Winning the game meant a lot to Grant Ament.
Winning in front of a home crowd meant even more.
Ament, a Doylestown native, scored a pair of goals and added two assists as the Archers squeaked past the Waterdogs, 15-14, in the Premier Lacrosse League title game at Subaru Park in Chester on Sunday.
“Winning the game was incredible but being in Philadelphia made it extra special for me,” Ament said. “My mom organized about 62 people to be in our section. They were family, friends and my girlfriend’s family and friends. Having such a large crew there really made it for me. I feel really fortunate that it happened for me here.”
It was the first PLL title for the Archers, who topped the defending champions.
“It was a fun game,” Ament said. “It was very competitive, but we knew it would be. We played twice before this year, and both were one-goal games so we knew it was going to be like that.”
Ament, an attackman, was up against former Penn State and Haverford School teammate Chris Sabia for the first half of the game.
“It was great to go against him,” Ament said. “It was a pretty big moment for me. It was a little bittersweet at the end to see him lose, but it was fun to be on the same field as him. He’s an incredible competitor and he brings that out in me. In college we matched up against each other in practice just about every day so I owe a lot of my success to him.”
A career attack player, Ament spent a lot of this season at midfield for the Archers.
“I had a hamstring injury at the beginning of the season so to get a little consistency the coach (Chris Bates) put Matt Moore up there and had me play midfield,” he said. “I went back there until I was 100 percent healthy and then he tore up his hamstring so I went back up. Once I was 100 percent healthy things started going my way and I basically earned my spot back.
“It’s really whatever helps the team. We were winning and it wasn’t until the semifinals where I felt like myself again and it was my time to shine. Everyone had their chance this year. Mine was just later.”
He was a three-time All-American at Penn State, making the first team in 2019 and 2020 and honorable mention in 2017. In 2019 he was Penn State’s first-ever Tewaaraton Award finalist, the highest award in college lacrosse.
He was the 2019 winner of the NCAA’s Lt. Col. J.I. (Jack) Turnbull Award as the outstanding attackman that season, and he was also the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. He received All-Big Ten honors three times and had 191 career assists, which ranked him sixth in NCAA history at the time. This is also the Penn State record, and he still holds the team record for career points with 284.
He graduated from Penn State in 2020 with a degree in economics.
Ament was a three-year starter at Haverford School, where he helped the Fords to Inter-Ac titles in 2013 and 2015, when the program posted a perfect 26-0 record. He finished that year with 120 points, a single-season record for the program.
In the offseason, he is the offensive coordinator at Haverford School and is the managing partner and CEO for The Players Academy, a coaching application.
“With the Players Academy, we did a bunch of in person events this summer,” he said. “We’re currently expanding as a company to add a few more players. We’re doing some clinics on the East Coast and having fun with that.
“I really enjoy coaching high school,” he said. “It teaches me a lot about how I play and it’s shown me things I could add to my game. I like seeing the game from a coach’s perspective and not just the player’s perspective.
“A lot of the guys were in the crowd at the game and I got a lot of texts from them. It’s pretty awesome for me to show them that I can do those things and I’m not asking them to do anything I won’t do. It gives me credibility and a cool bond and helps me relate to the players.”
Ament’s contract with the Archers is though the 2024 season.
“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” he said. “I love this group. It’s a great group of guys. Getting Mac O’Keefe in the offseason was huge for us. He’s one of my best friends and being able to run down attack with him is so much fun. All the guys on the team are selfless guys who love winning and love playing lacrosse.
“It’s a pretty simple formula, but that was theme for us this year. Compete hard, love the game and love doing our thing.”
PLL teams do not have community affiliations. The teams travel as a group to different cities throughout the season to play games. That will be changing, as the league announced it will be assigning teams to specific cities next season.
“The league has done a great job over the past five years to create such a splash in the lacrosse world as a whole,” Ament said. “We saw it on Sunday, what having a home crowd could be.
“When you think of pro sports, you think of diehard fans and the hatred for rivals and opposing teams. We don’t have that in our league yet. There’s no rivalries like the Eagles and the Cowboys. That’s something that I think is very cool in sports, and to be able to add that rivalry aspect would be really good.
“From a grass roots standpoint, to connect with local markets and have people just bond with a team is super important. I think it will allow more people to get involved. Right now, if you’re not a lacrosse fan, it’s hard to become associated with a team and kids are just gravitating toward the teams their favorite players are on. I think this move will help the league to grow.”
For the immediate future, Ament is taking a break.
“I’m just looking forward to going to some Eagles games and being in Philly,” he said.
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