Countdown to '09: NYIT's Keith Henderson
by Jac Coyne | Lacrosse
Magazine Online Staff
Keith Henderson had a frustrating 2007 season, if you can even call
it a season.
The New York Institute of Technology attackman had to watch his
teammates head out to practice every day as the then-sophomore
stayed behind and rehabbed his injured shoulder. To cap it off,
Henderson looked on as the Bears fell in the semifinals of the NCAA
Division II tournament to East Coast Conference rival Mercyhurst to
end the year.
But as bad as 2007 was for Henderson, 2008 made up for
everything.
Healthy once again, Henderson led the nation in total goals with
62, including game-winners in four of NYIT's 13 wins on the season.
And, best of all, Henderson scored five goals to lift the Bears to
a convincing, 16-11 triumph over Le Moyne in the national
championship game. For his efforts, Henderson was named the game's
Most Outstanding Player.
Henderson, along with many of the key cogs in NYIT's title run,
returns for the 2009 campaign, making the Bears prohibitive
favorites to repeat. Countdown caught up with Henderson
earlier this summer.
NYIT is down 5-2 at the end of
the first period of the championship game. Describe the mood of the
team at that point? What was running through your collective
heads?
Being down 5-2 is no easy task, especially against a team like Le
Moyne. I was pretty nervous because I know how well Le Moyne plays
when they are up; they move the ball around pretty slowly. We had a
couple of games during the season where we were down and we came
back and won.
It was too early in the game to be nervous because when the second
quarter rolled around we outscored them, 5-2, and brought us ahead
right before half. I don't think it affected the team that much. We
got in trouble a little bit, but we managed to get back into
it.
When did you know you had the
game in hand?
Against Le Moyne I don't know if I was ever that comfortable until
I saw we were up by four with two minutes left and then we had
possession of the ball. That was about it. It was pretty late in
the game when I figured we had won it already. Le Moyne's a good
team and they are never out of it.
Before the game the conventional
wisdom was NYIT's wide-open style would play right into the hands
of a methodical Le Moyne team. Was there anything specific that
allowed the Bears to control the tempo of the
game?
Yeah, they were real slow on slides. Eleven of our 16 goals were
unassisted - it was one-on-ones. Once we realized that and their
slides were very late we just kept attacking their defensemen
one-on-one and going to the cage. It helped us big-time in the long
run.
When we hear Coach Kaley speak
to the media, he seems like a fairly easy-going guy. Is always like
that? What do you think is his best coaching
asset?
Coach K is a funny guy, but he always has his head on straight. He
knows how to pick the other teams apart and execute against them.
He recognizes talent very well in regards to recruiting, which I
think is one of his best assets. He's a great coach, obviously, and
he does very well for us.
You had a bum shoulder, missing
all of 2007. Will you be back for your senior year and if so, what
should we expect from the '09 version of the Bears? Heavy favorites
or do you have some holes to fill?
We do have a couple of holes to fill, but our whole offense is
back besides Chris Gencorelli and Paul Flowers. We're losing our
face-off guy, Jared Garcia, and two of our starting defenders, but
I hear we're getting a couple of new defensemen in, which could
definitely fill those two holes. I'm not sure about a face-off guy,
but I think we have a good chance to get back to the playoffs this
year and possibly win another championship before I graduate.
My shoulder is pretty much okay after taking the season off last
year. It definitely helped; I was able to rehab and get it
stronger. I'm just excited that I got through another season
healthy so I can help my team again next year.
You scored 62 goals this season
- including five in the championship game to earn Most Outstanding
Player honors - and had just nine assists. Is that how the offense
works or is it just you're always open for the
shot?
The way I play, I'm a totally off-ball player. I'm not much of a
one-on-one dodger. That's not my strong point. I'm not too strong
on change of direction or any of that, so I rely on my other
assets, and that's my off-ball movement. I can really fool
defensemen that way. I rely on the middies and the other attackmen
to get me the ball when I'm open and I get open quite a bit.
[Rising senior midfielders] Matt Messina and Kevin Hennessy help me
out big time on that.
In regards to the nine assists, I did want more than that but
sometimes my friends hit the pipe and whatnot. [laughing] Most of
the middies are just looking for me down low and I was getting
open.
Were you getting open off-ball
in the championship game?
Not really. There were only a couple of shots where I was passed
to for off-ball goals. In the championship game it was different
because I scored three of my goals off one-on-ones, which is not
usually how I do things. I just went into the game wanting to win
so badly that I figured I'd take some goals into my own hands and
take some defensemen to the cage. Their late slides definitely
helped me, but I wanted to win the game so badly I started going
one-on-one more and scored a bunch of goals.
Countdown to '09:
Archive
Sept. 5,
2008 - Northwestern's Kelly Amonte Hiller
Aug. 29, 2008
- Cabrini's Scott Reimer
Aug. 15,
2008 - Hobart's T.W. Johnson
Aug. 8,
2008 - Penn's Ali Deluca
Aug. 1, 2008
- Chapman's Mike Wood
July 25, 2008
- Southern New Hampshire's Mary Squire
July 18, 2008
- Michigan's Trevor Yealy
July 11,
2008 - Johns Hopkins' Dave Pietramala
July 4, 2008
- Hamilton's Kallie Briscoe
June 27,
2008 - North Carolina's Joe Breschi
June 20, 2008
- Colby's Jon Thompson
