Lance Crafton, Beat Writer US Men’s Lacrosse
Lacrosse is Awesome
September 11, 2016
September 11, 2011… It’s quiet. A lot of thoughts running through my head. I reflect on the events that happened at this time ten years ago. My feet hurt. I’ve been patrolling for several hours going from compound to compound in 130 plus degree heat. The sun beats down on me like it’s trying to pierce my skin. There is a breeze but it sears your face like the breath of a dragon with the kiss of dust and sand. My trousers are starched stiff from the salt of dried sweat and dirt. I can hear my heart beating loudly in my ears. My shoulders feel like hot pins are slowly getting pushed through their muscles from the stinging pain of carrying my heavy flak jacket. It’s loaded down with about 100 pounds of ammunition, bullet proof (SAPI) plates, and other gear. My arm begins to ache from swinging the mine detector all morning looking for improvised explosive devices (IEDs). I switch hands…
Ten years ago, I was on my way to my friend’s house to wake him up because he slept in and we were late for work doing a job in DC. I remember the radio talking about a plane hitting the World Trade Center in NY and I pictured a small Cesna having mechanical problems and crashing into the building…
I stop to look behind me to make sure all the other marines are keeping up and only walking where I swept with the mine detector. I readjust my rifle slung on my back and start sweeping again…
My friend, Patrick, finally got up, after Norm and I woke him up, and he got in the shower. The television was showing footage of smoke coming out of the World Trade Center and I turned up the volume so we could listen while he got ready. Then I realized how big the plane was and started wondering how an airliner could have lost control. Then the next plane hit….
I came to the edge of a compound wall and noticed the next compound was across a small field. I hate fields when you’re the point man. Is anyone watching us? Where is their imaginary line in the dirt that I’ll cross before they open fire? Where’s the next bit of cover I can get to when they start shooting at me? A lot of questions…. Not enough answers in the middle of a field. Then I remember the reason I’m here, on this day. I step out into the open and start heading across the field. Small “curbs” of mud are made sectioning off the poppy field for when they use the irrigation ditches to flood the field for their crops. Maybe there’s one high enough to protect me when they start shooting? I think of the flag that I’m carrying in my back pack. Those colors push me forward. They’re a reflection of what’s in my heart. I’m the tip of the spear for America at this very second. My other arm starts to ache so I switch arms again and try to shrug my shoulders to relieve the sting. Today, everyone wants a piece of revenge for the events from ten years ago. We’re looking for a fight, but you’d be a liar if you say you’re not even a little scared. That fear keeps your actions in check. It keeps you alive. I feel a sense of pride that I’m here today. The metal detector begins to whine in a high pitched tone. I stop and lightly sift through the dirt. It’s just a piece of trash. I throw it to the side and sweep again. No tone. I signal that it’s all clear and continue on. I finally make it to the nearest wall of the mud compound across the field. I wait for everyone to cross before we set up security around the compound and make entry to look for more signs of our enemy. No one says a word but you can feel the tension. There are 2,977 reasons we’re here. It’s those 2,977 lives that carry us forward. They will be avenged. They will not be forgotten….
Reality comes flooding back to me and I find myself staring at several spires of curved steel reaching skyward like wisps of iron smoke. In the middle is a large rock with a plaque in front of it. I read the words and feel the gravity of their meaning.
“On September 11, 2001, many friends of lacrosse were among the thousands of lives lost during attacks against the United States. This memorial is dedicated to those who died on 9/11, as well as the men and women within our lacrosse community who have since been inspired to serve in the Armed Forces or as first responders. The commitment and sacrifice of these selfless Americans and their families represent the best of lacrosse, and this site honors their spirit, memory and legacy.”
Today is September 11, 2016. Who would have thought just five years ago, I was in a different world? I was a different me. I was Sergeant Crafton of the United States Marine Corps. 15 years ago changed my thinking forever. I enlisted in 2004 and completed several deployments trying to scratch that itch of vengeance I felt for those who dared attack my family and friends on my home soil. I came home from my last deployment after getting blown up three times from IED’s an empty man. Not only did I leave blood and tears in another country but I also left part of my soul. The healing continues but I’m at peace today. Just five years…
The weather today is a beautiful 80 degrees and sunny with just a few soft, white clouds drifting in a sea of blue. There’s a nice breeze caressing your skin. It’s a perfect day for lacrosse and what a better place to be than the US Lacrosse grand opening of their new headquarters in Sparks, Maryland. It’s a day filled with lacrosse royalty and enthusiasts as US Lacrosse hosts their house warming party and lets their boys take a spin on the new turf to a crowd of approximately 1,500 spectators. The event actually kicked off yesterday with both the women’s and men’s USA Teams providing clinics to youth players ending the day with a black-tie event at the nearby Grand Lodge. Nine people had the great fortune of being bestowed the sports highest honor of being inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The nine people for the class of 2016 are Margie Anderson; Kim Basner; Joanne Connelly; Julie Dayton; Michele LeFevre Doyle; Glen Miles; Mike Morrill; Robert Shek; and John Tucker.
