Americans in the National Lacrosse League are hard to come by. The indoor/box game primarily belongs to both the Canadians and Iroquois players.
In an article written by ILWT CEO and President, Marisa Ingemi, an NLL executive stated, “To play defense in box lacrosse takes more athleticism, which field lacrosse players have, but they lack the skills of scoring in box lacrosse from lack of playing.” This seems true with the overwhelming amount of defensive players on the list below.
Out of all 9 teams, only five teams have Americans on them: Colorado (2), Minnesota (2), New England (11), Rochester (1) and Vancouver (2) See the full list below:
Colorado – Drew Westervelt (F/IR), Eric Law, (F), Jon Orsen (D)
Minnesota – Greg Downing (D), David Earl (T)
New England – Brett Manney (D), Mike Manley (D), Brian Megill (D), Chad Wiedmaier (D), Mike Poppleton (FOGO), John Ranagan (D), Garrett Thul (F), CJ Costabile (T), , Joel White (T), Chris Collins (G), Michael Diel (PS)
Rochester – Joe Walters (F)
Vancouver – Chris O’Dougherty (D), Tim Henderson (D)
Drew Westervelt and Joe Walters have all made impacts for the their teams in the NLL. As three of the top offensive Americans in the game, it’s great to see them prosper in the lime light of a game owned by Native Americans and Canadians. Eric Law made the Toronto Rock roster at one point and eventually was sent to Colorado. The former Philadelphia Wings, now New England Black Wolves, had the most Americans on their team at one point including Johnny Christmas, Brendan Mundorf, Brian Dougherty, Ned Crotty and even drafted Rob Pannell. The Wings tried growing the box game essentially by nabbing the top US outdoor players to attract US fans.
Defensively, Americans are bread to be strong and athletic. In my opinion and from evaluation of players in the box game, LSM’s have shown to be the best defensive and transitional players. Hence why you see the names like Joel White, Kyle Sweeney and CJ Costabile in the NLL. They can all play defense and have great transitional skills. Not to mention, an LSM in the outdoor game has a lot of work to do on both ends of the field. Guess that’s why most of the players I see and talk to about their stick skills during indoor training have all turned out to be LSM’s.
Five of the Americans drafted this year were defensive players in Joe Fletcher (Loyola), Scott McWilliams (Virginia), Luke Duprey (Duke), Ryan Creighton (UNC) and Matt Harris (Syracuse). Offensively, Tom Schreiber (Princeton) and Kieran Mcardle (St. John’s) should make an impact for their teams.
With the amount of defenders and the statement from an NLL exec, the question rises, do Americans need to be more involved in box lacrosse in order to get better skilled on the offensive side of the ball? I say yes, as box lacrosse teaches players how to read and react to situations at a faster speed, how to catch and pass in tight spaces and at a faster pace, not to mention how much better the players stick skills will become.
All in all, if Americans want to make a big impact on the NLL, they need to become more familiar with the indoor/box game. Hopefully one of the box leagues that pop up will gain ground and cement itself as a semi-pro league that can help Americans make a bigger splash in the NLL. Starting them young is important as well. Lots of hope as the world of lacrosse moves forward and box players become more highly recruited at the NCAA level.
