By Hank Nathan

Matched up against a familiar rival, the 2010 U.S. men’s lacrosse national team avenged its 2006 second-place finish to Canada by capturing gold at the Federation of International Lacrosse World Championships held in Manchester, England.

The 12-10 victory July 24 not only made up for the 2006 defeat to the Canadians, but the narrow 10-9 loss to Canada in divisional play during the 2010 tournament as well. The title marks the seventh world championship for Team USA.

"We dreamed of this. This was our destiny," U.S. head coach Mike Pressler told Lacrosse Magazine. “The script was written. We just had to go out there and prove it.”

And prove it is exactly what the red, white and blue did.

After a torrid 3-0 start to the contest, including two goals by Johns Hopkins’ Paul Rabil, Canada scored the next two to close the margin, 3-2, at the end of the first quarter. In the second frame, Canada managed to tie the game at 4-4, but the United States then went on a 4-0 run to close the half with an 8-4 lead.

In the third quarter, the Canadians matched Team USA’s 4-0 run and knotted the game at 8-8. The game-tying goal came from one of Rabil’s former Blue Jay teammates, Kevin Huntley. With the game deadlocked, this set up a pressure-packed fourth quarter. It was Canada’s Zack Greer who broke the stalemate, giving his team the 9-8 edge.

After U.S. goalie Brian Dougherty thwarted an extra-man opportunity for Canada, Brendan Mundorf tied the game again. The Canadians would briefly take the lead back, but that was the last time they would score as Team USA finished strong down the stretch by scoring the game’s final three goals. Two of the goals came from Ned Crotty, and Michael Leveille put an exclamation point on the win after an empty-net tally.

Just as in many major lacrosse games, the Maryland area was well represented on the U.S. squad. Stevenson University head coach Paul Cantabene was on the coaching staff and Rabil was named the MVP of the 2010 FIL World Championships. The game ended with the ball in Ryan Boyle’s stick, a Baltimore native and three-time Team USA member.

Posted July 26, 2010