Henningsen worked his way to the primary faceoff man spot for a team that earned the top seed in the NCAA tournament and reached the title game. He won 19 of 30 faceoffs in the Terps’ championship game loss to North Carolina, mostly against a member of the 2012 U.S. under-19 men’s team that won gold in Finland, North Carolina junior Stephen Kelly. Henningsen played a vital role for
a Maryland program that lost Charlie Raffa, another 2012 U19 team member, to graduation last season. Raffa, who also took lessons with Schomburg on Long Island and now plays with MLL’s Chesapeake Bayhawks, also has helped him Henningsen through the changes between facing off in high school and college. “He was a great mentor to me,” Henningsen said. “Just coming from high school, the hardest part was transition from the rules, which are a lot different in high school on Long Island to college. He helped me a lot. I had trouble understanding them, but I think I got it down now.”
Five days after playing in the NCAA championship game with Maryland, Austin Henningsen (right) joined Team USA for training camp in Sparks, Md.
laxmagazine.com
College rules prevented Henningsen — at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds — from getting as close to the ball as he had in high school. However, Maryland volunteer assistant coach Chris Mattes has worked with Henningsen adapt to a different style of faceoff and a increased level of competition. “In high school, he was just so used to going forward with fast breaks, fast break,” Mattes said. “Obviously, you can’t do that in college. ... We worked with him on changing directions, which has benefitted him this year because you can’t get fast breaks every single time, especially with the schedule we have.” Mattes and Tillman said they had confidence in Henningsen’s raw talent. They gave him the bulk of the faceoffs this season, and he did well with them — winning 151 of 256 faceoffs, which put him 14th in the nation in faceoff winning percentage (59.0). And when Henningsen had to miss five games with a leg injury in
July/august 2016 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE 51
©JOHN STROHSACKER
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