Joe Ligas is an ADVNC Sacramento and NDP 2026 who is one of the best defensemen in his class, and is committed to play for the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
During the World Series of Youth Lacrosse in Maryland, when Joe was 13 years old, his ADVNC coaches, BJ Grill and Mikie Schlosser, both of whom have played professionally, stopped Joe’s mom, Janet, at the team hotel. They told her that Joe is “a unicorn.”
“I was like, really? You think Joe is that good?,” recalled Janet Ligas. “Then he was named to the 2nd Team All World Team for his play at that tournament, and we were just blown away.”
Joe is a unicorn on the field, to be sure. A consensus national five star recruit out of Whitney High School outside Sacramento, he helped lead his team to a Section Championship in only the sixth year of lacrosse at the school.
Joe Ligas, playing defense for Rocklin Youth Lacrosse Club.
Joe’s lacrosse journey is filled with accolades and fanfare today, but it didn’t start that way.
“I was introduced to lacrosse by a guy right down the street from me, Matt Beaulieu (Beaulieu currently coaches for ADVNC),” Joe said. “He and his wife started the Rocklin Youth Lacrosse Club when I was a kid, and got me to play. I was friends with his kids, Jack (ADVNC 2025) & Lucas (ADVNC 2027) and we all started playing together.”
“Joe was in 5th grade, and I kept running into Matt and his wife Nicole at school,” said Joe’s dad Frank Ligas. “And they kept trying to get me to sign Joe up for their new lacrosse club. They said how much fun it would be for all the boys in the community to learn this new sport together because it really was a new sport to this area at that point. Joe had been playing a lot of hockey and baseball at that time. But we signed him up for Rocklin lacrosse, and he just fell in love with it.”
“In addition to Coach Matt Beaulieu, I had another mentor in the game, Joe Sullivan,” Joe Ligas said. (Sullivan is a former ADVNC Sacramento Director and current Head Coach). “Coach Sullivan knew I had just started playing lacrosse and he wanted to help me get better. So my dad dropped me off at the elementary school in our neighborhood, and I’ll never forget this: Coach Sullivan brought a long pole out for me to try. I tried it out and then he had me do all the beginner footwork drills for a defenseman. And something about it just clicked, and I’ve been a defenseman my entire lacrosse career.”
Joe, training with a long pole for the first time, with Joe Sullivan.
“It’s funny, because both Matt Beaulieu and Joe Sullivan like to argue over who put a long pole in Joe’s hand first!,” Frank Ligas said. “No one seems to know!”
“Even that very first summer, the only time I ever played with a short stick, I don’t know if I ever even scored a single goal,” Joe said. “I just always wanted to play defense. I just love it. It is so fun for me.”
Joe’s passion for the game was immediate. He soon left baseball and hockey and started seeking to play as much lacrosse as he could find.
“One of the things that Janet and I have enjoyed the most about this journey is that this is Joe’s game,” Frank Ligas said. “He found this, he pursued this, and he fell in love with it without us pushing him. That’s the real satisfaction of it all for us.”
Joe’s passion led him to ADVNC Sacramento. “I knew some of the older guys that played for ADVNC, and then Coach Beaulieu and Coach Sullivan got involved with ADVNC and I wanted to play for ADVNC. ADVNC Sacramento is awesome. It has been amazing. That first season, I was on the B team. But even then, it was so much fun. Then that next summer, I had gotten better and made the top team. Our Sacramento 2026 team really came together that summer, and we have all been together ever since.”
Joe playing for ADVNC Sacramento .. with a rarely seen short stick in his hand!
“Then, ADVNC NDP became something I really wanted to do,” Joe said. “My first NDP Training Camp in 6th grade was super impactful. The coaches were all amazing. The other players and the competition was unlike anything I had ever experienced. When it was over, I remember telling my mom that I just didn’t want it to end. I said that it was one of the most fun days of my life. Just competing, having fun, and being a part of that group of guys on the team was incredible.”
“The thing that struck me about ADVNC NDP is that all the kids on the team are super driven like Joe,” said Frank Ligas. “They feed off each other and they just all love playing the game. They all have the same level of interest, commitment and passion. And they all genuinely enjoy pushing each other to get better. Joe loved that.”
Joe points out a lot of his ADVNC coaches who have helped him over the years, starting with Matt Beaulieu and Joe Sullivan. He also credits his NDP 2026 coaches Tim O’Brien, Dylan Hummel, Britton Stuart, and Josh Peck.
