SPARKS, Md. — It was going to take more than one memorable play for the United States men’s lacrosse team to climb out of a three-goal hole in the fourth quarter of its Fall Classic matchup on Friday night at US Lacrosse headquarters.
The Americans were up to the task, scoring twice in the final minute to earn a 7-6 triumph over Canada at Tierney Field.
Faceoff specialist Joe Nardella capped the comeback, depositing Will Manny’s feed in transition with 19.8 seconds left.
— U.S. Men's National Team (@USAMLax) October 19, 2019
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“I think it kind of shows the level of lacrosse that’s going on right now in our country professionally,” Nardella said. “We all butt heads all summer long, and we practice some of these situations, just not together. For those guys who play on different teams to go out here and execute it together shows everybody is pretty freaking good on this roster.”
It was the first meeting between the two national teams since the United States edged Canada 9-8 in the title game of last year’s world championships in Israel.
Manny had two goals and an assist — playing a role in each of the United States’ final three goals — and Connor Kelly added a goal and two assists for the United States. Veteran Brian Phipps had four saves in the first half, while Jack Concannon finished with five saves while playing the second half.
“Everybody played their roles,” coach John Danowski said. “Nobody tried to do more or too much. I just think everybody at the end executed really well. … To me, that was the story of the game. There were no stars, but everybody was a hero.”
Ryan Lee scored three goals and Jeff Teat had four assists for the Canadians.
It was the first of several men’s games on the weekend. Both the United States and Canada will face defending Division I men’s champion Virginia on Saturday afternoon, the USA Select U15 and U17 teams will meet teams from Ontario on both Saturday and Sunday.
The weekend concludes Sunday afternoon when the United States and Canada play under World Lacrosse trial rules.
After an even first half, Canada scored three of four goals in the third quarter, and then made it 6-3 on Joel Tinney’s man-up score with 14:25 to go. All the while, the Canadians kept pressure on the United States, both with their offense and the running clock that forced the Americans to be especially precise.
Kelly and Manny scored in the fourth to slice the deficit to 6-5, but the Canadians were positioned to close things out after United States was called for a trip with 2:28 left. But the defense held despite playing a man down, and Concannon stuffed Andrew Kew with 1:31 left, only for Canada to corral the rebound and call timeout.
The U.S. applied heavy pressure out of the timeout and Canada turned it over.
“As soon as the roster came out and I saw our defense, I played against those guys all summer long and they’re incredible, both on and off ball,” Manny said. “They’re huge, they’re long, they’re rangy, they’re tough, they run transition. Credit to those guys. Then Phipps and Concannon, those guys make doorstep saves like it’s their job. Quote unquote it is, but they’re fun to watch.”
The Americans cleared and used their final timeout, setting up Manny’s goal off a Kelly feed with 37 seconds left to tie it. It was a crisply executed late-game sequence, an impressive display for a team that had not played much together of late.
“There was a man-down, we had to double the ball, we had to win a faceoff, you’re behind by three,” Danowski said. “The 15-minute quarters shortens the game, so you have to talk a little bit more about game management. Defensively, maybe you have to be more aggressive. We fouled, but we had to be aggressive.”
Instead of settling for overtime, the Americans pounced on a miscue off the ensuing faceoff. Nardella, who split the workload of the game’s 15 draws evenly with Trevor Baptiste and Greg Gurenlian, noticed the Canadian faceoff man subbed off. With the U.S. wings occupying their Canadian counterparts, Nardella opted to remain on the field.
“I kind of faked like I was cutting left and saw my boy Manny with the ball,” Nardella said. “Will and I have spent a couple seasons playing together, so I knew he’d be looking for me. I flashed to him and sure enough he hit me right in the stick. I didn’t even have to move it.”
That gave the United States its first lead since it was 1-0 early in the second quarter, and Danowski’s team ran out the clock to secure the come-from-behind triumph.
“I think it’s just a huge character win,” Nardella said. “It shows the culture of the team. Even though we haven’t played together a lot, there’s guys who have been in and out of this roster over the course of the last couple years. It just shows we stuck together and everybody cares about only one thing, and that’s winning.”