April, Maryland won just 38.9 percent of its faceoffs. It’s a stat that shows the significance of the freshman, who just five days after a grueling NCAA championship game was back on the turf for a U.S. training camp at the US Lacrosse National Headquarters in Sparks, Md. Tillman credited Henningsen’s physical abilities for his success during his first college season. “We liked that he was a little bit bigger,” Tillman said. “He’s a pretty physical
kid. We knew in the conference that we play, those guys get beat up and we’d like to kind of use the same, very similar to a running back that takes a lot of hits. He’s a very durable guy. He’s got quick hands.” After the NCAA season, Henningsen channeled his focus to the top competition of Canada, and faceoff man Justin Inacio — who will head to Ohio State next year. The two have met during scrimmages multiple times, but not when the title is on the line. Henningsen, along with future college faceoff men Gerard Arceri (Penn State) and Christian Feliziani (Ohio State), are on the 25- man U.S. roster. Two of them likely will take the bulk of draws. “It’s going to be fun to face off against him in Canada, when it really counts,” Henningsen said. “He’s a smaller dude. But he’s very scrappy-like. He likes to go out and run the ball. The past few times I’ve seen him, that’s what I’ve took from him. We just want to win and beat all the other nations.”
Season-ending injuries this spring to Johns Hopkins freshman midfielder Drew Supinski, a top scorer for the U.S. throughout the tryout process, and Penn State freshman defenseman Thomas Wright, led to Myers naming two injury replacements to the roster ahead of its early June training weekend. Plucked back from the original 105-player tryout pool were Denver’s Dylan Johnson and Penn’s Simon Mathias. Johnson, a 6-foot-2, 205-pounder, started all 16 games for Denver as a freshman. He projects as a close defenseman for the U.S. Mathias, a lefty finisher, was co-Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the Quakers’ leading goal-scorer. He joins Penn teammates Alex Roesner (attack), Tyler Dunn (midfield) and Noah Lejman (defense) on the team, along with his college offensive coordinator Pat Myers, who has the same role with Team USA. “It’s a lot more of a family mentality
now,” Mathias said. “It’s not, whether I’m going to make the team. We have a goal in mind, to hopefully bring back the gold.”
laxmagazine.com
3 GOING FOR GOLD
In each of the last seven U19 Men’s
World Championships, the U.S. has won gold every time and Canada the silver on six occasions. Four years ago in Finland, the U.S. lost its first-ever games in U19 international competition to the Iroquois and Canada in the preliminary rounds. They avenged the losses in the medal rounds to retain the world championship, beating Canada in the title game. As it figures, the U.S. has Canada on its mind again. Containing Cornell-bound attackman Jeff Teat is at the top of the priority list. The Hill Academy (Ontario) product, and son of former National Lacrosse League pro Dan, canned eight goals against the U.S. in a scrimmage last fall, and continued to show a dazzling display of poise and lacrosse IQ for The Hill Academy this spring. Canada also features Ohio State-bound faceoff man Justin Inacio, one of three future Nick Myers’ charges with the Buckeyes, who will play against their future coach this summer.
— Corey McLaughlin July/august 2016 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE 53
©JOHN STROHSACKER; ©SCOTT MCCALL (3)
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