CATCH UP ON ALL THAT'S HAPPENING WITH BRYANT UNIVERSITY PLAYERS AND COACHES AT THE 2010 LACROSSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 21, 2010

CATCH UP ON ALL THAT'S HAPPENING WITH BRYANT UNIVERSITY PLAYERS AND COACHES AT THE 2010 LACROSSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- With pool play finished and Team USA sporting an impressive 4-1 record -- its only loss coming 10-9 to fellow favorite Canada -- Mike Pressler's squad is looking to get a place all too familiar for the Red, White and Blue: Saturday's World Championship.

The USA will take the field again Thursday, July 22 at 7:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. EST) for a semifinal faceoff against Japan, who trumped the Netherlands, 14-8, Wednesday afternoon. Saturday's Championship bout (July 24) will be broadcast live on ESPNU at 11:00 a.m. EST straight from Manchester, England.

Need to catch up on all that's happened with Team USA and the Bryant University coaches and players taking part? Check out the Team USA game recaps below, courtesy of US Lacrosse.

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TUESDAY, JULY 20 - UNITED STATES 19, JAPAN 5

MANCHESTER, England -- Co-captain Kevin Cassese and midfielder/attackman Mike Leveille scored three goals apiece to lead the U.S. men’s national team to a 19-5 victory over Japan in its pool play finale at the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships in Manchester.

Team USA will receive a bye to the medal round, where it could meet Japan again in Thursday’s semifinal. Japan plays the Netherlands on Wednesday in a crossover quarterfinal.

Leveille added two assists to pace all scorers with Tuesday with five points. Midfielder Kyle Dixon and attackman Drew Westervelt added two goals apiece. Goalkeeper Adam Fullerton made nine saves in three quarters in relief of Brian Dougherty.

Japan got on the board first, as Mikisuke Sekine slipped inside the Team USA defense and sent an off-speed shot past Dougherty less than two minutes into the game.

But the U.S. responded with 13 unanswered goals and held the Japanese scoreless for over 53 minutes.

Team USA finished 4-1 in the Blue Division.

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FIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS -- BLUE DIVISION PRELIMINARIES
Team USA 19, Japan 5

USA…8-5-3-5…19
JAP…1-0-2-2…5

Goals: USA - Cassese 3, Leveille 3, Dixon 2, Westervelt 2, Crotty, Mundorf, Peyser, Powell, Rabil, Seibald, Smith, Striebel, Zash; JAP – Sekine 2, Ikegawa, Tsugu, Tsukada
Assists: USA – Leveille 2, Mundorf 2, Powell, Seibald, Striebel
Saves: USA – Fullerton 9, Dougherty 3; JAP – Sasaki 5, Shinohara 3, Kousuke 1.
Faceoffs: USA – 14-of-27 (Smith 9-of-19, Peyser 4-of-6; Cassese 0-of-1); JAP – 13-of-27.

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MONDAY, JULY 19 - UNITED STATES 17, ENGLAND 5

Rabil Paces Team USA to 17-5 Win over England

MANCHESTER, England – Paul Rabil scored three goals and added two assists to lead the U.S. men’s national team to a 17-5 victory over host England in the 2010 Federation of International Lacrosse Championships at the University of Manchester. 

Rabil scored all three of his goals in the first quarter, as the U.S. turned an early 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 lead with a deluge of goals in the quarter’s final minutes.

Team USA led 8-2 by halftime. Kyle Sweeney made it 9-2 less than two minutes into the third quarter on a transition play – the fourth goal in five games for the U.S. long pole.

England’s Adrian Bennett answered on the ensuing possession to close back within six, but consecutive fast break goals off Alex Smith faceoff wins – one finished by Ryan Boyle and the other by Brendan Mundorf – in a 45-second span put Team USA out of reach.

Rabil added two assists to his three goals to finish with a game-high five points. Mundorf and Mike Leveille each finished with three goals and an assist. Ryan Powell had two goals and two assists.

Smith and Stephen Peyser combined to go 16-of-24 on faceoffs.

