Oct. 3, 2005

As John Desko straddled sidelines, and his 2006 U.S. Men's Team served a licking to his 2006 Syracuse men's team, the reality bit - fall ball is hardly premonition.

Perhaps more so than Desko, his U.S. players realized that, as their first efforts to mesh at the Price Modern Lacrosse for Leukemia charity event - held Saturday at St. Paul's School in Baltimore, Md. - fell widely under the guise of improvisation.

When Joe Walters, the team's only player currently in college (Maryland), was asked if the team had any semblance of a set offense, he said: "Yeah - a 3-3 and get out of each other's way."

Truth is, with what appears to be a 23-person composition of innovators, the team which debuts next summer at the 2006 International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) World Championships in Ontario, Canada, might never resemble the product of a dry erase board. And that's OK by Desko, who for seven seasons as the head coach at Syracuse has had to deal with the oft-combustible talent that typifies lacrosse there.

Desko said as much before tryouts in June. "Trying to mesh those talents and personalities together will be very intense," he said.

For soothsayers' sake, it seemed at first glance that Desko was partial to certain player combinations.

Pat McCabe, whom Desko regarded earlier as a likely candidate for team captain, anchored the close defense regularly alongside Nick Polanco and Ryan Curtis - with John Gagliardi subbing. Kyle Sweeney and Christian Cook ran as long-stick midfielders.

At midfield, Kyle Harrison and Jay Jalbert saw plenty of time together. At different times as the U.S. scrimmaged Syracuse, Loyola and Johns Hopkins, the U.S. experimented with different midfield combinations: A.J. Haugen, Kevin Cassese and Matt Striebel; or Haugen, Cassese and Roy Colsey; or Doug Shanahan, Blake Miller and Casey Powell; or Striebel, Miller and Mike Powell.

It's about as clear as a crapshoot.

And at attack, the all-Powell blend might be too tempting to pass up. Casey, wearing the vaunted No. 22, played alongside brothers Ryan and Mike sparingly in the tournament. But they were not necessarily the most productive trio. Walters, a proven finisher, teamed with fellow lefty Scott Urick and feeder Ryan Powell for an impressive display. Against Syracuse alone, Urick had four goals, Walters had two and Powell set up nearly every one of them.

Chris Garrity and Trevor Tierney split time at goalkeeper. Tierney said the defense might even be too good, from a goalie's perspective.

"You can't complain about the defense we have here, but as a goalkeeper, you've got to get used to seeing one shot every 10 minutes," said Tierney, the starting goalkeeper and one of seven returnees of the 2002 ILF games. "When we're playing in the MLL [professional league of which 21 U.S. players belong], these guys are used to adjusting on the fly."

The most difficult adjustment at Lacrosse for Leukemia? New sticks.

Players were provided with all new equipment courtesy of STX, the official sponsor of the 2006 U.S. Men's Team. So, as is the case with breaking in any new threads, there were some errant throws and off-the-mark shots.

Safely, they can say, do not expect that come July.