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NLL PLAYERS REFLECT ON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

NLL stars among world's best in FIL World Championships

07/26/2010

FIL World Championships Player Reactions

By Neil Stevens, with additional quotes from Inside Lacrosse Online, and additional editing by Kindu Jones for NLL.com

The United States jumped to an early lead, relinquished it briefly in the fourth quarter, then scored the last three goals to defeat Canada 12-10 and win back the world field lacrosse championship Saturday in Manchester, England.

Tournament MVP Paul Rabil (Washington Stealth) scored three goals to pace the American attack. "It's an unbelievable feeling. I feel like we've had a lot of pressure that the weight of the country was on our shoulders", said Rabil, in post game interviews conducted by Inside Lacrosse and posted on the InsideLacrosse.tv website.

John Grant (Rochester Knighthawks) fired in three for Canada, which had edged the U.S. team 10-9 in the first round.

The Americans scored the first three goals and led 3-2 after one quarter and 8-4 at halftime. It was 8-8 going into the fourth quarter and a goal by Grant put Canada up 10-9.

Everybody knew it would be a close game, said Team Canada's Shawn Williams, a forward for the Rochester Knighthawks. "They (USA) scored the last two goals and that was basically it," he said. ``It was ours for the taking. Both teams played awesome. It was definitely fun to be part of."

"It was a hard-fought game that could have gone either way", said Canadian defender Brodie Merrill (Edmonton Rush). "It seemed like whoever was going to get possession last with the lead was going to win," he said.

The Americans passed the ball around endlessly to kill time in the last five minutes. "In the international game you can really eat away at the clock," said Merrill. "We got some tough calls down the stretch and we just weren't able to get the ball back. We felt we had some momentum going into the fourth quarter, but all credit to them. They hung in there and responded. It's tough to take right now because we feel like this is a championship team. They were the better team today but I'm awful proud of our guys and I'm proud to be a Canadian."

Zack Greer (Minnesota Swarm) added two goals for Canada and Mark Steenhuis (Buffalo Bandits), Shawn Williams (Rochester Knighthawks), Garrett Billings (Toronto Rock) and Kevin Huntley (Philadelphia Wings) had one each.

"This is huge, we put a lot of time and effort in to this experience. You never thought you would see the day of being in the championship game. I have been saying all along that it's about forming the ultimate team come the championship game and I felt we were there today", said Team USA and Edmonton Rush forward Ryan Powell. Team USA and Philadelphia Wings defenseman Shawn Nadelen had his thoughts before receiving a gold medal by stating "You can't describe it. It's something that you think about at six or seven year's old playing wall ball. You work so hard to get to this point from high school, college, and the pro ranks. The emotions are running wild and this is just an unbelievable experience."

Canada won the title in 2006 for the first time in 28 years in an upset over the U.S. and the U.S. was determined to get it back. This was their ninth triumph in 11 tournaments.

Chris Sanderson a former Philadelphia Wings goaltender and assistant coach, who will resume chemotherapy sessions upon returning home in his ongoing battle against cancer, was named the tournament's top goalie. Losing the final wasn't the way the 36-year-old goalie wanted the tournament to end.

"We just ran out of time," said Sanderson. "We were a little tentative when we came out today and then we got into our rhythm. In the second half, I felt everything was going our way. Took a couple of penalties and they made some plays on a couple of ground balls that we typically battle for and win the battle."

Sanderson continued, "They (Team USA) deserved it. They played great. Obviously, I'm really proud of our guys. We had a great tournament. It's hard to take the jersey off right now."

Team USA goaltender Brian Dougherty said he couldn't find enough words to describe his admiration for Sanderson's determination in life and in lacrosse. "Playing an opponent, you don't want to like him," said Dougherty. "You want to find ways to not like him to get yourself motivated. But what are you going to say about Chris Sanderson? He's battled back so far, and he played his you-know-what off today. Keep battlin' Chris. I can't say enough about him."

In addition to winning the silver, Team Canada players won some of the individual awards of the tournament. Grant was named top attacker and Merrill top defenseman in the tournament.