On Saturday the 17th US Lacrosse came to Barron Collier High School in Naples for a series of events featuring both the Men’s and Women’s National Teams as well as the Women’s U-19 team, holding clinics for local youth players as well as featuring a number of games.  The Men’s team played an intra-squad scrimmage and the Women split into two teams to play back-to-back games with the Syracuse University Women’s team, while the Women’s U-19 team played Stetson University.  Attendance was large and the event was run smoothly as US Lacrosse officials worked with the Barron Collier officials. Your intrepid reporter drove over to Naples in the morning and arrived as the morning clinics were going on.  The kids were all fired up for the clinics and soaked up as much as they could. Meanwhile on another field the US Women were taking the opportunity to get some quality practice time in.  I ran into a few of the members of the Launch as they made up 4 of the split squad players:  Casey Powell, Tucker Durkin, Kieran McArdle and Brett Queener.  Also ran into Megan Danner of the Launch there too.  It was neat to watch at the end of the clinic when the Men’s team members showed the kids some of the strategies they use in 1 on 1 and 2 on 2 situations.  It wasn’t just the teaching, it was the ability of young kids to see the best players around doing the demonstrating.  Since our sport is not yet ‘spoiled’ as far as kids still interacting with their heroes (so many professional athletes today are tough to approach for autographs, a kind word, etc.) it leaves a better atmosphere for bonding throughout. I also found my Hobart compadre, Barron Collier Head Coach Trent Carter and we talked about the event and his team’s prospects as he asked me where his pre-season ranking would be.  Of course, after I told him he protested a little, as any good coach would . . . I then had a chance to talk with some of his players and, as high school kids are want to be, they thought I might need to up the ranking.  I asked Trent to join me for a bite during the afternoon and he agreed. As the clinics ran their course I was able to spend a few minutes with Syracuse Women’s team coach Gary Gait.  I had first interviewed Gary when he had taken the job and was leading his team down to play in (if memory serves properly) the first Orange Bowl Lacrosse Classic as his Orange were traveling to play the Florida Gators and he gave me a nice interview about how it was like coaching women after spending his whole time in the Men’s game.  I then ran into him at last year’s Challenge in Orlando and talked a few minutes there too.  Those who spend any time with him know what a class act he really is and once again that came to the surface as he patiently talked about his team, the weather (I think Syracuse was about 15 degrees that day although he does get the use of indoor facilities) and some general lacrosse stuff.  I’m not exactly a national figure in the media, yet he made me feel as if I was and it is greatly appreciated.  His team is making the trip south to Gainesville this year and if the schedule works out I hope to catch that one.  If not I hope Brian can.  

  Then it was time for the US Men to take the field.  Intra-squad games at this level might have the feel of a scrimmage at first but you don’t get to this level of achievement without a real sense of competitiveness and it didn’t take too long for those instincts to kick in.  The ‘Blue’ team jumped out early to a big lead in the first two periods and while the ‘White’ team was able to chip away into the third period the Blue team pulled away midway in the fourth and cruised to an easy win.  The Launch players showed very well as McArdle put up a hat trick in his first taste of national team experience and Queener made a number of saves in his second half appearance.  Casey played through a sore ankle and pretty much played a supportive role.  Durkin played his usual physical game.  Windermere Head Coach JoJo Marasco showed that he is definitely in the mix for national team status in the future with some great goals off left alley dodging.  Before the game we talked about how his program is taking shape and he noted that he was able to get the middle school up and running and he was optimistic about the future.  Just another great addition to the Florida scene!  I really liked watching Will Manny play and of course the usual star performances showed up, like Rob Pannell and Jordan Wolf.  Paul Rabil came up a little lame early in the game and sat out a good deal of the contest.  He’s coming off his MLL injury and was clearly easing back into playing. Up next was the U-19 women, led by Florida natives Abby Shields of Vero Beach and home town hero Olivia Ferrucci of Barron Collier.  Ferrucci was the feature interview in the latest issue of Lax Magazine for those members of USL that get a subscription (inside back cover).  I was puzzled by a seeming inconsistency in the answers though.  How does someone who would love to learn to Teleport also have dreamed of possibly being a tugboat captain as a possible future career?  Seems like a Douglas Adams type combination.  And when did we start naming our drives? Kind of got me thinking . . . if I named my car what would it be?  Maybe Love Machine . . . but my girlfriend might never stop laughing and at some point that much laughing would be tough to listen to. And it would probably be sarcastic laughter. Unfortunately, I did not get to see this game as it was time to repair to the aforementioned ‘bite to eat’, so off it was with Coach Carter, his brother Travis, his assistant coach John Sivillo, Dale Krout, the father of Denver goalie Hunter and a surprise visitor in FLN’s own Brian Davis, who drove over from the Master’s event in Weston. A lively discussion of lacrosse ensued . . . One thing we all agreed on . . . was that lacrosse was a superior sport to everything it was compared to . . . and it was compared to a lot. We also got to take a trip down memory lane, both in Geneva and on Long Island and Coach Sivillo is also a devout NY Islander fan so he obviously is a good guy too! Anyhow, back to the school for the Syracuse-US Women’s matchup. Props to Syracuse for holding in with the national team and only trailing by one at the half.  Unfortunately they were not able to convert their chances in the second half and Team USA pulled away for a comfortable win.  The speed of that game was breathtaking.  If one thing really stands out to me about the women’s game it’s how well the stick skills are put on display.  For the less attentive, the pockets of the women’s sticks are so much shallower than the men’s, meaning the margin of error in carrying and passing/catching the ball is so much smaller, so being able to run at top speed while controlling the ball is an amazing feat of skill.  Put the top players in the country in one place and watch them transition up the field and you have a joy to watch. At that point, having a two-hour drive ahead of me, it was time to hit the road. A glorious day for lacrosse.  Beautiful weather, great action and a terrific venue to watch.  A large crowd getting it’s money worth, and then some.  Thanks to US Lacrosse, Coach Carter and the Barron Collier family (do I get props for knowing what ‘Nisky’ stood for?) for putting on such a great event.  I promised to find a way back to the area during the season . . . hopefully to catch both BC and Gulf Coast games.  And yes, I did remind Trent that the Vichyssoise challenge still hadn’t been met.  Of course, as a good Hobart grad, he didn’t need to have it explained to him . . .