Lacrosse years are like dog years. Elite players come and go fast. For every Kyle Harrison or Paul Rabil, there’s a Mike Leveille or Peter Baum — sensational talents whose career choices and personal lives steer them away from the game in their prime.

It’s been three years since Tom Schreiber scored the last-second goal to lift the U.S. to a dramatic 9-8 win over Canada in Israel. The Premier Lacrosse League had not yet hatched. A global pandemic had not yet taken sports hostage. Five of the players who will suit up for the U.S. when the teams renew their rivalry Friday (5:30 p.m. ET on LSN) in the USA Lacrosse Fall Classic were just sophomores in college at the time.

And with World Lacrosse postponing the senior men’s world championship from 2022 to 2023, there’s no denying that the team selected to defend the gold medal two summers from now in Southern California will look markedly different than the collection of players whose cacophonic rendering of the national anthem rang throughout Netanya Stadium after the final whistle in 2018.

The process of identifying those players resumes in earnest this weekend in Sparks, Maryland. The U.S. will host Canada and Virginia (Saturday, 5 p.m. ET on LSN) in a pair of international rules exhibitions at Tierney Field.

USA LACROSSE FALL CLASSIC

Men’s Teams: Canada, USA, Virginia
Women’s Teams: Boston College, Canada, USA
Brogden Cup: Ontario 16U/18U, USA Select 16U/18U, Haudenosaunee Nationals 16U/18U
Dates: Oct. 15-17, 2021
Location: Sparks, Md.
Schedule | Tickets

Asked whom he most looked forward to seeing play for the U.S. this weekend, head coach John Danowski replied, “In all transparency, no one and everyone.”

“I’d like it to be a clean slate. I’d like to be able to evaluate it just on no preconceived notions,” Danowski added. “If we can evaluate enough people and get enough people excited about wanting to be on the team, that’s our goal — to have this be such a positive experience that guys will do anything to be part of the team.”

Let’s look a little closer at each position group, with input from each of the coaches on the U.S. staff, which remains largely intact from 2018.

ATTACK

Grant Ament (Penn State ’20/Archers)
Jules Heningburg (Rutgers ’18/Redwoods)
Mac O’Keefe (Penn State ’21/Chaos)
Rob Pannell (Cornell ’13/Redwoods)
Matt Rambo (Maryland ’17/Whipsnakes)
Ryan Tierney (Hofstra ’21/Whipsnakes)

It’s easy to see what each of these players brings to the table. Rob Pannell, gunning for his third U.S. team, and Matt Rambo are initiators behind the goal. While Grant Ament plays that role for the Archers, he could be more of a wing dodger in the U.S. system or invert while running out of the box as a midfielder — valued versatility that Jules Heningburg also possesses.

“When you can only bring 23 guys [to the world championship] and maybe nine or 10 are offensive guys, you need guys that can do a lot,” said Seth Tierney, the head coach at Hofstra and offensive coordinator for the U.S. team.

You also need lefties. And as Tierney quipped, “A lot of the lefties that are really good unfortunately were born in the country of Canada or are Native American.”

Mac O’Keefe and Ryan Tierney are both left-handed attackmen and proven scorers who can stretch a defense with their shooting ability, excel in the two-man game and play midfield if needed.

OFFENSIVE MIDFIELD

Ryan Ambler (Princeton ’16/Archers)
Bryan Costabile (Notre Dame ’20/Atlas)
Colin Heacock (Maryland ’17/Chrome)
Myles Jones (Duke ’16/Redwoods)
Sergio Perkovic (Notre Dame ’17/Redwoods)
Mikie Schlosser (Michigan ’17/Waterdogs)
Tom Schreiber (Princeton ’14/Archers)
Brad Smith (Duke ’19/Whipsnakes)

The first two names on the list stand out to Tierney for what he saw them do in the PLL over the summer. Tierney, who as the league’s head of competition sees every game live from his perch at the 50-yard line, called Ryan Ambler “one of the silent MVPs” of the PLL. In weekly conference calls with the U.S. coaching staff, he insisted they evaluate Ambler and Bryan Costabile. “He’s earned the opportunity,” Tierney said of Costabile, a PLL Midfielder of the Year finalist who played defensive midfield on the gold medal-winning 2016 U.S. U19 team.

