Men’s lacrosse sending practice squad to Puerto Rico for Pan-Am Tournament, clinic

Miguel Lozada ('14) is co-founder and president of Puerto Rico Lacrosse, which will be hosting the Pan American Lacrosse Association Sixes Cup from Dec. 10-14 in Humacao.

Men’s lacrosse sending practice squad to Puerto Rico for Pan-Am Tournament, clinic

12/5/2025 11:45:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

The Flames players and coaches will serve in a variety of ways on the U.S. territory, preparing international players for potential Summer Olympic qualifying bids in the tropical setting.

A group of 23 players and coaches from Liberty University's men's lacrosse team will fly out of Raleigh-Durham (N.C.) International Airport on Tuesday to spend a week between final exams and Christmas on a service trip to Puerto Rico. There, they will reconnect with former Flames defender Miguel Lozada, co-founder and president of Puerto Rico Lacrosse, and help run the 2025 Pan-American Lacrosse Association Sixes Cup in Humacao from Dec. 10-14.

"It is a great chance for our players to get off the United States mainland and to taste international competition, and to experience areas of greater need than us," Flames Head Coach Kyle McQuillan said. "It'll be fun, and it's a beautiful environment to be able to travel to and play lacrosse in and be a part of growing the game internationally. We're going to show up, we're going to serve, build relationships, and share a little bit about who we are and what we're there for — to help where help is needed and establish our culture of being service-minded."

Liberty planned a lacrosse team trip to Puerto Rico in 2017, but Hurricane Maria, which ravaged the U.S. island territory that September, canceled it.

"Hurricane Maria shut down the island for quite some time, not just lacrosse operations," said Lozada, who earned his B.S. in Criminal Justice — Strategic Intelligence and MBA from Liberty before getting his law degree from Hofstra University in 2019.

He is now a lawyer based in the New York City area who travels to his birthplace regularly to develop the Puerto Rico Lacrosse program.

"Our operations are mainly based in the San Juan region and in Ponce, on the south part of the island where we're starting our first youth club program," Lozada said of the 12-and-over Ponce Lions, noting Humacao is on the eastern side of the island. "Hurricane Maria put a pause on our training (in Puerto Rico) but we've always had a good base of diaspora players," who have Puerto Rican resident status living in the mainland United States.

McQuillan said Liberty's program has sent equipment to Puerto Rico, as it has to other countries including Ukraine and its FCA Lacrosse program.

"We have never had the opportunity to get boots on the ground over there," he said. "There is a difference in supporting an effort from afar, sending resources and equipment, (which are) ways we've helped organizations in the past. Having a chance to get our hands dirty and be of service is something we have tried to prioritize. To use the sport that we're all a part of to be able to do that is super exciting."

Besides host Puerto Rico, the tournament will feature teams from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Haudenosaunee (a team of Native Americans, who invented lacrosse, formerly known as the Iroquois), Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Liberty's players will provide a scrimmage squad for those countries' teams to practice against in preparation for their tournament games, just as they did as part of FCA Lacrosse trips to the Lacrosse World Championships in Netanya, Israel, in July 2018 and San Diego in June 2023.

"This is our first time hosting an international tournament in Puerto Rico," Lozada said. "Some of the best countries in our region will be coming, and having Liberty there will help the other teams prepare potentially for Olympic qualifiers."

In November 2023, Jamaica hosted the PALA Sixes Cup in Kingston, marking the first time a Caribbean nation has hosted an international lacrosse tournament, with 15 teams from 10 nations competing in both men's and women's divisions.

McQuillan said Lozada and Puerto Rico Lacrosse are excited to be the second.

"They're super well prepared, and have a great team in place, to host a lot of great teams coming in from different countries," he said. "We are going down to help facilitate the event and be a resource. We will help practice with the teams and do whatever they need us to do — refilling water bottles, lining fields, handling oversight of the tournament. We will also be holding a skills clinic to work with some of the local schools in introducing them to the sport of lacrosse."

The new six-man format, played on a field about half the size of that used for football, will make its debut as an official sport at the July 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer