Bryan Costabile '16 - Growing the Game

Like many Marylanders, Bryan Costabile ’16 started playing organized lacrosse at a young age, but his earliest memories of the sport aren’t out on the field with his team. The youngest of four boys, Bryan most remembers trying to keep up and compete with his big brothers, Kyle ’14, Craig ’12, and Chris ’09, out in the backyard. He’d spend a lot of time in that backyard over the years. In high school, he’d watch highlight reels of his favorite college player, Loyola University’s Romar Dennis, then grab his stick and head outside to try to emulate Romar’s evasive dodges. Now, that same guy he looked up to for so long is his teammate in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). 

At Mount Saint Joseph, Bryan was not only a standout athlete on the lacrosse field, but he had also developed into an excellent football player during his four years. While he’d already verbally committed to play lacrosse at the University of Notre Dame as a sophomore, by the time his senior year rolled around, he was getting looks from college football programs and had a decision to make. “I stuck with lacrosse because it was going to get me the best education in the long run. I was never going to be an NFL caliber player, so I knew I needed to have that education,” Bryan explains. 

As expected, Notre Dame offered many opportunities, both academically and athletically, but Bryan’s college career was not without its challenges. Toward the end of his sophomore season, Bryan broke his jaw. He played the remainder of the season and the ACC Tournament with it wired shut. His breathing and communication were undoubtedly impaired, but nonetheless he helped his team to a championship win and was even awarded Tournament MVP. 

“It showed me that even when there are setbacks, you can always push through it. I kept that with me throughout the rest of my college career and now throughout my professional lacrosse career and even my professional work life,” he says. 

While Bryan was in college, big changes were happening across the professional lacrosse landscape. Since 2001, the only professional field lacrosse league in the country had been Major League Lacrosse (MLL). Then, in September of 2018, Paul Rabil, one of the MLL’s most highly decorated players, announced he would be launching a new professional lacrosse league to rival the organization in which he’d spent a decade competing. Paul campaigned for higher wages, stock, and benefits for the players; he envisioned a path for players to make the sport their full-time jobs. The PLL’s inaugural season began June 1, 2019, and on December 16, 2020, the MLL merged with its more popular successor. 

Around that time, Bryan was wrapping up a wildly successful college career, in which he started every game for the Fighting Irish. Despite his senior season being cut short due to COVID-19, Bryan ranks ninth in program history for career goals (99) and 19^th in career points (118). In 2019, he set a school record for goals in a season by a midfielder (42). Bryan was nominated for the 2019 Tewaaraton Award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding NCAA lacrosse player of the season, and among a number of All-American, All-Tournament, and All-ACC selections, he was also recognized as the 2019 ACC Offensive Player of the Year. 

Upon graduating, Bryan was selected as the second overall pick in the 2020 PLL College Draft by Atlas Lacrosse Club. To date, he’s played in 27 games and scored 63 points for the Bulls. This year, he helped his team to a quarterfinal appearance on Sept. 3–the same day he was inducted into Mount Saint Joseph’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

While the league hasn’t yet achieved Paul Rabil’s dream of employing full-time athletes, Bryan is thankful that he is able to balance his team commitments with his responsibilities as a corporate financial analyst for Under Armour, and, like Paul, he is hopeful for the future of the sport. 

To that next generation of athletes–the high school players who are now watching his highlight reels–Bryan advises, “Go out in your backyard and practice. If you want to get better at shooting, shoot 100 balls a day. If you want to improve your stickwork, play wall ball 15-20 minutes a day. If you want to get faster, get in the weight room. It’s just a matter of wanting it more.”