Showing posts with label US National Team. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US National Team. Show all posts
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Dowd a Coach by Day, Player by Night
For Dowd, an assistant coach at Syracuse and a Team USA World Cup hopeful, a day that started with coaching in the Orange's exhibition match against the English women's national team ended with a seven-goal performance against Maryland in the nightcap of Team USA's double-header against the Terrapins. Dowd's highlight-filled dandy put an exclamation point on the U.S. national team's sweep of Maryland, 18-3 and 23-7, on Saturday night at Champion Challenge, a US Lacrosse event at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Florida.
Dowd roamed the sidelines for Syracuse's 11:30 a.m. contest against Team England, and left midway through the second half to help — get this — coach at Team USA's youth clinic, from 1-3 p.m. Shortly thereafter, she warmed up with the women's national team, then played in the second of Team USA's split-squad night matches against Maryland.
"It has been a lot of fun," Dowd said. "I knew coming down here that I would have a hectic schedule, especially today. This whole week I made sure Syracuse was well taken care of, they knew their itinerary, so it could be seamless when I wasn't around. But it was great today. Gary [Gait] is such a great coach, and he's played at the national level for Team Canada. He told me, 'Hey, your focus is Team USA. We're OK at Syracuse. We'll take care of it.' That was pretty nice of him to say. That made it easy for me to go back and forth, and just really worry about Team USA."
Many players on Team USA's 38-member roster — which needs to be trimmed to 24 after this weekend in preparation a summer competition tour in Oshawa, Canada, host of the 2013 (FIL) World Cup — are college coaches.
Take a deep breath, then soak in this list: Sarah Albrecht (UMass assistant), Amy Altig (Penn State assistant), Kelly Berger (UMBC head coach), Sarah Bullard (Boston University volunteer assistant), Jillian Byers (Yale assistant), Kirsten Carr (Delaware assistant), Corey Donohoe (Navy volunteer assistant), Amber Falcone (Vanderbilt assistant), Katie Hertsch (Boston University assistant), Erica LaGrow (Florida assistant), Caitlyn McFadden (Florida assistant), Lindsey Munday (Southern California head coach), Gina Oliver (Duquesne assistant), Brittany Poist (McKendree head coach), Katie Rowan (Albany assistant), Jen Russell (Harvard volunteer assistant), Lauren Schwarzmann (San Diego State assistant), Danielle Spencer (Stanford assistant), Acacia Walker (Boston College associate head coach), Devon Wills (Southern California assistant).
But it's rare to both coach and play in the same weekend event.
"Katrina loves to compete. She loves to play, and now she loves to coach," said U.S. coach Ricky Fried, who estimated he's known Dowd for eight years, since he recruited her as a high-schooler in New York. "She's a little bit of what you would call a lax rat. She always has her stick in her hand. She likes to develop new tricks. The nice thing about Katrina is she's willing to share that ability with kids. I watch her at camps, at clinics, and she just has a great time with them showing what she can do, trying to develop them as players."
Dowd has certainly excited the Orange. During Friday night's exhibition between Team USA and England's national team, Syracuse — after finishing up practice on an adjacent field at the Wide World of Sports complex — cheered on its coach and went wild when Dowd scored 35 seconds into the game. They even made signs to support her.
"Oh, I love (Dowd)," sophomore attacker Alyssa Murray said. "When she was on the field playing, I was joking around saying things like, 'She's my idol!" But really, she's awesome. She's added so much to our team. She's a blast to work with. She definitely adds a little spice into our mix."
A volunteer assistant at Denver University last year, Dowd called Gait last summer about her interest in potentially joining Syracuse's staff. It was wait-and-see mode for a couple months, as Gait hinted there might be an opening on his staff. But in late July, Gait called Dowd and offered an interview. She was quickly hired.
"She's a great addition to our staff," Gait said. "She just lives and breathes lacrosse, and she brings an energy and enthusiasm to our program, with a lot of knowledge. She's a champion, and that's where we're looking to go, and she brings that same philosophy to the program. But she's got a great coaching career ahead of her."
Dowd primarily has worked with the attackers at Syracuse, though she was more hands-on with the defense during halftime of the Orange's 9-9 tie with Team England, pointing out tendencies and ways to approach the English offense.
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| Dowd shares a smile on the sideline with Syracuse head coach Gary Gait during practice Friday. The former Northwestern star is in her first season as an assistant coach with the Orange. © John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com |
"I'm a big dodger myself, and I want to instill that ability in my players," Dowd said. "All players can be great dodgers, so that's something I really make a focus. But as an attacker, I do play a lot at Syracuse during practice drills and 1-v-1's, and I kind of know them better than they know themselves, because I know what to manipulate, I know what they're trying to take away."
