Teat Leads Canada Past U.S. in Sixes Showcase at Atlas Cup
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on September 28, 2025
SPARKS, Md. — Canada makes sixes looks easy, but Jeff Teat insists it’s as much a work in progress north of the border as it is here at USA Lacrosse.
“We’re trying to figure it out as much as anybody else,” said Teat, who scored six goals in a 23-18 victory over the United States to cap day two of the Atlas Cup in front of a sellout crowd at Tierney Field. “We have a great player pool with a lot of veterans in the mix and a group of younger guys. We’re trying to test out different things and see what works.”
What worked Saturday was letting Teat work his magic. The 2024 PLL MVP and 2025 PLL championship MVP inflicted all his damage in the first half. When he wasn’t scoring, the gravitational pull he had as a ball carrier opened premium scoring opportunities for others.
The result? Canada shot 62 percent from the field, efficiency the U.S. could not match.
“We grew up playing box lacrosse,” Teat said. “There’s a lot of that in this game.”
Canada’s advantage in sixes — the fast-paced 6v6 discipline that will be contested in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics — was not nearly as pronounced as it was when the Canadians defeated the Americans 23-9 in The World Games 2022 championship final.
Consider the first half. Canada put three more shots on target and got two more saves to build a 13-8 lead. Five possessions amounting to roughly two-and-a-half minutes of lacrosse. That was the difference.
The United States was no slouch, offensively. Matt Brandau, the lone USA player from those 2022 games competing here at the Atlas Cup, and Coulter Mackesy were surgical with their shooting. Each scored four goals and reminded us of the offensive firepower the Ivy League has produced in recent years. And Mic Kelly (two goals) looks like a natural fit for the discipline.
But the Americans could never bring the deficit down to fewer than four goals. Squandered chances like a careless turnover on an extra-man possession and USA nemesis Dillon Ward’s rebuttal of a Ryan Drenner dunk on the doorstep loomed larger because Canada seldom failed to convert on its end.
The U.S. had a chance to cut Canada’s lead to three with less than two minutes remaining, but Ryan Terefenko was handcuffed trying to feed Brandau in transition and Willem Firth scored going the other way to ice the game. Each team scored twice more in the final 53 seconds, but by then Canada had it well in hand.
Firth finished with two goals and five assists and Tre Leclaire scored four goals, but Teat’s first-half sock trip (plus an assist) earned him the Capelli Sport Player of the Game honor.
“When you can dodge, shoot from 8 to 10 yards and are also one of the best off-ball players in the world — yeah, it’s a good combination,” said USA’s Connor Shellenberger, who is Teat’s teammate with the New York Atlas. “I like playing with him a lot more than I like playing against him. It’s a lot more fun being on the other side.”
Shellenberger, this year’s PLL MVP, had a goal and four assists in the loss.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get better. These competitions are even better because you can kind of see where we’re at compared to everyone else,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll keep building chemistry, keep learning the [sixes] game. It’s new for everybody. The more reps we get and the more we’re around it, the better we’ll be.”