As previously mentioned, Joe played on the ADVNC World Series of Youth Lacrosse team in 6th grade. He was coached by BJ Grill and Mikie Schlosser. Both of those coaches have had a huge impact on Joe over the years. “Having a former high level college and pro defenseman in BJ teach me has been really great. The World Series practices specifically were huge for me. My parents had to drive me down to Menlo (Close to a 3 hour drive, each way) for those practices. But they were so much fun. Coach BJ never felt like a coach to any of us. He cares more about me as a person, than as a lacrosse player. He just wants to see me succeed in life and become a better person. He’s going to be throwing his hat, and yelling and jumping around on the sidelines. But he has elevated my game to the next level.”
Joe in the middle of two of his mentors, Mikie Schlosser (left) & BJ Grill (right).
BJ Grill reflected on his time coaching Ligas in saying, “Going back to when I started coaching him, I would look him in the eyes, and he would look directly back at me. I would communicate one action item to him, and he would be able to process it and apply it, and never need to be coached on that item again. He’s an incredible auditory learner, which allows him to process directions at such a rapid rate. I knew he would be a top 10 recruit the moment I started coaching him because of these traits, and he’s a future All-American at the collegiate level.”
Ligas also credits Schloser for both coaching him and inspiring him. “Mikie Schlosser has been amazing for me too. He’s the idol for so many of us in the Sacramento area, to see a guy from Davis thrive at the pro level. He’s always pushing me to be my best. He’s so calm about everything. He always tells me to have fun with everything I do.”
COVID was a very tough time for many, including athletes who could no longer follow the same routine they were used to. But Ligas used the down time during COVID as a period that he used to vastly improve his game.
Young Joe Ligas admiring the Notre Dame hardware in South Bend, IN.
“I don’t think I would have become the player I am today without COVID,” Joe said. “During that time when we couldn’t practice as a team or play games, Lucas Beaulieu and I got on the SNYPR app that keeps track of how many wall ball reps we did. We become obsessed with it. We did thousands and thousands of wall ball reps. That period of time is also where I discovered the PLL. I went back on YouTube and watched the entire inaugural season. I got hooked on it. I wanted to be just like those amazing players. So then when we could play again as a team, I was so much better and so much more obsessed with the sport.”
Joe soon started receiving national recognition for his outstanding play. Going into his recruiting summer of 2024, he sought the advice of Chris Rotelli, ADVNC’s Founder & CEO.
“Coach Rotelli did a good job of putting me in the right position going into last summer,” Joe said. “He advised me on which tournaments and showcase events I should attend and which ones I shouldn’t. He was careful to make sure I didn’t get too tired or burnt out- that was key. He just told me to go out there and have fun and play my best. That the rest would take care of itself.”
“We spoke to Coach Rotelli throughout that summer,” Frank Ligas said. “He was amazing. He was always very responsive and always there for us. He helped prepare Joe for the entire process.”
When September 1st came, and college coaches could officially make contact, Joe had a lot of texts and calls. He stayed up till 3am that first night communicating with lots of coaches.
“Notre Dame has always been my dream school,” said Joe. “My great grandfather played golf there and my grandfather also went there and our family all is from Chicago. We love Notre Dame. So when Notre Dame showed interest in me, that’s where I wanted to go.”
“We wanted Joe to visit a number of other schools,” Janet Ligas said. “But Notre Dame was his dream school. And he told us that he wanted to visit Notre Dame right away. He said he knew he would love it, but he wanted to meet all the guys on the team and Coach Kevin Corrigan and the other coaches. He said as long as that goes well, he would commit to Notre Dame.”
Joe committed to Notre Dame right after his visit.
“That night, we were on the phone a lot with Matt and Nicole Beaulieu,” Janet Ligas recalled. “It was a very celebratory feeling for all of us. It was joyful. All you can hope as a parent is that the hard work eventually pays off and you get results. So that happened. Joe’s dream has come true.”
“Growing up as a kid, I always remember watching Notre Dame play defense and thinking, that’s what I want to do. It’s an honor to be able to go there. ADVNC has really helped me accomplish my dreams and go even further than my dreams. They have been with me every step of the way along my journey.”
Looking back on this journey, Joe has this advice for young players who want to make their dreams a reality. “Just love the process and love playing lacrosse. Love getting better. I look back on this journey and there’s been so many ups and downs. There’s been good and bad, but I think if you just love it, love doing all the work on your own, it pays off in the end. Watch as much lacrosse as you can. Get inspired by amazing players. Have as much fun as possible the whole time.”