Share

Tweet

U.S. Players 'Shook Up' by Emergency Landing

by Michael Fornabaio | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Four U.S. men's national team members were diverted to a small town in upstate New York when their plane had to make an emergency landing Sunday morning.

The players were flying from Toronto to New York's LaGuardia Airport when one of the plane's two engines had to be shut down due to a leak, forcing the American Eagle flight to land at Elmira Corning Regional Airport. The pilot had to land the plane with the other engine.

Team USA players D.J. Driscoll, Matt Striebel, Mike Leveille were among those aboard, Machine player-personnel manager Scott Hiller said. Kevin Leveille, a U.S. team alternate, was also on the plane, according to reports.

"They were pretty shook up," Hiller said, but no one was hurt.

They were traveling to play in Sunday's exhibition game against the MLL College All-Stars at Yale University. Team USA lost, 12-11, in a lightning-shortened game. The Machine played in Toronto on Saturday, defeating the Nationals 14-13 on a buzzer-beating, two-point goal.

A local NBC affiliate caught up with Striebel.

“I was scared out of my mind,” he told WETM 18 Online. “I woke up with my buddy Kevin Leveille and our ears were popping. We noticed we were going down a little bit earlier than we were supposed to. Then the stewardess started walking up and down the cabin, and we got a sense that something was wrong.”