Matsui, Parker Named to U.S. U21 World Championship Team

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia men’s lacrosse players Quentin Matsui (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Danny Parker (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) have been named the 2022 U.S. Men’s U21 World Championship roster, USA Lacrosse announced on Tuesday.  Matsui and Parker will represent the U.S. at the 2022 U21 World Championship, which will take place Aug. 10-20, 2022 in Limerick, Ireland.

Matsui appeared in all 18 games for the Cavaliers, including 10 starts, during their national championship run last season. He picked up 10 ground balls and caused seven turnovers on the season.

Parker missed most of the 2021 collegiate season due to injury. In 2020, he appeared in all six of Virginia’s games as a short-stick defensive midfielder before the season was cut short due to COVID-19.

The event was originally scheduled as a U19 championship for 2020, but was postponed twice due to COVID-19. World Lacrosse has since increased the age group to U20 permanently with a one-year exception to U21 for the 2022 championship due to the postponements.

The U.S. had 30 players attend a training weekend in Columbus, Ohio from Nov. 5-7 where it faced competition against North Carolina and Ohio State before making its final roster decisions.

The U.S. has won all eight previous men’s championships at the U19 age grouping, winning in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2012 and 2016. The 2016 championship saw the U.S. rally from an 8-2 halftime deficit against rival Canada, winning 13-12 on Ryan Conrad’s last-second goal in the gold medal game.

The final 23 players represent 14 different colleges and come from high schools in 10 different states. The next event for the team will be training weekend at USA Lacrosse headquarters in June.