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There’s a reason they hold tryouts. It’s the fair way to choose the U.S. National team. It does not always yield the best team and that can’t be known until the chemistry of the team develops. I personally have seen plenty of every single player on the list in my last entry and tend to think their recent composite performance is more valuable as reliable data than the US Team Tryouts, as entertaining as they are. There are so many combinations possible for great outcomes on the field and everyone could come up with a great team just picking their favorites. I have selected my team, NOT BASED ON TRYOUTS, but completely based on my knowledge of these players and how they might play together. This was a very hard task and I do not envy US Coach Mike Pressler his task next week in Rhode Island. He must take the list of so many great players and pare it down to 40 and then eventually to 23. Here are my 23:

Name - Current Team - College

Attack

Matt Danowski - Long Island Lizards - Duke ‘08
Sean Morris - Boston Cannons - Massachusetts ‘06
Brendan Mundorf - Denver Outlaws - UMBC ‘06
Scott Urick - Washington Bayhawks - Georgetown ‘00
Joe Walters - Toronto Nationals - Maryland ‘06
Matt Ward - Long Island Lizards - Virginia ‘06

Midfield

Matt Abbott - Syracuse - Syracuse ‘09
Steven Brooks - Chicago Machine - Syracuse ‘08
Terry Kimener - Chicago Machine - UMBC ‘08
Ned Crotty - Duke - Duke ‘09
Kyle Dixon - Washington Bayhawks - Virginia ‘06
John Glynn - Cornell - Cornell ‘09
Paul Rabil - Boston Cannons - Johns Hopkins ‘08
Max Seibald - Cornell - Cornell ‘09
Alex Smith - Washington Bayhawks - Delaware ‘07

Defense

Ryan Curtis - Vermont Voyageurs LC - Virginia ‘00
Michael Evans - Johns Hopkins - Johns Hopkins ‘09
Nick O’Hara - Toronto Nationals - Duke ‘07
Chris Passavia - Boston Cannons - Maryland ‘04
Jack Reid - Boston Cannons - Massachusetts ‘06
Kyle Sweeney - Washington Bayhawks - Georgetown ‘03

Goalie

Chris Garrity - Washington Bayhawks - Penn State ‘04
Rob Scherr - Toronto Nationals - Johns Hopkins ‘04

Last guys cut:

Matt McMonagle was a coin toss with my buddy Rob Scherr, Tony McDevitt is just a hair behing Nick O’Hara now, My defense is a disciplined and patient pain machine that can beat Canada’s offense in the game and a fight. Canada is hoping we pick guys like Gagliardi, Spallina and Clausen. Christian Cook would be a great leader and I might have switched him for Chris Passavia, but for Chris’ intensity and the leadership we get out of Ryan Curtis anyway. Curtis takes the Canada 2006 loss personally. We need that, but not too much of it. Jack Reid is a huge star on my team. He’s the wing on face-offs too. He and O’Hara will score some goals on my team too.

Alex Smith, the FOGO (face-off getoff) on this team, is too specialized and not as good an all around player and teammate as Matt Zash, but the big question isn’t who can beat each other at the face-off X, but rather, who can beat Jeff Snider of Canada and Alex is the only player in the world that gives you an even chance. With Jack Reid and Max Seibald or Matt Abbott on wing, we have a chance.

Middies Tom Zummo and Stephen Berger are too good to cut and yet I did. I am hoping both make the team via the tryout. I would have kept Cassese for leadership but I need to have Smith to win. I learned the lesson last time after we benched Paul Cantabene and he watched Snider slaughter us from the sideline. If any lesson was learned in 2006, it’s take the best face-off guy, period.

Attackmen Mike Leveille and Ryan Boyle deserve to make the team but it’s Leveille or Ward and its Boyle or Danowski. We certainly can’t have the ball in more than one stick at a time in the crunch. Remember we are trying to build chemistry. Morris is a must have, Urick may be the MVP of the whole World Games, Mundorf and Walters have matured into reliable scorers and are among the world’s best right now. I might have also chosen Kevin Buchanan. I was sorry to cut him. I’d love to have Mark Kovler on the extra man lefty position too, but we only get 23.

The full list of Team USA tryout invitees is below.

