June 14, 2008

by Justin Feil, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - James Green's offensive explosion came a week early for the United States under-19 team.

The Ohio State midfielder had three goals to lead all scorers, as Team USA trailed a team of New Jersey all-stars, 7-6, in an exhibition game at Bridgewater-Raritan High School that was called after halftime due to a thunderstorm Saturday.

"My hometown is coming up," said Green, who will return to his native Downingtown, Pa., with Team USA next Saturday for its third of five exhibition games before opening the world championships July 3. "Hopefully I'll have a repeat performance."

Green rifled in his first goal less than one minute into Saturday's game, and after a Tim Donovan (Johns Hopkins) tally gave Team USA a 2-1 lead, Green scored off a feed from Matthew MacKrides (Penn State). New Jersey tied it by the end of the first quarter and took the lead two minutes into the second quarter on their first of two man-up goals. Green tied it, 4-4, when he converted a pass from John Lade (Villanova).

"People were unselfish and passing me the ball," Green said. "I didn't do much but finish them on two of the goals, and the other was an iso I took myself. I give credit to the team. They got the ball around and everyone was being unselfish."

Said Team USA head coach Chuck Apel: "He's funny. He really didn't have a good practice yesterday. He said, `I'm a gamer, Coach.' He lit it up pretty good. He can shoot. There's no question."

Craig Dowd (Georgetown) added another goal for Team USA five minutes later, but New Jersey built a 7-5 lead on goals by Brian Caufield, Peter Coleman and Warren Hansen. Andrew Feinberg (Brown) scored with 48 seconds left before the half off a turnover to cut the deficit to one.

The teams met for halftime, but during the break, threatening clouds started to move in. After thunder and lightning was seen in the distance, officials called for a 30-minute delay. After 30 minutes, however, the thunderstorm was pounding the field and weather forecasts called for more of the same through the night.

"It's an exhibition game, but you'd like to win," Green said. "We're kind of disappointed we didn't get to play that second half, but you don't want to endanger anybody."

Eliminating the second half robbed Team USA of another half of competition, as it seeks to mesh before the start of the world championships. Last week, they broke a halftime tie in an 11-9 win over the Long Island all-stars.

"We need to get a little cohesion and identify what we're doing wrong," Apel said. "Practice is one thing. When you play someone and give up an actual goal, it crystallizes what you're doing wrong, what you need to work on. That's where we are now."

Team USA had just one practice Friday and another short practice Saturday morning before taking the field for its second exhibition that night. There was less of the confusion over substitutions that had been problematic in the first game, but there were new issues to overcome. Team USA had four penalties.

"We did a couple things better, but we fouled too much, and stupidly," Apel said. "We didn't do a good job on man-up and man-down. We dropped the ball on offense. We turned it over for no reason. We're working on some stuff, so we're a work in progress, but we still have to do a better job of it. We're still figuring out how we want to do stuff. We're still feeling our way."

Apel was happy that his team moved the ball better on offense, but was hoping it would connect a few more times. Team USA had three turnovers on missed passes.

"We have to get the ball more to shooters," Apel said. "When we're keeping it hot and move the ball around, we have a lot of guys that are unselfish and they just have to click a little more."

Green proved he's one guy Team USA can count on for goals. He did not score against Long Island, but returned with a breakout performance against New Jersey.

"It can only boost your confidence," he said. "Hopefully that continues. I'd like to take that into the next few games.

"I just want to help out," he added, "do whatever I can to help our team win a world championship."

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Final Cuts Update
Chuck Apel said after Saturday's exhibition game that the U.S. under-19 coaches would meet and finalize their 23-man roster Sunday. The final spot is between Andrew Feinberg (Brown), who led Team USA in scoring last week against Long Island and added the final goal of the game against New Jersey on Saturday, and Corey Winkoff (Penn).

Winkoff made such an impression on Team USA coaches with four goals for Long Island to lead all scorers that he was invited back for Saturday's game against New Jersey. Kory Kelly (Rutgers) and Grant Catalino (Maryland) were not brought back after the Long Island scrimmage. Winkoff did not score, but made a difficult one-handed catch in transition in the second quarter against New Jersey.

"We have a couple more games and then we're gone, so we can't wait any longer," Apel said. "It's not fair to the kids (to finalize the roster any later). They bring different things to the table. We'll see what we need more of."

Second-Half Casualty
Adam Ghitelman (Virginia) started in goal last week, but didn't get a chance to play Saturday because the second half was canceled. Tyler Fiorito (Princeton) made three saves in the first half, as Team USA alternated their roles. Ghitelman was warming up for the second half when the game was delayed, then ultimately stopped.

Rules
Team USA continues to adjust to the international rules it will face in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It lost possession of the ball on an illegal procedure when players on the sidelines were too close to the playing field.

"When we get there, everybody will be the same boat," Apel said. "We'll figure it out."

Substitution patterns are among the rules Team USA is still grappling with.

"I think we did a better job of (substitutions)," Apel said. "We had a lot of mistakes last week. Coach (Tim) Flynn is running the box and doing a great job. It's probably the hardest job. It's tough. He's got it figured out and I think we're in good shape."

Jack McBride
It was quite a week for Jack McBride. He scored two goals in Team USA's 11-9 win over the Long Island all-stars last Sunday, then boarded a plane and met his Princeton University team in Ireland on Monday for the second half of their weeklong trip. He got a look at England's U-19 team that will compete in the world championships when he scored twice to help Princeton defeat them, 15-4, on Tuesday.

After his flight home was pushed back one day, McBride arrived in the U.S. on Friday and joined Team USA again Saturday for its second exhibition game. Scoring one goal for the New Jersey all-stars was his Princeton teammate and cousin, Chris McBride, who had also returned Friday.