Harrison, a former Tewaaraton Award winner at Johns Hopkins who’s trying to make this U.S. team at a more specialized position, these players traditionally toil in anonymity. Just like his slightly more glamorized
kin, the long-stick midfi elder, the shorty has to play airtight defense against another team’s top offensive horses, help on faceoff wings, capitalize on potential turnovers by getting the ball off the ground and take advantage of opportunities to push the ball the other way in transition. For Team USA, that versatility will
be put to the test against teams like Canada — with a much-improved midfi eld rotation headlined by reigning MLL MVP Kevin Crowley — and the Iroquois Nationals. “Having a 23-man limited roster creates
a higher sense of urgency to be able to keep guys that can do more than one thing,” Team USA assistant Jeff Tambroni said. “If you can do one thing and do it well, you make a case for yourself, but I don’t know if there’s anybody out there at any position that can do more things than Matt Abbott right now.” Cottle has plenty of familiarity with this
group, having also coached both Burns and Reynolds at Maryland. He rated Reynolds as the best individual defender of the three, with Burns bringing great energy and showing a keen ability for the slide and recovery that the midfi eld- happy MLL requires. Harrison is the wild card of the group. “The same reason Team USA feels
that [those players] are valuable is the reason we feel they’re valuable,” Cottle said. “They all bring something different, but they also understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And they understand the Canadian players.” So how did Abbott become so well rounded, to the point where he’s getting the most hype on a roster fi lled with some of the biggest names the game has ever seen? It started during his high school days at Nottingham (N.Y.). “We never had a lot of depth at Nottingham,” Abbott said. “I was more offensive-minded than I am now. We didn’t really specialize much. Everybody did everything, and that became my path to get on the fi eld at Syracuse too.” After
scoring 212 points at
Nottingham, Abbott followed in the family footsteps to Syracuse — the only college he seriously considered attending — and played in every game over his four years there. He was a fi rst-team All-American in 2009.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
Along the way, he picked up a great nickname and assisted one of the craziest plays in NCAA championship history, the “Foxborough Flip” of 2009. Trailing Cornell by one goal with the
fi nal minute ticking away, Syracuse tied the game on a circus-like sequence. After Kenny Nims and Joel White managed to get the ball on the ground riding, Stephen Keogh found Abbott with a pass near the restraining line. Abbott got tied up by multiple Big
Red players, but somehow managed to fl oat a pass over Roy Lang’s head to a streaking Nims on the crease. Nims scored the game-tying goal with 4.5 seconds left. The Orange went on to win the game
in overtime on Cody Jamieson’s goal. “It was just one of those plays where
a number of things happened the right way for us,” he said. “But it’s one of those things where if you hustle hard enough, you can create your own luck. If we had a million tries to get that sequence again, we probably couldn’t, but I still watch it on YouTube and get goose bumps every time.” Since joining the Bayhawks, Abbott
has averaged about a point per game, but he also has led Chesapeake in ground balls in three of his four full seasons with team. “He does the job of two or three
men, and he’s totally fi ne with it being the unheralded things,” Cottle said. “The team loves that.” Working in fi nance and as a part-
time assistant coach alongside his brother Mike at Colgate, Abbott said he maintains that hustle by staying on top of the running and fi tness program put together for Team USA by coach Jay Dyer. Having been through the U.S. selection process four years ago — he also made the training team in 2010 but was not among the 23 players chosen to travel to England — Abbott knows how much it takes to get this far. He just hopes that his Swiss Army knife spectrum of skills is enough to get him one step further. LM
‘ROAD TO THE ROCKIES’
It’s “Hard Knocks,” lacrosse-style. US Lacrosse partnered with The Lacrosse Network for a three- part video series that takes you behind the scenes with Team USA.
LaxMagazine.com/RoadToTheRockies
Visit
www.Tenacity10.com for more details.
March 2014 >> LACROSSE MAGAZINE 47
Visit
www.Tenacity10.com for more details.
ATTENTION GIRLS’
LACROSSE PLAYERS! Tenacity10 offers
training and playing opportunities
for girls ages 6 thru 18
in Northern California and Texas: Tenacity Training Camps
Western Winners Showcase Summer Splash Tournament Tenacity Youth Teams
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