“As the sport’s national governing body, US Lacrosse provides national leadership, structure and resources to fuel the sport’s growth and enrich the experience of participants.”
-US Lacrosse Mission
US Lacrosse was founded on January 1, 1998. It was the merger of many different groups including the Lacrosse Foundation, the United States Women’s Lacrosse Association, the National Junior Lacrosse Association, the United States Lacrosse Officials Association, United States Lacrosse Coaches Association, United States Club Lacrosse Association, the US Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates, the Central Atlantic Lacrosse League and National Intercollegiate Lacrosse Officials Association. They are the governing body of the sport of lacrosse and work closely with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to oversee the game. US Lacrosse also publishes Lacrosse Magazine monthly to keep the lacrosse community up to date on the sport as well as operating the Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame.
US Lacrosse is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization made up of more than 450,000 members nationwide with 68 chapters in 45 states. Their impact to the sport is tremendous with such accolades as making the sport safer, training and certifying coaches, training and certifying officials, educate the lacrosse community, and pioneering national standards. The buck doesn’t stop there. US Lacrosse has given hundreds of thousands of kids the opportunity to play lacrosse through initiatives like their First Stick Program which has provided 1,028 grants since 2000, giving more than 27,000 pieces of equipment away to youth players who would not normally be able to afford them, thus growing the game from the smallest seeds. They also help grow the game by putting lacrosse on display on the international stage with their 27-time world champion U.S. National Teams.
As I arrived, the women were just wrapping up their scrimmage and the place was already alive and buzzing with fans and the “who’s who” of lacrosse. As I walked into the lobby, Bill Tierney was casually talking to friends as people were loitering around and then I noticed the entrance to the Lacrosse Museum. If you’ve ever been to the museum when it was located at Hopkins, you weren’t expecting it to be much more than a small room filled with things that reeked of moth balls and old sticks. The second you enter the Lacrosse Museum at 2 Loveton Circle, your jaw drops! They did a great job of showcasing the spirit of lacrosse and its history. Each display isn’t just a shadow box on the wall with a jersey. They come to life with interactive screens and every detail isn’t overlooked. There is a section dedicated to the history of the lacrosse stick and starts off with a display honoring the great Alf Jacques showing the tools of his trade and the various stages of the wood from a chunk of tree with bark on it to an elegant piece of art with smooth curves and intricately woven laces. The Tewaaraton trophy is on display right across from a showcase of a locker filled with the NCAA champions’ jerseys and gear. On the wall in that room, a projector shines on the wall a video of a lacrosse game. I didn’t get to pay attention to which game it was because I couldn’t stop looking all around in wonder. I was like a kid on Christmas morning! Credit was given to the medicine game as well as to the US National team and a wall with the entire National Hall of Famers.
As I came out of the museum and walked by Tierney still engaging in laughs and friendly banter, I saw the great Alf Jacques himself sporting an Iroquois National Team hat and carrying one of his famed hand-crafted sticks. I did what every other giddy kid would do when meeting an idol. I asked for a photo with him! I didn’t want to hold him up and bother him but he was very inviting and I wound up talking to him for quite a while. He told me of how last summer wasn’t the best time for him because he had to have his kidney removed due to cancer. He was in good spirits about it and continued on to tell me how it takes eight months to make one stick and how much heart and soul he puts into it. It is truly a labor of love and he loves making them. Alf talked of how he has been making lacrosse sticks for well over fifty years and will continue making them as long as his health allows. He mentioned how some days are harder than others with his hands aching from the combination of age and constant use of his hands, but the glimmer in his eye hasn’t aged a bit. His passion for the sport is evident as he talks about playing in the medicine game and giving back to the Creator. He told me of how the medicine game that he still plays in may have the goals sixty yards apart but there are no boundaries. Alf’s sense of humor had me laughing quite a few times like when he told me, “There are no out-of-bounds so if the game crosses the street, you hope that car stops!” as he laughingly doted. He mentioned people sliding across car hoods and the occupants probably thinking they’re under attack! The players are divided up by young and old men. He told me of how you are considered a young man if you have no children, even if you’re forty years old! He mentioned playing against some young men one time and the game only lasting ten minutes. “They would say, ‘The first to three wins’. Up the ball went in the middle. They got it. Down the field and scored!” Other games he counted 120 players in the start of the game and he said the game went on for an hour and forty-five minutes with no time outs or quarters. Just straight playing the entire time. He said, “At my age, I tell them, ‘Get back here so I can hit ya!’ as I cover my ten by ten area.” As we stood there laughing about getting old and still playing lacrosse, more people came over to shake his hand and say, “Hi” so I didn’t want to be selfish and hog up the man’s precious time even though I could have spent hours listening to him talk, so I graciously thanked him for talking to me and went on my way.
