Joe and Joey Spallina face off in Premier Lacrosse League role reversal

Joe Spallina once could lean on his son for perspective. Now, with Joe running the California Redwoods and Joey Spallina entering the Premier Lacrosse League, the father-son exchange has turned into a professional split with Suffolk County roots.

Joe Spallina was announced as the Redwoods’ general manager on March 11, 2025, and the job carried immediate pressure. The PLL said the Redwoods missed the playoffs for the first time in 2024, and Joe brought with him the same Long Island network that powered his earlier run with the New York Lizards from 2012 to 2018, when he coached and served as general manager and won a championship in 2015.

That background matters in a county where lacrosse is not just a sport but part of the local identity. Mount Sinai, Rocky Point, Suffolk County club programs and the broader Long Island pipeline have long produced players and coaches who stay connected to the game well beyond high school, and the Spallina name sits near the center of that culture. Joe has said his return to pro lacrosse came after a break that felt right once his children were playing the game again, a reminder that the family’s ties to lacrosse never really paused.

Joey Spallina’s rise has been just as deeply rooted in Suffolk. Syracuse listed him as the nation’s No. 1 recruit coming out of Mount Sinai High School, where he played five seasons, served as captain in his junior and senior years, and helped deliver the 2021 Long Island Championship and 2022 County Championship. Syracuse officially said on June 1, 2022, that he had reached 501 career points, passing West Islip’s Nick Galasso for Long Island’s all-time boys lacrosse scoring record. Later coverage put his final high school total at 507 points.

That path carried him into the pro ranks this year, when a 2026 Syracuse.com report said Joey Spallina was selected No. 3 in the 2026 Premier Lacrosse League Draft. For the Redwoods, Joe’s roster-building has leaned on relationships and former players he knows well, including the signings of Aidan Danenza and Vince D’Alto through the 2026 season. The result is a league story with a distinctly Suffolk feel: a father building a contender, a son stepping into the pro game, and a family name that still resonates from Mount Sinai to Albany to the national stage.

For Long Island families who see lacrosse as a proving ground, the Spallinas’ split screen says a lot about the sport’s reach. Youth fields, high school championships, Syracuse, and the PLL are all part of the same pipeline, and Joe and Joey Spallina now stand on opposite sides of it.