said. “But I just thought, ‘Hey, give it to the guys who know how to distribute this ball and get it in the right hands.’”

Costabile stirred the drink for the Atlas offense early in the game. He couldn’t quite find his footing as a scorer, though, shooting 0-for-4 in the first three quarters.

The third period was tough for New York as a whole. After the Atlas built a 10-7 advantage following a Matt Traynor goal 20 seconds into the second half, the Outlaws went on a 5-1 run to pull ahead entering the fourth quarter. New York’s offense seemed to be feeling the effect of losing Dickson to a left leg injury late in the first half.

Before Sunday, Costabile hadn’t won a championship in high school, college or the pros. The angst of losing big games flashed through his thoughts down the stretch.

“That was 100% in the back of my head,” he said. “I remember just feeling that dread, that disappointment, that sorrow and anger.”

He didn’t let those emotions fester though – he found a way to release them.

Flying out of the box halfway through the fourth, he dodged to his right with a same-hand spit dodge that dragged his defender into Shellenberger’s pick.

With a step on his man, he put every ounce of frustration, every drop of fury he’d felt from the big games lost into a howitzer of a 97-mph shot that stormed past Logan McNaney in net.

“I thought he shot it like 120 miles per hour,” Brooks laughed.

“Having that first one go in was a really relieving thing for me,” Costabile said.

That goal – which put New York ahead 13-12 – built his confidence. A minute of game time later, he went again, this time down the right alley. He got his defender on his back, but lost angle quickly as he got closer to goal line extended.

Costabile is a wizard on low-angle finishes, though. He loves to throw a quick fake, despite continuing to lose angle in the process, to make goalies move off their line ever so slightly. Then comes the twister, which he typically throws to the far pipe.

On this play, Costabile threw that fake to move McNaney out of position before eyeing a sliver of open net on the near pipe.

“Let’s go for this and see what happens,” he thought to himself as he rotated his hands across his face.

What happened next was Costabile scoring the game-winning goal in New York’s first-ever championship.

“I don’t think I’d be able to replicate that shot if I tried to right now,” he laughed. “Good thing you only need to do it once.”

Costabile walked off the field at Sports Illustrated Stadium as a champion for the first time, cementing his 2025 season as the best of his six years in the PLL.

“I still have no words for that atmosphere, that experience. It’s something that I will remember for the rest of my life,” he said.

He approached Brooks afterward.

“Thanks, Coach, for not ragging on me or getting hard on me,” he said, referring to his third quarter.

“Costa, I saw that look in your eyes,” Brooks said. “It was just a matter of time until the game was going to be taken over by you.”