I met up with Mark Eissele, US Lacrosse’s Manager of Regional Development for the Western Mid-Atlantic region and fellow Marine, so he could give me a tour of the facility, MTV Cribs style. As we made our way through the crowd, Mark swiped his access card on the wall to get access to the heart of the operation. When the door opened, we walked into a large room with neatly organized cubicles. While I was a little disappointed that there weren’t girls in bikinis dancing on the desks and ballers popping bottles everywhere, you instantly get the sense that these guys take the sport of lacrosse seriously. Our tour continued upstairs to where, Lacrosse is Awesome’s very own, Tammy Williams, photography was hanging on the wall along other photographs of lacrosse in action. The hallway went to the left where another room with cubicles housed the department for grants for the growth of the sport and down the right side had a board room that went out to a balcony overlooking Tierney Field. As we went back downstairs, the men’s team was starting to file in and head down to the basement where the locker room was. Their very own home, for once. No more crashing on other people’s couches! The basement had murals on the walls of past greats in action between all of the National Teams. In the men’s locker room, names adorn the wall of Team USA World Championship Honorees. Medstar Health leases the back part of the lower level and provides the medical staffing for Team USA. Across the hall from the men’s locker room is the women’s locker room and the hall leads out into a tunnel that stores field maintenance gear and eventually leads right out onto the field itself. The stat of the art turf doesn’t use the traditional black pellets that our significant others love finding all over the house the day after a game, but rather soft green hollow pellets that are either rubber or soft plastic. They’re light weight and not as rough as the black pellets. Another thing I noticed every time the ball hit the turf is an off-white powdery substance flying up into the air. After further investigation, I noticed it was a very fine sand that is under the turf. Judging by the turf and studying it, I think I wouldn’t mind taking a couple diving shots if I’m going to be ending up on that Tempurpedic turf!
As Team USA took the field and lined up on their respective sides of either White or Blue, Hall of Famers came out onto the turf at Tierney Field and lined up as well as the honorees from last night’s induction. Coach Richie Moran gave a speech that almost brought the crowd to tears with his emotional words of appreciation for his long, storied career and one sentence he said really stuck in my mind. “This is hallowed ground.” Those words echoed in my head as I looked around at all that lacrosse has built in Sparks, Maryland and that although US Lacrosse now has a home to call its own in this small town, it is a very bright beacon for the sport to shine on all corners of the globe.
A beautiful rendition of God Bless America was sung while the stars and stripes waved gently at half-mast next to the Maryland flag and the US Lacrosse flag. At the conclusion of the song, applause filled the stands and coaches ordered their players to put on their lids. It’s time for Team USA to put on a show!
