To represent the red, white and blue is a tremendous honor in any sport. This weekend 103 players, yes that isn’t a typo, went down to Goucher College to begin their quest to be one of the 23 players chosen for the distinction to represent Team USA at the 2014 World Lacrosse Championships. The full roster can be found here. So while many of you were out barbecuing or getting your last free weekend in of the summer, these players were spending their weekend grinding through two-a-day sessions. So without further adieu, here are the players that have been impressing so far at Team USA tryouts.
Friday’s practice saw the Team USA invitees get divided into our teams and took part in two games consisting of two 35-minute halves. The teams were coached by Shawn Nadelen, Trevor Tierney, Ryan Curtis and Brian Dougherty while Richie Meade and the rest of his staff evaluated from the other sideline. Seems reminiscent of recruiting camps where players wore numbers and the coaches all sat with clipboards in their fold up chairs and watched under the hot sun.
Meanwhile, Saturday morning started off with another scrimmage consisting of four 20-minute running quarters while the players played under the international rules which consisted of no clearing counts and a whistle sounding when a flag is down. The whistle would occur if the ball hits the ground or it goes behind goal line extended a second time.
The next two sessions seemed to be much of the same as the players continued to be evaluated in scrimmages. Instead of going day-by-day here are the guys who impressed the most all weekend.
Attack
On attack Rob Pannell, Steele Stanwick, Kevin Leveille, Marcus Holman and Matt Danowski all were impressive this weekend. Danowski had four goals and an assist in Friday’s action and appeared to have nice chemistry with Marcus Holman in the scrimmage as well. Holman also continued to impress during the Saturday evening and Sunday morning sessions as well with his shiftiness from up top and aggressiveness going to the cage. Meanwhile, Pannell continued to dominate, much like he did in college and the MLL. He had six points on Friday, a couple goals Saturday morning and a couple of assist Saturday night. There really isn’t anything this guy can’t do. Meanwhile, Leveille really had a great Friday scoring four goals and showing great chemistry with Pannell. Stanwick, meanwhile, looked great and was finding Garrett Thul plenty on Friday night. Saturday morning he really shined though, as he had one goal and five assists in the tryout session.
Midfield
In every report I’ve read, the one name that has shown up every time is JoJo Marasco. That is particularly shocking considering his notable trouble in transitioning to the MLL before finding his game in final two games of the season. Regardless, Marasco was constantly drawing slides, displaying great vision and scoring in impressive ways. He shined in every tryout session according to reports and was even poled in the Sunday morning session. Pretty impressive when he was on a line with Max Seibald and Matt Striebal. Otherwise it has been kind of a mixed bag in terms of offensive midfield. Ben Hunt shined in both sessions on Saturday recording four goals in the morning and three at night. Villanova middie Jack Rice was a surprise standout as he had a hat trick on Friday night. Meanwhile, Seibald, Striebal and Cameron Lao-Gosney all displayed their deadly long range shots over the weekend.
Faceoff
This has been a mixed bag of sorts for Team USA. Anthony Kelly had the most impressive Friday session by going 9-of-11 against Duke’s Brendan Fowler. Meanwhile, Saturday morning’s session saw Kelly impress again and Greg Gurenlian showcase why he was the best faceoff man in the MLL this past season. Finally, Saturday night saw Mike Poppleton, Chris Eck and Matt Dolente all have great days at the ‘X’, especially Poppleton who went 7-for-11 and had a goal as well.
SSDM and LSM
When looking through the reports it was shocking to see John Ranagan’s name appear multiple times. For anyone that followed the MLL this season, Ranagan was a bonafide goal scorer who was not known at all for his defense. However, he seemed to impress with his off-ball play and some on-ball play as well. Obviously, he will have no trouble being a threat in transition which could be a huge advantage for Team USA if he makes the roster. As for other short stick defensemen, Matt Abbott had a nice pick pocket of Striebal that led to easy transition for his team.
In terms of the LSM position, no one really pulled away but a lot of players were tried out at the position. Kyle Hatzell and John LoCascio starred on Saturady morning while Jesse Burnhardt and Brian Karalunas were both solid in the night session. Lastly, Ryan Flanagan and Barny Ehrmann also saw time at LSM on Sunday morning.
Defense
The two names that routinely came up in reports from the weekend are Rochester’s John Lade and Chespeake’s Mike Simon. Lade was showcasing his quickness to play against the quicker offensive players and his strength in the case he went up against the more physical players. Simon seemed to be flying around the field and making plays despite battling an apparent injury that has been bothering him. Among the other names are of course 2013 MLL Defensive Player of the Year Lee Zink and Matt Lovejoy.
Goalies
Not much to note here. John Galloway impressed the onlookers with his clearing ability and of course his penchant for stopping the ball. He really starred in both sessions on Saturday with 17 combined stops, 10 of which came in the morning session. Otherwise, it was kind of a mixed bag between Kip Turner, Jordan Burke, Adam Ghitelman and Drew Adams. According to reports, Burke had the most impressive Saturday night session.
