U20 National Team Ties, Eyes on Goalies at U15 Girls' Combine

SPARKS, Md. — More than 100 of the nation’s premier youth players showcased their skills at the inaugural USA Lacrosse U15 Girls’ National Team Development Program Combine this week at Tierney Field.

The 108-player field, representing 14 states and Washington, D.C., competed for a shot to represent the United States during the Rivalry Challenge this fall against Lacrosse Canada. Head coach Darcy Messina and her staff of coaches and talent evaluators took on the task of narrowing down the star-studded list of invitees to a 24-player roster.

Eight National Team Development Program alumni — Shea Baker, Shea Dolce, Brigid Duffy, Kori Edmondson, Sam Forrest, Chloe Humphrey, Emma LoPinto and Emma Muchnick — are on the U.S. Women’s National Team roster for this summer’s world championship in Tokyo.

The pipeline is real, and there’s a clear goal in site for this next generation.

U20 TIES

For as long as she can remember, Megan Nadelen has spent large chunks of the spring watching her father, Shawn Nadelen, coach the men’s program at Towson. After all, he took the Tigers head coaching job six months before she was born.

Fast forward almost 15 years, and Megan is now taking part in a similar national team process to her father, a defenseman on the 2010 U.S. men’s team that captured a gold medal in Manchester, England.

“It’s definitely full circle, and it’s going to be good dinnertime talk,” she said. “It’s really cool to see. And we’ve definitely exchanged back and forth of what to expect, things to really show and qualities I need to put out there. It’s just really cool to be in that same moment that he was.”

In addition to his U.S. playing career, Nadelen served as the head coach for the U.S. Men’s U20 National Team that was awarded a silver medal at the 2025 World Men’s Lacrosse Championship in South Korea.

The combine’s invitees included several family ties to that U20 roster. Vivienne Speidell and Alexa Raio both watched their relatives carve out roles on the 22-player squad. Speidell’s older brother, Jack — an attackman at Harvard — recorded a team-high 31 points and earned a spot on the All-World team.

“It’s an amazing opportunity in the first place, and it’s just great that I got to see my brother go through it first,” Speidell said. “Now, I’m able to experience it. To be able to see all these amazing athletes out here, play with them and grow connections, it’s an honor. Especially, just to wear USA across my chest.”

Raio, whose cousin, Anthony Raio, broke the Long Island high school goalscoring record before lining up at midfield for the U.S. last summer, looks to become the latest in a lacrosse-laden family to carve out a legacy in the sport.

The attacker said speed defined the combine’s sessions.

“I feel really proud to represent my country, and knowing that my cousin did it, it’s going to be cool for us both to be doing it and going through it,” Raio said. “Everything’s really fast-paced, and you really have to compete.”

EMERGING AREAS

Reese Walter made an immediate impression when she jogged onto Tierney Field on Monday morning donning pink cleats and bright green socks. (Tuesday, she wore bright green cleats to match the socks.) Soon, Walter captured the combine evaluators’ full attention when she won the yo-yo test — an evaluation of aerobic endurance that kicked off the week’s combine.

“A lot of it’s mental,” Walter said. “Your body tells you that you’re tired and that you’re done, but you gotta keep mentally pushing because there’s always more left.”

While the traditional hotbed states accounted for a significant contingent of the combine’s invitees, Walter hails from an emerging lacrosse area in California that continues to produce elite-caliber players.

“It makes me feel proud for representing my hometown of San Diego,” Walter said. “Even though I don’t live on the East Coast, I can still bring it and show these girls what I got.”

Caroline Taglienti, the lone Georgia native invited to the combine, watched her older sister Eleanor Taglienti earn a spot on the U15 Youth National Team last fall.

A year later, the younger Taglienti knows she’s playing for more than herself. She said the chance to compete for the U.S. would be “the best feeling in the world.”

“I just like to prove myself to other girls that I can represent my team well; I can do well and represent the South,” Taglienti said. “Just prove to everybody that the South is also good. My sister did it last year, and I just want to prove that I can do it, too.”

Texas, Oregon, Washington and Ohio were among the list of emerging lacrosse states represented in the field. Throughout the event, players from across the country shed their club and high school allegiances and forged connections with their fellow combine participants.

“It’s amazing to see what everyone has worked up to, what other people outside of Maryland can accomplish and the talent they just bring all around,” Nadelen said. “Everyone’s making each other better, and it’s really cool to see.”

EYES ON THE GOALIES

Two days after playing in her final WLL regular-season game of the summer at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, New York Charging goalie Madison Doucette stepped back into the action at USA Lacrosse headquarters.

This time, Doucette traded her helmet and gloves for a clipboard. Doucette, who will serve as an assistant coach on the U15 squad this fall, said the combine’s talent at the goalie position has been off the charts.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to get recruited against them,” Doucette said. “They look great, making some crazy saves, doing really well on their clearing. We’ll be on them about discipline, and it’s fun to only really have seven of them to focus on and really expect the best from.”

The coaching staff and evaluators watched the day one jitters dissipate and the communication levels rise as sessions progressed.

Amid a process that includes on-field sessions, off-field panels, mental performance training and a recruiting seminar, the job of assembling a roster extends far beyond the playing field.

“There’s the X’s and O’s, obviously you want the girls that are fast, powerful, strong, good with their sticks,” Doucette said. “Then, there’s the intangibles: how they’re interacting with their teammates, with the staff. Are they picking up balls at the end of the day? Are they doing the right things, encouraging each other? That’s what correlates to being the best players they can.”

As she pondered the significance of holding the first-ever U15 National Team Development Program Combine, Doucette thought back to her experiences in the youth hockey circuit.

She was selected to participate in a national team ice hockey combine at the same age group and considers this week’s event a marker of progress in growing the game of lacrosse.

“We need to make sure these girls know what it looks like to wear the red, white and blue young — and develop,” Doucette said. “This is just a snapshot in their career, but it’s a great building block.

“If they can take the lessons they learn here back to their club teams, no matter what the decision is, and instill what we expect from them to the others, we’re only going to get better as a whole federation.”