Colin Heacock has become a fixture in the U.S. national teams program over the last couple of years. He played in the USA Lacrosse Spring Premiere in San Antonio back in 2020 and competed in the Sixes evaluation camps over the summer. He poses obvious matchup problems as a 6-foot-3, 220-pound behemoth in the hybrid attack/midfield role.

Speaking of size, Myles Jones stands out no matter where he plays. The 6-foot-5, 260-pound midfielder was on the 2018 U.S. training team and narrowly missed making the 23-man roster for Israel. He’s one of three Fall Classic players — defenseman Liam Byrnes and faceoff specialist Joe Nardella are the others — who were on the cusp of making the travel roster.

“He’s really made lacrosse a part of his life and income,” Tierney said. “His body is in top shape. He’s shooting the ball really well. He’s done a really good job of waiting his turn. There were guys that just edged him out on the 2018 team.”

Sergio Perkovic did not make it out of tryouts the last go around. Mikie Schlosser did not even receive an invitation but made his U.S. debut at the 2020 Spring Premiere. “His flame for life is awesome,” Tierney said of Schlosser. “He’s another one of those hungry guys that feels like maybe he’s been skipped over.”

Tom Schreiber is putting on the USA jersey for the first time since his famous finisher and continues to operate at peak level for the PLL’s Archers and NLL’s Toronto Rock. “He’s given everything he’s had to the sport of lacrosse,” Tierney said.

Brad Smith proved over the summer he’s more than a mustache, but rather a dangerous initiator out of the midfield who can also play attack. He has experience doing both in Danowski’s system, having played at Duke as a three-time All-American.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD

Dominique Alexander (Ohio St. ’13/Archers)
Mark Glicini (Yale ’16/Chaos)
Zach Goodrich (Towson ’19/Cannons)
Danny Logan (Denver ’21/Atlas)
Patrick Resch (Dartmouth ’15/Chaos)

Defensive coordinator Joe Amplo said of all the position groups, this is the most critical. Jake Bernhardt, Will Haus and Kevin Unterstein were the anchors in 2018 — short sticks who bore the brunt of opposing dodgers multiple times per possession without a shot clock. They’re like relief pitchers in baseball. You can’t have enough arms in the bullpen come playoff time. Witness the last two world championship finals. Long poles Mitch Belisle (2014) and Kyle Hartzell (2018) both were called upon to swap sticks and play d-middie.

Dominque Alexander is the veteran of this group. Amplo, now the head coach at Navy, remembers coaching him at Hofstra camps when he was an assistant coach for the Pride.

Mark Glicini got added to the U.S. player pool in 2019 upon the recommendation of 2018 co-captain Matt Danowski, John’s son, who vouched for Glicini as a great teammate.

Amplo has gotten to know Zach Goodrich as a leader given Goodrich’s role as the head coach at the Naval Academy Prep School. Danny Logan and Ryan Terefenko set the PLL on fire over the summer as rookies with the Atlas and Chrome, respectively.

In addition to Terefenko — who’s likely to be in the mix when USA Lacrosse hosts formal tryouts for the 2023 team next summer — Goodrich and Logan were finalists for the PLL’s George Boiardi Hard Hat Award given to the league’s top short-stick defensive midfielder. Logan won.

Patrick Resch is making his U.S. debut at age 30. He’s the son of Tony Resch, who was an assistant on the 2010 and 2018 coaching staffs and has also served as head coach of the U.S. box team.

Glicini, Goodrich and Resch will be back at USA Lacrosse headquarters next weekend to play in the Super Sixes event, as will Byrnes and Tierney.

