SPARKS, Md. — More than four years after Tom Schreiber’s last-second goal gave the U.S. a thrilling 9-8 win over Canada in the 2018 world championship game in Israel, the U.S. men’s national team is closing in on the finish line for preparations for the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship in San Diego.

Head coach John Danowski, who led the U.S. to its 2018 championship, welcomes 52 players to the USA Lacrosse Fall Classic this weekend at USA Lacrosse headquarters, one of the final two evaluations before settling on the 23-man roster that will represent the United States at next summer’s world championship.

The evaluation begins with Friday’s night’s USA Men’s Showcase, a head-to-head showdown between the best players in the country — primarily Premier Lacrosse League stars with a few of the top current collegians mixed in. On Saturday, the U.S. men will split squads to play a pair of games against reigning NCAA champion Maryland.

The U.S. men’s games are part of the USA Lacrosse Fall Classic, which also features the U.S. women’s senior team and the USA Select U16 and U18 teams competing in the Brogden Cup.

• Fall Classic Ticket Information

Headlining the U.S. roster are seven gold medalists from the 2018 world championship, including MVP Michael Ehrhardt and All-World selections Rob Pannell and Schreiber. Other returning gold medalists are Trevor Baptiste (the 2022 PLL MVP), Jesse Bernhardt, Marcus Holman and Jack Kelly.

The U.S. training team roster also includes three other PLL major award winners from 2022 —Kyle Bernlohr (Goalie of the Year), JT Giles-Harris (Defender of the Year) and Danny Logan (Hard Hat Winner). Ehrhardt was the PLL’s Longstick Midfielder of the Year for the fourth straight season and Schreiber was the league’s Midfielder of the Year. Other recent PLL MVPs competing this weekend include Blaze Riorden (2021) and Matt Rambo (2019). There are six current collegians participating — Will Bowen (Georgetown), Sam Handley (Penn), Brennan O’Neill (Duke), Payton Rezanka (Loyola), Connor Shellenberger (Virginia) and Mike Sisselberger (Lehigh).

The U.S. men’s national team trains and plays using best-in-class products from Nike Lacrosse (apparel and footwear), DJO (sports bracing) and game-changing, high-performance equipment from Cascade Maverik.

In addition to these partners, Gatorade, MedStar Health, National Center for Safety Initiatives and Stryker are officials sponsors of the U.S. national team program. Team training is also aided by products from Athletic Republic.

The complete Fall Classic roster follows:

2023 U.S. Men's Training Team