truebluefan

BALTIMORE – The third annual US Lacrosse Champions Challenge, set for Jan. 26-27, 2008 near Orlando, has expanded to include both the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams programs. The U.S. national teams will play exhibition games against the Duke University men’s and women’s teams and the Johns Hopkins University women’s team at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.

On the women’s side of the competition the U.S. Elite and Developmental teams will each play Duke and Johns Hopkins. The U.S. Elite team includes two-time World Cup veteran Quinn Carney (Maryland) and former Tewaaraton Trophy winners Katie Chrest (Duke, 2005), Rachael Becker DeCecco (Princeton, 2003) and Kristen Kjellman (Northwestern, 2006, 2007). The 24-member U.S. Developmental team includes 17 current collegiate players, including Duke’s Jess Adam and Johns Hopkins’ Lauren Schwarzmann.

Duke is coming off a 16-4 season in which it advanced to the NCAA semifinals. The Blue Devils feature U.S. Elite team player Caroline Cryer, a finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy last year after setting a Duke record with 71 goals. Johns Hopkins went 12-8 last year, reaching the NCAA quarterfinals. Mary Key, a U.S. Elite team member, finished her Hopkins’ career with 383 points, third best in NCAA history.

The Champions Challenge will be the first competition for the U.S. men’s team since it finished as the runner-up to Canada in the 2006 International Lacrosse Federation World Championship. Among the players who have committed to play in the event are past Tewaaraton Trophy winners Doug Shanahan (Hofstra, 2002) and Kyle Harrison (Johns Hopkins, 2005) and 2007 Major League Lacrosse championship game MVP Matt Striebel, who led the Philadelphia Barrage to its third MLL championship in the last four years.

The Duke men’s team is coming off of a 17-3 season in which it reached the NCAA championship game for the second time in the last three years. Duke’s Matt Danowski was an alternate for the 2006 U.S. team, which also featured Duke graduate and former assistant coach Kevin Cassese.