There hasn't been much taking away or slowing down of Dowd thus far this weekend. Through two games, she leads Team USA with nine combined goals. And though Fried said the national team wouldn't be "stat-based," Dowd is making an impression that she deserves a spot on the final. Back in 2009, Dowd was called in the final days before the World Cup to fly to Prague in case one of the Team USA players was unable to play due to injury concerns. She didn't get to play that year, but she made a case to be a fixture on the Team USA roster for the foreseeable future.
Fried sees, and has seen, all the pieces to Dowd's puzzle: the raw talents of an athlete, the development of a lacrosse player and the birth of a coaching career.
"She has great hands, and that gets overlooked because you notice the feet, you notice the quick first step," Fried said. "She's developed a good outside shot, which makes her a multiple threat. Her vision has improved tremendously. But without a doubt, her quickness goes without saying. You watch it, and even we're wowed at times. It's hard not to be. She just to learn when to use that, and when it's appropriate.
"She's always had the physical tools, that's obvious just watching her play. Sometimes she has to make sure that she doesn't rely just on her physical tools, rely on her mental capacity, because it has grown the last couple years. And the ability to communicate to her teammates — that's one of the pieces that people take for granted, at times — but she's starting to get in that position, where we're looking for her to be a vocal leader, not just a lead-by-example-type of person.
"She's going to have to continue to work on not being able to show people what to do, but being able to explain to people what to do. Most people aren't going to be able to do what she can do physically, so teaching them the game as opposed to that skill set, that's the area where she'll have to work. That's why you hear stories about excellent players who don't become good coaches, because they get frustrated with people who can't do what they can do. For her, she has a lot of patience. She is becoming more of a student of the game, and those attributes will take her a lot further along. She's being more comfortable with herself, frankly, and being able to communicate and not just showing it on the field."
Northwestern's Past Greats Help Beat the Present
Half of Team USA's goals were scored by former Northwestern players, including four by Katrina Dowd, who earned Most Outstanding Player honors for her effort. Former Wildcats Lindsey Munday (three goals, three assists) and Danielle Spencer (one goal, one assist) also tickled the twine against their alma mater.
"It's really fun to play with former teammates like Sarah Albrecht, as well as Katrina and Spence," said Munday, who was an assistant at Northwestern after her playing career and coached Dowd and Spencer. "We tend to know what one another wants to do on the field, and we can have that communication without even talking, so it's always nice to have that chemistry where you can work together and work well off each other."
The U.S. win kicked off Sunday's nationally televised matinee of action at the seventh annual US Lacrosse event, held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. Following Sunday's main game, and while Denver faced the men's national team, Team USA played Northwestern a second time and won 18-1, sweeping the Wildcats to cap a 5-0 weekend.
"I was really pleased with the discipline we showed throughout the [first] game," U.S. coach Ricky Fried said. "Our defense played particularly well, holding position, not going for checks for most of the game, and staying poised against a very quality team that's seasoned, plays fast, is very aggressive. We made sure that we stayed composed and disciplined the entire time."
Intense and physical play defined Sunday, as Team USA was called for 33 fouls and Northwestern for 18 in the first meeting. Defender Taylor Thornton, a national team hopeful playing for Northwestern in Sunday's opener, called the environment "a battlefield out there."
"You come to this level, you're playing a national-championship-caliber team, they're not going to back down for you, and we're clearly not going to back down for them. That's what you expect, and that's why you play the game," Fried said. "Those are the games you enjoy. Games when you come out, you compete, you're pressed to do things under duress, and it's great for the coaching staff because we get to see who reacts appropriately to that style of play."
The U.S. increased its defensive intensity Sunday, pressuring away from the cage and forcing the Wildcats' hand, especially in the first half when Northwestern turned the ball over 13 times.
With attacking, high-energy play came a bevy of yellow cards for both sides. Seven of the game's 22 goals were scored in player-up situations, including four of Team USA's first seven scores, which put the Wildcats in an early 7-0 hole.
"We talked about the pressure they were going to bring, but sometimes you don't realize it until you feel that pressure," Northwestern coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. "They have great kids top to bottom that have great fundamentals and they're always good at those little things. They're battling and they're battling together. They did a great job putting pressure on us and swarming us. We couldn't handle it in the beginning."
When asked what her team needs to work on during a post-game television interview, Amonte Hiller said, "ground balls." Just ground balls? "Pretty much." As they struggled to pick up loose balls and committed several costly turnovers, the Wildcats didn't sustain many extended possessions in the opening period.
