For the U.S. women’s national lacrosse team, Disney World came first. The team, and its alternates, were selected in February at Disney World. They did not meet again until June, in anticipation of the Women’s World Cup, which was held in Prague.
(From InsideLacrosse.com Blog) Members of the winning team in the NFL Super Bowl used to be filmed for a commercial in the hectic seconds after the game. They would look into the camera and say, to an unseen announcer asking how they were planning on celebrating, “I’m going to Disney World!”
The team included six members who were playing in college at the time, plus several others with non-lacrosse jobs. The message from coach Sue Heether was clear: Those on the 18-person roster who did not stay in shape would be replaced by an alternate.
When the team re-formed in June, none of the 18 was out of shape.
That strong sign of intent was the foundation for the U.S. to regain the trophy following an 8-7 victory over Australia in the championship game. In 2005, Australia had won the trophy.
“This was a truly amazing experience,” says U.S. midfielder Caitlyn McFadden. “The Czech lacrosse team put on a great event and I couldn’t be more proud to wear the red, white, and blue, win the gold and play with all my teammates and coaches.”
Heether credited team captain Michelle DuJuliis, an assistant at Princeton, with designing the workouts.
DeJuliis “and a few other people put in place some fabulous cardio and weight training programs which they were expected to follow along individually in their own towns, with their own college teams in-between their own practices, or jobs,” Heether says.
International rules of the World Cup only allow 18 players on each team. Heether, in her first World Cup as head coach, put three attacks, three defenders and two goalkeepers, leaving the final 10 spots to two five-player midfield lines, nicknamed “Freedom” and “Liberty.”
This team was also much younger than most; it averaged about 26 years of age. Some interesting players included Sarah Bullard, 20, the youngest player on the team. Also there were the “Purple People:” former Northwestern players Kristen Kjellman, Sarah Albrecht and Lindsay Munday.
“We’ve been training for a long time to be part of this program,” says defender Amber Falcone. “We’ve all been working hard for the offseason from February until June to get ourselves in shape.”
The team was the first to arrive in Prague, and thanks to the Prague Cup victory in 2008, Heether and most of the team were familiar with the area.
Games were not simple. The team had to play seven games in 10 days.
Heether would be up at 6 a.m. getting ready for the games, which she called her “free time.” After breakfast, the team would have a meeting for the game. Though the team did occasionally have Czech food, including salty pancakes, food was not a great issue; the team enjoyed the numerous Italian restaurants in Prague.
“They are some of the best pizzerias and Italian restaurants I’ve visited in the world,” says Heether.
Also in the middle of Prague was a Hard Rock Café, which the team visited with their parents; in all 120 people according to Falcone. A lot of food supplies were also brought in, including cereal and energy bars.
Before games, the team did the usual pump-up music, rituals plus one more quick team meeting. The team also took five minutes before the warmup for meditation led by midfielder Acacia Walker.
The team would warm up on a different field from the field they would play the game on. After the game, Heether would have team spend around two to three hours doing recovery work, then the next day would come and the whole process would be repeated.
As the games began, Team USA ran into two very strong teams, England and Canada. Thanks to their conditioning before the Cup, they were able to keep running throughout the games, which gave them big success particularly on the second half scoreboard.
After winning their first three games, the first rematch with team Australia began.
The Aussies had a number of stars on their squad, including Jen Adams, two-time Tewaaraton winner Hannah Nielsen, Stacey Morlang, Sarah Mollison and eventual “Best Goalie” of the tournament Sue McSolvin, who was in her fifth World Cup.
Australia led by five goals at halftime.
“The one thing we learned is that no matter what we’ve got each other’s back. I don’t think there was ever a huge moment of panic from the players,” Heether says, who said that the team did nothing wrong, instead that some personnel decisions that were made could have been better.
The team rallied to win, 10-9. But what seemed to be the inevitable happened, as the U.S. and Australia would meet in the championship game. The US defeated England in the rematch while Australia had a very close game against eventual 3rd-place Canada.
In the final, the game was tied at halftime. To start the second half, however, Team USA scored four straight, and after an exchange of goals, the U.S. was up 8-4. Falcone’s defense would be tested, and she personally had to deal with Nielsen, her friend and rival. Australia would make a valiant comeback, but it fell just short.
“We were all still confident that we were going to win that game and pull it out. We were looking at the clock a little bit, but I think we knew we had it,” says McFadden.
Despite an entirely new team, new coaches, and different place, team USA took the gold in the 2009 World Cup.
They finished 7-0 including taking the two one-goal victories from Australia, giving the edge to team USA record-wise 7-6-1 since the 1982 World Cup. Falcone would be named the “Best Defender” of the tournament. Munday, Caroline Cryer and Katie Rowan each ended the tournament with more than 30 points.
(Thanks to Coach Sue Heether, midfielder Caitlyn McFadden, and defender Amber Falcone for sharing their stories of the World Cup.)
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