CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The storyline when Team USA plays in the Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game every four years doesn't change. The U.S. team faces a talented, hungry squad of players that were often bypassed in the Team USA process.
That played out again on Thursday night before a crowd of 6,589 fans at Harvard Stadium when the MLL All-Stars staged a stunning comeback on the backs of players that participated in the U.S. tryouts to win 15-14 in overtime.
The MLL All-Stars led 8-7 at halftime, but then went scoreless for the first 24 minutes of the second half as the U.S. scored seven straight goals to open up a 14-8 lead.
The comeback began innocently enough. Defenseman Michael Manley, who played under U.S. team head coach John Danowski at Duke and for the U.S. training team, picked up the ball and went the length of the field under tremendous pressure and a string of checks from U.S. midfielder Paul Rabil, but still found the back of the net while drawing a slashing penalty with 5:55 to play.
Connor Buczek, a former U.S. U19 gold medal winner who was on the final U.S. training team roster, made the U.S. pay, burying an outside shot on the extra man to cut it to 14-10 with 5:23 left.
Things began to get interesting a minute later. U.S. defenseman Jesse Bernhardt made a nice interception, but the U.S. turned it over on the clear and the MLL's Mike Chanenchuk, another U.S. training team member, picked up the loose ball and ripped home a 2-pointer to cut the lead to 14-12 with 4:04 left.
Joe Nardella won the next faceoff for the MLL All-Stars and Kevin Rice connected on an outside shot for his third goal of the game to trim the lead to 14-13 with 2:54 left.
Trevor Baptiste won the ensuing faceoff for the U.S. and Matt Kavanagh got a good look inside, but Kyle Bernlohr came up with a big save, his 10th of the half. However, the U.S. maintained possession off of the save with about 1:25 to play and a fresh 60-second shot clock.
As the shot clock wound down, the U.S. committed a turnover to give the MLL All-Stars a final chance with 23.6 seconds left.
Buczek was up to the challenge, getting past his man on the dodge and slipping inside the sliding defender to tie the game and send it to overtime.
"I was just glad to see it hit the back of the net," Buczek said. "If that hits a foot or a shoulder whatever, you're going home on the wrong side of things."