Going Small with Team USA

by Brian Logue | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

Cornell's Jessi Steinberg had a pair of back-to-back goals during scrimmage action on Saturday morning. She's guarded here by Hofstra's Katie Hertsch. © John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com

CATONSVILLE, Md. - Evaluating more than 80 players in a span of just three days is a big task. The selectors for the 2010-11 U.S. women's team find that going small is the best way to accomplish their mission.

"We put them in small situations so that they get a lot of touches," said Anne Phillips, the chair of the U.S. team selection committee and the head coach at Yale. "We create situations where we force the defense to double to see how they react. It's a way to watch and focus on a small group."

The Saturday morning session at UMBC featured a series of partial-field scrimmages with the offense contained inside the restraining line. That was followed by a draw drill which was full-field at the start, but once the defense reached the restraining line after the offense's initial possession, the whistle blew to start with another draw. The morning session wrapped up with some drills focused on goalies - grabbing a ground ball while facing a double team, and trying to make saves on point blank shots following feeds from behind the cage.

The drills help the evaluators see the players in concentrated action, but the tryouts also include full field scrimmages.

"It's very different," said Phillips. "Someone might look great in the small situations, but they're slower and that shows when they get on the bigger field. Someone that's fast might really anticipate plays and you'll see that."

The big thing is seeing the players in a variety of settings to make the best decisions possible. Phillips says that in all of the situations, they're focused on four main things: technique (stickwork), tactical (how they play the game), physical (speed and raw athletic ability) and pyschology (are they leader, how do they interact).

Phillips will also oversee the tryouts for the 2011 U.S. U-19 team, which begin Monday at UMBC.

"We want to be consistent in brining the younger players up through the system," said Phillips. "We want to get them used to being evaluated the same way."

The Core of the Team

On Thursday afternoon, U.S. team head coach Ricky Fried said that the 2010-11 U.S. team will likely form the core of the 2013 U.S. World Cup team. He also indicated that the members of the 2009 U.S. World Cup team, which won gold, will likely be a big part of that core. It was easy to see why on Saturday morning.

Caitlyn McFadden, the 2010 Tewaaraton Trophy winner after leading Maryland to the NCAA championship this past spring, looked to be in top form. In one stretch of no more than two minutes during drills on Saturday morning, the 2009 World Cup team member scored a goal, made great passes which should have been two assists and saved a ball from going out of bounds on a nifty play.

During goalie drills, Devon Wills, the MVP of the gold medal game against Australia last summer, frequently intercepted passes from behind the cage. When she wasn't outright stealing them, she was altering the passes and making it tough for the offense to score even with no defense on the drill.

Every time a player really stood out - like Acacia Walker on a quick split dodge move - it seemed to be a World Cup team member making you notice what they did. Fried and his staff may very well be able to reply on the experience of the 2009 team in 2013. It will be a vastly different situation than the 2009 World Cup when no U.S. team member had ever played in a World Cup prior to the competition.

Quick Shots

Former Virginia and goalie Kendall McBrearty, a current member of the U.S. Developmental team, was one of the last players to arrive at the tryouts. She's in training at the policy academy in Charlottesville, Va...World Cup defender Michi Ellers made an appearance at the tryouts on Saturday. Also an assistant coach with Fried at Georgetown, Ellers is coming off of shoulder surgery and was at the tryouts with her right arm in a sling...tryouts wrap up on Sunday and the 36-member U.S. team will be announced that day...the first competition for the new U.S. team will be on Columbus Day with the annual US Lacrosse Stars & Stripes Weekend in Boston.