The complete list of selections (updated June 2 2009 – from US Lacrosse) follows:

Attack

Matt Alrich - Boston Cannons - Delaware ‘04
Ryan Boyle - Boston Cannons - Princeton ‘04
Kevin Buchanan - Washington Bayhawks - Ohio State ‘08
Brandon Corp - Boston Cannons - Colgate ‘09
Matt Danowski - Long Island Lizards - Duke ‘08
Dan Glading - Washington Bayhawks - Virginia ‘09
Seth Goldberg - Long Island Lizards - Yale ‘05
Mark Kovler - Long Island Lizards - Princeton ‘09
Kevin Leveille - Chicago Machine - Massachusetts ‘03
Mike Leveille - Chicago Machine - Syracuse ‘08
Sean Morris - Boston Cannons - Massachusetts ‘06
Brendan Mundorf - Denver Outlaws - UMBC ‘06
Ryan Powell - Big Foot LC - Syracuse ‘00
Justin Smith - Washington Bayhawks - Salisbury ‘05
Scott Urick - Washington Bayhawks - Georgetown ‘00
Joe Walters - Toronto Nationals - Maryland ‘06
Matt Ward - Long Island Lizards - Virginia ‘06
Drew Westervelt - Denver Outlaws - UMBC ‘07
Chazz Woodson - Chicago Machine - Brown ‘05
Will Yeatman - Maryland - Maryland ‘10

Midfield

Matt Abbott - Washington Bayhawks - Syracuse ‘09
Stephen Berger - Long Island Lizards - Washington ‘04
Shamel Bratton - Virginia - Virginia ‘11
Steven Brooks - Chicago Machine - Syracuse ‘08
Kevin Cassese - Boston Cannons - Duke ‘03
Jonathan Christmas - Boston Cannons - Virginia ‘05
Dan Cocchi - Long Island Lizards - Towson ‘03
Ned Crotty - Duke - Duke ‘09
Kyle Dixon - Washington Bayhawks - Virginia ‘06
Greg Downing - Boston Cannons - Fairfield ‘07
Chris Eck - Boston Cannons - Colgate ‘08
Benson Erwin - Washington Bayhawks - Johns Hopkins ‘05
Chris Fiore - Long Island Lizards - Massachusetts ‘03
John Glynn - Chicago Machine - Cornell ‘09
Dan Hardy - Denver Outlaws - Syracuse ‘09
Pat Heim - GMH LC - Penn State ‘07
Anthony Kelly - Chicago Machine - Ohio State ‘03
Terry Kimener - Chicago Machine - UMBC ‘08
Brendan Loftus - Chicago Machine - Syracuse ‘08
Bill McGlone - Chicago Machine - Maryland ‘06
Blake Miller - Long Island Lizards - Hofstra ‘96
Jarett Park - Chicago Machine - Syracuse ‘05
Stephen Peyser - Long Island Lizards - Johns Hopkins ‘08
Paul Rabil - Boston Cannons - Johns Hopkins ‘08
Chris Schiller - Salin Shoe LC - Penn State ‘99
Max Seibald - Denver Outlaws - Cornell ‘09
Doug Shanahan - Ft. Lauderdale Flamingos LC - Hofsra ‘02
Alex Smith - Washington Bayhawks - Delaware ‘07
Matt Striebel - Chicago Machine - Princeton ‘01
Peter Vlahakis - Long Island Lizards - Fairfield ‘04
Matt Zash - Long Island Lizards - Duke ‘06
Thomas Zummo - Boston Cannons - NY Tech ‘05