The U.S. (3-1) wraps up pool play Tuesday against upstart Japan, which is fresh off an upset of Australia and is in position to play itself into the medal round. Opening faceoff is at 1:30 p.m. local (8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern.)
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FIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – BLUE DIVISION PRELIMINARIES
Team USA 17, England 5

USA – 5 – 3 – 5 – 4… 17
ENG – 1 – 1 – 1 – 2… 5

Goals: USA - Rabil 3, Leveille 3, Mundorf 3, Powell 2, Crotty 2, Sweeney, Seibald, Westervelt, Boyle; ENG – Watson 2, Baxter, Bennett, L. Ratcliff
Assists: USA – Rabil 2, Powell 2, Boyle 2, Cinosky, Seibald, Leveille, Striebel, Mundorf; ENG – Roberts
Saves: USA – Dougherty 6, Fullerton 2; ENG – McAllister 13, Anderton 4
Faceoffs: USA 16, ENG 8

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SUNDAY, JULY 18 - UNITED STATES 22, GERMANY 4

U.S. Gets Back to Winning Ways in Big Way

MANCHESTER, England -- The U.S. national team got back to its winning ways Sunday against Germany with a convincing, 22-4 victory in the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships at the University of Manchester.

Attackman Brendan Mundorf scored five goals and added three assists to pace 10 different scorers in the balanced offensive effort. Ryan Powell, Drew Westervelt and Paul Rabil added three goals apiece. Faceoff specialist Alex Smith was 12-of-18.

Seven different players scored Team USA’s first seven goals, as it seized a 7-1 lead and never looked back. Germany closed within 9-3 at one point in the second quarter, but the U.S. defense blanked the Germans for the next 25-plus minutes and amassed a 13-0 run that put the game well out of reach.

Germany was playing in place of the Iroquois Nationals, whose absence from these world championships due to a passport dispute in the U.S. created an opening in the Blue Division, the FIL’s top flight.

Team USA was coming off a 10-9 loss to reigning world champion Canada.

“For us, it’s more just to get on the field, play and shake that off,” said defenseman Ryan McClay. “If you have to sit and stew on that, it eats you up. Fact is, you learn from it and move on. That was our focus, to get back out there and play hard, clean and as efficiently as possible.”

The U.S. improved to 2-1 and resumes pool play Monday against England.

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SATURDAY, JULY 17 - CANADA 10, UNITED STATES 9

Canada Does It Again, Downs Team USA

MANCHESTER, England -- The U.S. men’s national team suffered its first-ever loss in international preliminaries Saturday, falling to defending world champ Canada in the FIL World Championships at the University of Manchester before 4,137 fans.

Tied 6-6 going into the fourth quarter, Team Canada star John Grant Jr. took over. He scored two of his three goals in the final frame, including the eventual game-winner with 4:13 remaining as his shot beat a late slide on the crease.

The U.S. led 3-2 after the first quarter on goals by Paul Rabil, Mike Leveille and long stick midfielder Kyle Sweeney -- the long pole’s third goal in two days.

Canada blanked Team USA in the second quarter, however, backstopped by five saves by goalkeeper Chris Sanderson. Billy Dee Smith, primarily a defensive midfielder, went coast to coast to tie the game at 3. Grant then went behind his back to put the Canadians up 4-3 at the 14:15 mark of the second quarter. They never trailed after that.

Sanderson made four more saves in the third quarter, but Team USA crept back into the game, tying it at 6 on Mike Leveille’s extra-man goal at the 3:26 mark.

Canada’s Kevin Crowley, a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist at Stony Brook (where U.S. team assistant Rick Sowell is the head coach) and late addition to the Canadian roster, spun inside the defense to score the go-ahead goal with 16:59 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Grant took over from there, first assisting on a goal by Garrett Billings to put Canada ahead 8-6 at the 14:35 mark and scoring the final two goals himself to keep the Canadians on top.

Team USA would not go down quietly, however, as the Americans pulled within a goal three times in the fourth quarter.

Drew Westervelt took a wing feed from Matt Striebel and unwound a low-to-high shot that beat Sanderson to make it 8-7 with 12:59 remaining.

Grant scored with his hands virtually tied less than two minutes later to make it 9-7.

The U.S. responded when team co-captain Kevin Cassese scooped a rebound off Sweeney’s hit pipe and ripped a top-shelf goal from long range.

