There’s always a Buffalo connection.

While the City of Good Neighbors isn’t considered a factory for professional lacrosse players, Western New York lacrosse landed on the map during the MLL Draft earlier this month. Of the 48 players selected, only one of them spent their college days at a Division-II school.


What You Need To Know

  • Hamburg native James Wittmeyer was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2020 Major League Lacrosse Draft

  • Of the 48 players selected in this year’s draft, Wittmeyer was the only one from a Division-II school

  • Wittmeyer was an All-American defensive midfielder at Mercyhurst

That player was Hamburg native James Wittmeyer, a walk-on at Mercyhurst who played about two full seasons at his current position. Wittmeyer remembers the first game of his sophomore year when the Lakers were on the wrong end of a 16-9 thrashing against New York Tech (Mercyhurst trailed 9-2 at halftime). The attackman walked into his coach’s office and offered to become a defensive midfielder.

“The other team’s middies were just beating us over and over and over again. I’m like ‘we need some depth at this position,’” Wittmeyer recalled. “So I thought with my size and athletic ability, I would have enough time to contribute in that place. I went into the coach’s office after that and offered to switch positions.”

Wittmeyer earned more playing time later in the season, and eventually became one of the top d-middies in Division II. While his senior season was cut to five games because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the former Hamburg Bulldog was an All-American, helping the Lakers leap out to a 5-0 start and a number-two ranking.

“You could tell we were a great team, but we were finally hitting our stride,” he said. “Offense was connecting, defense was communicating well. We really had it going for us, and I think we were the team to beat. Just heartbreaking to see it end like that.”

There wasn’t much time between the end of the season and the MLL Draft, and Wittmeyer’s focus lays on his future. He looked over his resume and fixed up his LinkedIn page, looking for jobs in intelligence. Wittmeyer didn’t think a professional lacrosse career was possible until the Philadelphia Barrage drafted him in the third round of the draft.

“As soon as it happened, my dad was laughing about it,” Wittmeyer remembered. “He's like 'from walk-on to captain to drafted.’ And to be the only D-II guy, which is shocking.”

Wittmeyer had plenty of questions swirling through his head – why the Barrage draft him? How did he fit into their plans? Head Coach Spencer Ford was happy to answer.

“The next day, we got a call on the phone. At the end of it, he asked me if I had any questions. First thing, I asked ‘coach, how did my name pop up on your list?’ He was telling me ‘obviously, you’re a good lacrosse player. We like your leadership, and we like what you can bring to the team right away,’” Wittmeyer said. “He wants to play fast, mistake-free lacrosse. That’s been my thing. I like to push the ball in transition a lot. Play fast, get the ball moving. I would call myself one of the most fundamental players left playing these days.”

Wittmeyer won’t be the only Hamburg native on Philadelphia's roster when camp starts in July, as Will Agate signed with the Barrage as an undrafted free agent days after the draft ended. Agate was Wittmeyer’s teammate for four years at Hamburg before they both played at Mercyhurst.