AMERICAN HUSTLE
M
att Abbott isn’t sure who coined the phrase, but remembers fi rst hearing it during his junior year at
Syracuse. Teammates and even some fans started calling him “The Human Clear” for his ability to singlehandedly navigate a turbulent sea of players to deliver the ball from one end of the fi eld to the other. “You know, we had set clears, but it just seemed like when we were out in transition, I’d somehow fi nd my way back to the ball and get the outlet pass,” he said. “Then I could always just leg it out.”
Seven years later, Abbott no longer wears the orange of the college team for which he, his father Tom (Syracuse ‘78) and grandfather Larry (Syracuse ’52) played, but he’s still bringing that do-everything mentality to the lacrosse fi eld.
After helping Syracuse win back-to- back NCAA championships in his junior and senior years, Abbott has spent fi ve seasons with the Chesapeake Bayhawks, who have won three Major League Lacrosse championships in fi ve years since his arrival. Now he’s in the running to fi ll the same role for the U.S. men’s team at the 2014 Federation
44 LACROSSE MAGAZINE March 2014 >>
of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championship this summer in Denver. Things like clearing and blunting opposing midfi elders usually don’t make headlines. But on a team featuring some of the biggest names in lacrosse, the name on everybody’s lips coming out of January’s Champion Challenge was Matt Abbott. “No matter what the criteria is, Matt Abbott does more for his team than any player I have ever been around,” Bayhawks coach Dave Cottle tweeted. “To replace him, you need two guys.”
ESPN broadcaster Quint Kessenich was even more effusive, calling Abbott “the best all-around lacrosse player on the planet. Plain and simple.” Team USA trimmed its roster from 50 to 30 after the US Lacrosse event headlined by a nationally televised Blue vs. White scrimmage. It wasn’t that Abbott had some blowout offensive show to draw the praise. He did score once, but it was the usual array of clearing, defense and overall effective play that got everybody talking about him. Bayhawks teammates Dan Burns and Jeff Reynolds and the LXM Pro Tour’s Kyle Harrison joined Abbott as the players to advance in the short- stick defensive midfi eld group. Besides
A Publication of US Lacrosse
By Sean Burns
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