But Northwestern settled in after intermission, playing to a 9-5 score in the second half and showing what makes them Lacrosse Magazine's preseason top-ranked team. Junior midfielders Amanda Macaluso and Erin Fitzgerald scored two goals apiece, and sophomore Kelly Rich tacked on one.
Thornton and Shannon Smith, both training with Team USA this weekend, played for Northwestern in Sunday's opener, then suited up for the red, white and blue and faced their current teammates in the second matchup. Thornton joked after the game, "I feel like I'm about on 'E' with the tank."
Thornton, though, was everywhere on the field — marking All-World attacker Munday, pushing the ball in transition, getting involved on the offensive end.
"She's just tenacious," Munday said. "You see her out there, she's always excited. She loves lacrosse, and she really goes out every single play at 100 percent. If you can do that, with her athleticism, it's a really good combination."
Munday's three assists Sunday gave her six helpers this weekend, four of which went through Dowd, who ended up scoring 13 combined goals in three games.
"Katrina is so quick and she's so athletic, and it's really hard to stop her," Munday said. "If you stop her one way, she's going to beat you another way. It's not like she has one thing in her arsenal, and she can really beat you a number of different ways. She's a really fun player to watch, and a really fun player to play with."
Players without ties to Northwestern contributed, too. Katie Rowan and Sarah Bullard added four and two goals, respectively for Team USA, which will see its 38-member roster trimmed to 24 shortly in preparation for the summer's tour in Canada. Fried said the coaching staff would hold a conference call within the next two days, and they'll inform the team of their decisions by the end of the week.
"It's going to be some really, really difficult decisions to make, and that's great problem to have as a coach. Difficult to do, but a great problem to have," Fried said. "We're going to be looking for the best dynamic. One of the biggest things we're going to focus on is decision-making. Not skills, necessarily, because they all have skills. Not athleticism. But who's making the right decision within the context of how we want to play, and that's going to be the biggest factor for us."
Friday, December 9, 2011
Show your love for team USA
US Lacrosse has announced the sites for the 2011-2012 U.S. women’s national senior team clinics. This season, the U.S. women’s national team will be offering 17 clinics in eight states. These unique educational sessions will be led by the 2011-2012 U.S. women’s national team, featuring members of the 2009 World Cup winning squad. National team clinics are hosted by US Lacrosse chapters and provide players in grades 3-12 the chance to learn from and connect with the sport’s most talented and engaging leaders.
2012
Jan. 7 – Birmingham, Ala. (Sicard Hollow Complex) G
Jan. 21 – Louisville, Ky. (Springhurst Sports Center)
Jan. 22 – Dix Hills, N.Y. (Half Hollow Hills HS)
Jan. 28 – Orlando, Fla. (ESPN Wide World of Sports) # G
G – Goalie Instruction available # – This clinic is held in conjunction with US Lacrosse’s annual Champion® Challenge event at ESPN Wide World of Sports. Participants will receive a free ticket ($29.00 value) to see the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams vs. Denver's men (NCAA semifinalist), Notre Dame’s men, Northwestern’s women (NCAA champion), Maryland’s women (NCAA runner-up), and England's national women's team. The entire U.S. women’s national senior team will participate in this clinic.
Champion Challenge Roaster Announced
BALTIMORE, Dec. 9, 2011 – US Lacrosse has announced the U.S. women’s senior teams rosters for the 2012 Champion Challenge, a US Lacrosse event. Both national teams will face off against top collegiate and international competition at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Jan. 27-29. The U.S. women’s national senior team will play the English women’s national team (Jan. 27), as well as the top two finishers in last year’s NCAA Division I tournament, the University of Maryland (Jan. 28) and national champion Northwestern University (Jan. 29). This will be the final training opportunity for the 38-player 2011-12 squad, led by head coach Ricky Fried (Georgetown University women’s head coach), before the roster is trimmed to 24 in preparation for a summer competition tour in Oshawa, Canada, host of the 2013 World Cup. Returners from the 2009 women’s team: Sarah Albrecht (Northwestern ’06), Sarah Bullard (Duke ’09), Amber Falcone (North Carolina ’09), Megan Huether (Duke ’06), Erica LaGrow (North Carolina ’08), Caitlyn McFadden (Maryland ’10), Holly McGarvie (Princeton ’09), Lindsey Munday (Northwestern ’06), Regina Oliver (Ohio State ’05), Katie Rowan (Syracuse ’09), Acacia Walker (Maryland ’05) and Devon Wills (Dartmouth ’06).
Several Team USA members on both the men’s and women’s sides bring Florida ties to this seventh annual exhibition event. While on the women’s side, Erica LaGrow and Caitlyn McFadden both serve as assistant coaches of the University of Florida women’s team.
Full U.S. women roster
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