U.S. Men’s National Team- Blue
| NO | NAME | POSITION | MLL TEAM | COLLEGE |
| 1 | Ned Crotty | A | Rochester | Duke ‘10 |
| 2 | Matt Danowski | A | Chesapeake | Duke ‘08 |
| 3 | Eric Law | A | Denver | Denver ‘13 |
| 4 | Keiran McArdle | A | Florida | St. John’s ‘14 |
| 6 | Brendan Fowler | FO | Charlotte | Duke ‘14 |
| 9 | Greg Gurenlian | FO | New York | Penn State ‘06 |
| 10 | Mike Chanenchuk | M | Charlotte | Maryland ‘14 |
| 11 | Will Haus | M | Charlotte | Duke ‘15 |
| 12 | Paul Rabil | M | New York | Johns Hopkins ‘08 |
| 13 | Drew Snider | M | Denver | Maryland ‘12 |
| 15 | Joe Walters | M | Chesapeake | Maryland ‘06 |
| 16 | Jake Bernhardt | M | Ohio | Maryland ‘13 |
| 17 | John Haus | M | Charlotte | Maryland ‘13 |
| 18 | Kevin Unterstein | M | New York | Hofstra ‘08 |
| 20 | Michael Evans | D | Chesapeake | Johns Hopkins ‘09 |
| 21 | Kyle Hartzell | D | New York | Salisbury ‘07 |
| 22 | Matt Landis | D | Florida | Notre Dame ‘16 |
| 23 | John LoCascio | D | Rochester | Villanova ‘14 |
| 24 | Michael Manley | D | Rochester | Duke ‘12 |
| 25 | Chad Wiedmaier | D | Boston | Princeton ‘12 |
| 26 | Tyler Fiorito | G | Boston | Princeton ‘12 |
| 30 | Brian Phipps | G | Chesapeake | Maryland ‘11 |
U.S. Men’s National Team- White
| NO | NAME | POSITION | MLL TEAM | COLLEGE |
| 1 | Marcus Holman | A | Ohio | North Carolina ‘13 |
| 2 | Will Manny | A | Boston | Massachusetts ‘13 |
| 3 | Rob Pannell | A | New York | Cornell ‘13 |
| 4 | Joey Sankey | A | Charlotte | North Carolina ‘15 |
| 5 | Joe Nardella | FO | Boston | Rutgers ‘15 |
| 6 | Greg Puskuldjian | FO | Ohio | Adelphi ‘15 |
| 8 | Connor Buczek | M | Florida | Cornell ‘15 |
| 9 | Myles Jones | M | Chesapeake | Duke ‘16 |
| 10 | John Ranagan | M | Rochester | Johns Hopkins ‘13 |
| 11 | Tom Schreiber | M | Ohio | Princeton ‘14 |
| 12 | Jeremy Sieverts | M | Denver | Maryland ‘09 |
| 14 | Matt Abbott | M | Chesapeake | Syracuse ‘09 |
| 15 | Brent Adams | M | Boston | Fairfield ‘12 |
| 16 | Steve DeNapoli | M | New York | Hofstra ‘11 |
| 19 | Jacob Richard | M | New York | Marquette ‘16 |
| 20 | Jesse Bernhardt | D | Chesapeake | Maryland ‘13 |
| 22 | Tucker Durkin | D | Florida | Johns Hopkins ‘13 |
| 23 | Joe Fletcher | D | New York | Loyola ‘14 |
| 25 | Jackson Place | D | Ohio | Bucknell ‘14 |
| 26 | Scott Ratliff | D | Atlanta | Loyola ‘13 |
| 28 | Joel White | D | Rochester | Syracuse ‘11 |
| 29 | Drew Adams | G | New York | Penn State ‘09 |
| 30 | John Galloway | G | Rochester | Syracuse ‘11 |
Team USA Staff
Head Coach: John Danowski
Assistant Coaches: Joe Amplo, Tony Resch, Seth Tierney
General Manager: Jimmy Butler
Assistant General Manager: Ben DeLuca
Equipment Manager: Jay Bissette
Physicians: Brian Mata, Margot Putukian
Trainers: Mandy Merritt, Brad Mountcastle
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Jay Dyer
Videographer: Torrey Taylor
The White team managed to get the first two on the board before the Blue team finally got a notch in. For the rest of the half, it was just pure thoroughbreds playing ball with the Blue team handling business on the offensive end and dominating the White team. The end result of the day’s exhibition was 15-13 with Team USA Blue winning. I talked to Tyler Steinhardt and Brett Roberts from Shootout for Soldiers on the sidelines while the team posed for photos together on the field. The New York Fire Fighters and New York Police Department started to take the field to warm up for their game in honor of 9/11.
Photo Gallery: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1398159346864259.1073741887.121135597899980&type=1&l=250cf23f1e
Just before the game, in a somber moment, the 9/11 memorial was dedicated on the south end of the US Lacrosse headquarters. Mark said it best when he wrote, “There were two experiences that stood out the most for me. One of my assigned duties this afternoon was to be with the NY Police Department lacrosse team on the field during the National Anthem and the 9/11 dedication prior to their game against the NY Fire Department team. 
Being with them at that moment sent chills through me. The other moment that touched me and restored a little faith in humanity, and in America, came just before that. As the US Men’s National team was leaving the field after their game, these top names in the game, fist pumped, high fived and cheered on the Police and Firefighters. No egos, no prima donnas just guys united by a sport and a pride in our country. Thank you gentlemen – all of you.”
So I look up at the steel delicately twisting into the sky yet with a weathered rust stains streaking down the metal on the memorial and I hear Richie Moran’s voice….
“This is hallowed ground…”
Lance Crafton, Beat Writer US Lacrosse
Lacrosse is Awesome