Video: Light's Always Green for USA's Sweeney
by Matt DaSilva | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | Video by Loud Communications
MANCHESTER, England -- It’s a sequence
lacrosse fans have seen countless times here in Manchester and in
the last 15 years, since he first brandished a long pole as a hot
prospect out of Philadelphia.
Kyle Sweeney strips an opponent or sucks a loose ball off the
ground, sprints the length of the field like a gazelle, runs the
point, burns the defense and scores.
“You don’t ask what color the light is; you
don’t have to worry about it," said the U.S. team long stick
midfielder. "I never have to ask if I can go or can’t
go…. It’s always green.”
Sweeney’s energetic play has ignited the U.S. time and
again. The 29-year-old long stick midfielder had five goals and two
assists in five games entering Thursday’s world championship
semifinal against Japan.
“It’s hard to say, but he’s playing some of his
best lacrosse ever. He’s one of the top players, especially
among the defensive long poles in the country and in the world.
He’s demonstrated that this week," said U.S. assistant Tony
Resch, who coached against Sweeney in high school and coached him
with the Philadelphia Barrage. "He really gets the momentum going
with those impact-type plays he’s been providing us
throughout the tournament.”
Said Sweeney: “I paid Coach Resch to say that. I don’t
necessarily know if it’s the best ball I’ve ever
played. When you’ve played this much lacrosse it’s
tough to remember when you were playing at your best. I know that
I’ve been working hard. I don’t want to say I’ve
been saving anything up for this, but this is important to me. I
was a part of the team in ’06 – obviously didn’t
get the outcome we were looking for. So it’s been a long four
years thinking about this and working towards it so I’m here
to win it and I’m going to play to the best my ability to
help our team win. If that translates to me playing the best ball
you’ve ever seen me play, then so be it. But all I really
care about is USA winning the gold in a couple days.”
Sweeney, one of five players remaining from the team that lost to
Canada in 2006, plays with a ferocity that undermines his otherwise
cool demeanor.
“I’ve never been a rah-rah bang my head on the locker
before the game guy. I’ve never, ever once wanted to hear
Metallica or Megadeath in the locker room. I just sit in the locker
room and do my own thing," he said.
Comparisons will be drawn again Saturday when Sweeney lines up on
one wing and Canadian long pole Brodie Merrill lines up on the
other. Both were All-Americans at Georgetown University. When the
conversation comes down to the greatest long poles of all time,
they’re usually 1 and 1A.
The order depends on whom you talk to.
“Everyone loves to make that story and Brodie and I are
really good friends. Do I want to be better than Brodie? I want to
be the best player out there," Sweeney said. "If we played
badminton right now, I want to be the best badminton player ever.
I’m a very competitive person. I always have been that way,
sometimes to a huge character fault. I’m very competitive so
I want to be the best out there. It just so happens that one of my
good buddies is also in the same situation. I don’t care if
it’s Brodie, Eric Martin, Matt Bocklet, whoever else is a
good pole out there. I want to be the best on the field. It just so
happens Brodie is one of my good buddies.”
Sparks fly when Kyle Sweeney is on the lacrosse field. But it will
take a team effort, he says, for the underdog U.S. to beat
Canada.
Said Sweeney: “My biggest concern is making sure the 23 guys
we have come out to play. I know that if each one of those guys in
there plays to the best of his ability, there’s no team out
there that’s going to beat us.”
