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HOW A SERIES OF MOTIVATIONAL MEMES INSPIRED A JOURNEY, SPARKED AN INCREDIBLE COMEBACK AND ENDED TEAM USA’S GOLD MEDAL DROUGHT


BY COREY MCLAUGHLIN 20 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » September/october 2016


Giving up the first six goals, and still trailing by a half dozen at halftime, was not part of The Blueprint. It was not on the set of standards slipped underneath plastic lamination on the back of players’ three-ring playbook binders, along with the “all in, we not me” mentality, “do your job,” and other Belichickian-sounding and Urban Meyer-inspired philosophies that Ohio State men’s lacrosse coach Nick Myers borrowed from Columbus for his tenure leading the U.S. under-19 men’s lacrosse team.


Not once during any of their meetings in the 24 hours ahead of the Federation of International Lacrosse U19 Men’s World Championship game on July 16 in Coquitlam, British Columbia, did coaches play out a down-six scenario to the 23 players that were selected to the U.S. roster at the end of a year- plus tryout process. If anything, the hope was to deliver an outcome similar to what unfolded 10 days earlier on a rainy opening night. The U.S. — with a collection of recent high school standouts like midfielders Jared Bernhardt (Lake Brantley, Fla.) and Dox Aitken (Haverford School, Pa.) and attackman Michael Sowers (Upper Dublin, Pa.), and budding


college stars like swingman Timmy Kelly (North Carolina), defensemen Jack Rowlett (North Carolina) and Pat Foley (Johns Hopkins) and faceoff man Austin Henningsen (Maryland) — largely shared the ball on offense (“hit singles”) and stuck to the plan on defense in a convincing 12-5 victory over host Canada. (“The first key we said over a year ago: Discipline. Play with feet and fists; play with seven; stay out of the penalty box”). The Americans led early and controlled possession and pace, as is possible in the international game where no shot clock exists. The closest resemblance to a dire, what-if conversation came in passing during a defensive talk the evening before the gold medal game rematch with the rival Canadians, who, in different forms, had won the last three FIL championships (senior men in 2014, U19 women and indoor in 2015). For nearly two weeks, U.S. players, coaches and support staff holed up in the Sheraton hotel in Surrey, B.C., a


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