After Grant put Canada back up by two, the U.S. responded when Max Seibald found Brendan Mundorf for a goal with 2:27 left to pull within 10-9.

Those were Seibald’s and Mundorf’s only points of the game, less than 24 hours after they combined for 11 points in Team USA’s tournament-opening win over Australia.

The final two minutes consisted of frantic scrums for possessions. Team USA’s last-ditch effort, a Hail Mary clear from Paul Rabil with five seconds left, nearly connected. But Ned Crotty could not get a shot off in time on the other end.

Duch, another Stony Brook product, added three goals for Canada. Sanderson finished with 11 saves.

Eight different scorers contributed Team USA's nine goals, led by two from Leveille. Striebel added two assists. Rabil finished with one goal and one assist.

The faceoff battle between Canada’s Geoff Snider and Team USA’s Alex Smith was split, with each going 10-of-20, many faceoff wins coming by way of illegal procedure calls.

Team USA is now 14-3 all-time against Canada, but the Canadians have won two straight in the storied rivalry. Canada previously defeated the U.S. in the 2006 and 1978 world championship finals.
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FIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - BLUE DIVISION PRELIMINARIES
Team Canada 10, Team USA 9

USA... 3-0-3-3... 9
CAN... 2-3-1-4... 10 

Goals: USA - Leveille 2, Rabil, Sweeney, Striebel, Zash, Westervelt, Cassese, Mundorf; CAN - Duch 3, Grant 3, Small, Smith, Crowley, Billings.
Assists: USA - Striebel 2, Rabil, Boyle Seibald; CAN - Huntley 2, Grant.
Saves: USA - Dougherty 7; CAN - Sanderson 1.
Faceoffs: USA - Smith 10-of-20; CAN - Snider 10-of-20.

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FRIDAY, JULY 16 - UNITED STATES 21, AUSTRALIA 5

MANCHESTER, England -- Midfielder Max Seibald scored five goals and attackman Brendan Mundorf added three to lead the U.S. men's national team to a 21-5 rout of Australia in both teams' Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships opener Friday at the University of Manchester.

Team USA scored seven of the first eight goals and never looked back.

Seibald scored the first goal of the game just 11 seconds in on a give-and-go with Mundorf and added another just over a minute later. Mundorf made it 3-0 less than five minutes into the first quarter.

Australia answered with Anson Carter, who scored four goals against an otherwise impenetrable Team USA defense.

But the U.S. opened 7-1 and 13-2 leads by the ends of the first and second quarters, respectively.

"We've been preaching being ready to play at the first whistle," said Team USA head coach Mike Pressler. "It felt like we were obviously in control, and we kept our foot on the gas."

Drew Westervelt, Mike Leveille, Ned Crotty and long-stick midfielder Kyle Sweeney added two goals apiece in the balanced offensive effort. Sweeney helped punctuate the win by finding fellow long pole Eric Martin for a feed and finish with 1:32 remaining.

Team USA goalkeeper Brian Dougherty was sharp, making eight saves in three quarters before yielding to Adam Fullerton (two saves).

The U.S. does not have much time to savor its victory, however, with defending world champion Canada looming Saturday. A sold-out crowd of over 5,000 is anticipated for what organizers are dubbing "Super Saturday." Team USA and Team Canada meet at 7:30 p.m. Manchester time, following a tilt between England and Australia.
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FIL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS -- BLUE DIVISION PRELIMINARIES
Team USA 21, Australia 5
Manchester, England

USA 7-6-3-5...21
AUS 1-1-1-2...5

Goals: USA - Seibald 5, Mundorf 3, Westervelt 2, Leveille 2, Crotty 2, Sweeney 2, Smith, Striebel, Rabil, Martin, Peyser; AUS - Carter 4, Garnsworthy
Assists: USA - Mundorf 2, Boyle 2, Rabil 2, Crotty, Cassese, Dixon, Zash, Leveille, Westervelt; AUS -  Pickett, Perham
Saves: USA - 10 (Dougherty 8, Fullerton 2); AUS - 12
Faceoffs: USA - 15 (Smith 13-of-25; Peyser 2-of-2); AUS - 12