Defense

Mitch Belisle - Boston Cannons - Cornell ‘07
Matthew Bocklet - Denver Outlaws - Johns Hopkins ‘08
Joe Cinosky - Toronto Nationals - Maryland ‘08
Ken Clausen - Virginia - Virginia ‘10
Christian Cook - Capital LC - Princeton ‘98
Adam Crystal - Duke/Tobay LC - Drexel ‘07
Ryan Curtis - Vermont Voyageurs LC - Virginia ‘00
DJ Driscoll - Chicago Machine - Notre Dame ‘06
Barney Ehrmann - Georgetown - Georgetown ‘10
Michael Evans - Washington Bayhawks - Johns Hopkins ‘09
John Gagliardi - Long Island Lizards - Johns Hopkins ‘97
Colin Hulme - Boston Cannons - Colgate ‘07
Ryan McClay - Boston Cannons - Cornell ‘03
Tony McDevitt - Long Island Lizards - Duke ‘07
Stephen McElduff - Boston Cannons - North Carolina ‘06
Parker Mckee - Duke - Duke ‘10
Shawn Nadelen - Washington Bayhawks - Johns Hopkins ‘01
Nick O’Hara - Toronto Nationals - Duke ‘07
Chris Passavia - Boston Cannons - Maryland ‘04
Jack Reid - Boston Cannons - Massachusetts ‘06
Peter Ricci - Washington Bayhawks - Loyola ‘09
Brian Spallina - Long Island Lizards - Hofstra ‘00
Kyle Sweeney - Washington Bayhawks - Georgetown ‘03
Lee Zink - Denver Outlaws - Maryland ‘04

Goalie

Brian Dougherty - Long Island Lizards - Maryland ‘96
Adam Fullerton - Denver Outlaws - Army ‘08
Chris Garrity - Washington Bayhawks - Penn State ‘04
Mickey Jarboe - Quicksilver LC - Navy ‘00
Joey Kemp - Chicago Machine - Notre Dame ‘08
Matt McMonagle - Long Island Lizards - Cornell ‘07
Rob Scherr - Toronto Nationals - Johns Hopkins ‘04
Kip Turner - Boston Cannons - Virginia ‘07

Players Originally Invited But Unable to Attend

Greg Peyser (injury)
Zac Jungers (medical)
Andy Corno (work)
Jed Prossner (work)
Brett Hughes (injury)
Nicky Polanco (injury)
Kyle Harrison (injury)
Matt Poskay (injury)
Eric Martin (injury)
Tim Goettelmann (work)

As many of you now, I’ve never been a big fan of MLL league management, because it is a failing model based on selling sporting goods and not advancing our sport.  It’s run with the financial acumen and sense of fair play one might expect from the new Barack Obama government. That said, I totally respect the teams, players and coaches that work so hard to put a great product on the field, which they consistently do.  In fact they have done so in such a consistent manner that we are reaching milestones for some of those players.  This season will mark the one hundredth game for a few players.  Long Island’s Tim Goettelman and the Washington’s Scott Urick, just played their 100th game last weekend.  Long Island’s Brian Dougherty (the Terps Goalie) has 97 games under his belt and beer belly.  Blake Miller has 96 and defenseman John Gagliardi has 94. 

But I want to spotlight Scott Urick, the assistant coach and former star of the Georgetown Hoyas.  He was the coach’s kid.  He had upstate NY roots but played High School ball at Robinson in Northern Virginia, after his dad took the Hoya’s job.  Robinson was a good team for Northern Virginia in the 90’s, but he stood out – way out.  While in college he looked like my heroes of the past working without the ball to get open on cuts.  Remember cuts.  He was a quickstick artist.  Remember quicksticks.  He really played the game old dudes like me appreciated and respected while everyone else, it seems, stood still and fired the big cannon shots.  When he got to the MLL he morphed into a guy that could still finish, but also lead on the offense.  He had a big shot all along, but now finally put it to use when his team needed just that.  He is still the most affable guy on the field and a modest fellow generally.  That said, he is about to surpass the most arrogant and self indulging player in the history of the game in points scored.  He is only 12 goals away from knocking the self anointed lacrosse god Mark Millon off of his homemade pedestal.  To make things sweeter, he gets to knock Millon’s social sidekick Jesse Hubbard out of the record books too.  The two  will lose their “invictus” status right before all of our eyes and that is very pleasing to many.  All hail the true Warrior, Scotty Urick.

Gagliardi, Dougherty, Miller and Urick are battling this week to be the oldest player on the 2010 U.S. Team heading to Manchester, England to avenge the US loss to Canada in the 2006 games.  The try-outs take place Monday through Wedesday at Bryant University in Rhode Island. Goettelman’s got a real civilian job that needs his attention instead.  I think he’s on Wall Street, so we’ll just let him keep working without giving him grief.  They have lots of work to do, fighting our own government to keep us a free capitalist nation and all.