DEFENSE

Jesse Bernhardt (Maryland ’13/Chrome)
Liam Byrnes (Marquette ’16/Waterdogs)
Jared Conners (Virginia ’21/Archers)
JT Giles-Harris (Duke ’21/Chrome)
Jarrod Neumann (Providence ’17/Chaos)
Michael Rexrode (Rutgers ’18/Atlas)
Jack Rowlett (North Carolina ’19/Chaos)
Cade Van Raaphorst (Duke ’19/Atlas)

Jesse Bernhardt epitomizes the on- and off-ball fundamentals Amplo insists from his close defensemen. While sprawling takeaway guys and transition scorers garner most of the highlights, the U.S. would just as much prefer those with good on-ball approach and posture, sound off-ball instincts and physicality on the interior. Bernhardt and fellow two-time U.S. team defenseman Tucker Durkin (inactive this weekend) fit the bill, but both will be 33 in 2023.

Liam Byrnes, who can play close or pole and as a third-year NLL pro is plenty comfortable with a short stick, and Jarrod Neumann are the other veterans of the position group for the Fall Classic.

Jared Conners, JT Giles-Harris, Michael Rexrode, Jack Rowlett and Cade Van Raaphorst are all age 25 and under. Amplo said Conners was the best player on any team at the last Fall Classic back in 2019, when he was still competing for Virginia, thus earning this opportunity much in the way that Connor Kelly did while competing against the U.S. for Maryland two years earlier.

Amplo asked his former Hofstra roommate and best friend Kevin Warne about Rowlett, whose nasty streak on the field and chirpy social media persona say nothing of his soft skills in the locker room. The head coach at Georgetown, Warne told Amplo that Rowlett, an assistant coach for the Hoyas, would be well worth adding to the Fall Classic roster.

“We learned the last time that personality is more important than ability,” Amplo said. “Are they what you see on Instagram?”

In conversation with Amplo, Warne called Rowlett “a sweetheart of a human being.”

“He says, ‘Joe, you’re gonna love him,’” Amplo said.

GOALIE

Jack Concannon (Hofstra ’18/Atlas)
Blaze Riorden (Albany ’16/Chaos)
Tim Troutner (High Point ’19/Redwoods)

With John Galloway retiring and Jack Kelly only recently returning to professional lacrosse after a three-year absence due to complications from ACL surgery, the goalie competition for the 2023 U.S. team is wide open. Jack Concannon, Blaze Riorden and Tim Troutner will play at the Fall Classic. Kelly and Adam Ghitelman suit up next weekend in Super Sixes.

Concannon has played in the last three U.S. team events (2018 and 2019 Fall Classic, 2020 Spring Premiere).

Riorden has been the PLL Goalie of the Year three years running and topped that this summer by earning PLL MVP and championship MVP honors for the Chaos. Although it’s his first time in goal for the U.S., he played forward on the last two U.S. box teams in 2015 and 2019.

Troutner was the PLL Rookie of the Year in the league’s inaugural season back in 2019.

U.S. assistant coach Charley Toomey was part of the selection process for the 2018 team and has assumed Resch’s role as another defensive-minded coach on the staff. He’ll work with the defense and man-down unit and run the defensive side of the substitution box.

But as a former goalie, Toomey brings keen insight to the most scrutinized position on the field.

“Coach Danowski has been preaching to me throughout the process that we want a guy that defensively they want to dive in front of a ball for,” Toomey said of the goalie competition. “Who is that guy?”

FACEOFF

Trevor Baptiste (Denver ’18/Atlas)
Stephen Kelly (North Carolina ’17/Archers)
Joe Nardella (Rutgers ’15/Whipsnakes)

The youngest player on the 2018 team and also a member of the U.S. box team, Trevor Baptiste, 25, has become a U.S. national teams program mainstay. He won a PLL-best 149 faceoffs while adding 83 ground balls and six points en route to the league’s Paul Cantabene Faceoff Athlete of the Year award.

Stephen Kelly knows what it’s like to wear the U.S. jersey, having played for the gold medal-winning 2012 U.S. U19 team.

Joe Nardella was the hero of the last Fall Classic, capping a wild U.S. comeback with the game-winning goal with 19.8 seconds left in a 7-6 win over Canada on the same field where they’ll play Friday.