July 20, 2006

LONDON, Ontario--A funny thing happened Thursday when the whistle blew and the horn sounded and the crowd sighed and the U.S. men's national team had secured its once-presumed, but briefly endangered, place in the 2006 International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) World Championships gold medal game--it stopped raining.

 

Team USA (6-0) survived its most stringent test from a team not named Canada, edging Australia, 13-10, in a rainy semifinal at TD Waterhouse Stadium. The Americans, winners of 38 straight dating back to 1978, will meet either Canada or the Iroquois Nationals (playing in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal tonight) for their seventh consecutive ILF championship Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

 

Australia (3-4) plays the loser of the Canada-Iroquois semifinal Saturday in a preceding bronze medal match.

 

"It goes back to the joke Jay Jalbert made, about us being the Russians," Team USA's Kyle Sweeney said, referring to Jalbert's comparison last week of defending the world title in Canada to the U.S.-Russia hockey saga in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. "Everyone's going to give their absolute best shot at us."

 

It started in the second quarter. A faint drizzle fell, as the goals coincidentally trickled in for Australia and an 8-2 Team USA lead dissipated with the raindrops into the turf. Nathan Stiglich got things going on an alley-oop from Brendan Mundorf to make it 8-3. Then, Mundorf snuck around the cage to make it 8-4.

 

It got worse in the third quarter, when Wes Green hit a long-range shot just inside the restraining line. 8-5.

 

Sweeney -- the omnipresent and ever-confident Kyle Sweeney -- got nervous.

 

"Weather the storm guys," he told his teammates on the sideline after Green's goal. "Weather this storm, and we're good."

 

And then it poured.

 

Green scored again, this time catching the U.S. in transition. 8-6. And then Mundorf capitalized on an extra-man opportunity. 8-7.

 

It didn't help that Warren Brown (18 saves), the club journeyman and Australian goalie, was stopping just about everything from the waist down, including six saves on one second-quarter U.S. possession.

 

"Their goalie stood on his head. That kid, he's awesome," Sweeney later said of Brown. "He should be over here (in the U.S.) playing."

 

Only he's not a kid. Though making his North American debut, Brown is a fixture and veteran of Australian club lacrosse, as a goalie for Bayswater. This is his second foray in the ILF championships.

 

"Best I've ever played, I guess," Brown said sheepishly. He was peppered by the U.S. last Friday in both teams' ILF opener, a 20-8 U.S. victory. "I was sort of baiting them a little bit, playing my stick high until the last split second."

 

But then it clicked for the Team USA -- shoot high on the guy; don't get baited low.

Things swung back in the Americans' favor, courtesy of a 5-1 run highlighted by Mike Powell (two goals, three assists) picking the top right corner for a 13-8 advantage with 9:49 remaining in the fourth quarter, which was met with a media timeout.

 

Under the U.S. tent, equipment manager Jimmy Butler feverishly swapped the frayed tape on Powell's stick. Under the Australian tent, well, they were hatching another storm.

 

Three minutes later, in driving rain, Mundorf (3g, 2a) dove from the side of the cage and stuffed a goal to make it 13-9 with 6:54 remaining. And then it was Green again, finishing a pass from Mundorf -- two 2006 NCAA All-Americans connecting -- to make it 13-10 with 5:04 remaining.

 

But the second deluge stopped there. Goalie Chris Garrity (eight second-half saves) made two acrobatic saves in close at the 2:16 mark, and Powell and Jalbert (two goals) wistfully whiled away the final two minutes.

 

They had weathered the storm, alright. The opportunity to play for a seventh straight world championship, once presumed and then endangered, was secure. It stopped raining.

 

NOTES: Doug Shanahan was 12-of-15 on faceoffs for the U.S., countering MLL counterpart Peter Inge, who was only 9-for-20 for the Australians. Shanahan, who also had two goals, is now 47-of-68 (69 percent) in six games...Team USA defenseman John Gagliardi saw his most significant playing time of the tournament, partially because Nicky Polanco was removed after an altercation with Australian attackman Josh Ardossi in the first quarter. Gagliardi made it count, reigning in an errant pass at midfield and shuffling it to Mike Powell despite opening himself up for a hard hit from a riding attackman. Gagliardi called it a "50-50 shot." Powell took it in and scored the goal to make it 10-7 with 3:47 left in the third quarter, but at Gagliardi's cost. "I got popped there," he said.

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United States 13, Australia 10

 

Line Score     1     2     3     4     F

Australia       2     2    3    3    10
U.S.             5     3    2    3    13

 

Goals - AUS: Wes Green 3, Brendan Mundorf 3, David Whiteman 2, Darren Nicholas, Nathan Stiglich;USA: Jay Jalbert 2, Michael Powell 2, Doug Shanahan 2, Casey Powell, Ryan Powell, Kyle Sweeney, Kevin Cassese, Matt Striebel, Scott Urick, Joe Walters.

Assists - AUS: Brendan Mundorf 2, Josh Ardossi, Russell Brown, Kim Delfs, Tim Fry, Daniel Pusvacietis; USA: Michael Powell 3, Casey Powell, Joe Walters, Roy Colsey, Kyle Harrison.

Goalies -
AUS: Warren Brown 39 min., 8GA, 6 svs.; Scott Garnsworthy 1 min.
USA: Trevor Tierney 40 min., 4GA, 2 svs.; Chris Garrity 40 min., 6GA, 4svs.

Faceoffs -
AUS: Robert Stark 0-4, Darren Nicholas 0-2, Peter Inge 9-21.
USA: Kyle Harrison 3-7, Doug Shanahan 12-15, Kevin Cassese 3-5.