SPARKS, Md. — USA Lacrosse has named Steven Brooks, Mark Glicini, Michael Gongas and Drew Snider as the boys’ coaches for the 2023 USA Select teams. Brooks and Snider will coach the U18 team and Glicini and Gongas will coach the U16 team.

SPARKS, Md. — The journey to wearing red, white and blue begins now.

USA Lacrosse has announced the regional tryout dates and locations for the 2023 National Team Development Program (NTDP). The NTDP is a three-step process for high school boys’ and girls’ lacrosse players that will ultimately end with 88 players being named to one of four USA Select teams that will play against international competition during the USA Lacrosse Fall Classic in October.

Natnael Menbere is proof that you don’t have to fit a certain mold to play lacrosse. All you need is opportunity.

Born in Ethiopia, Menbere immigrated to the United States at age five and discovered the unfamiliar sport of lacrosse while in the third grade.

“At first, I thought it was cricket, and I didn’t want to play,” Menbere said. “But once I understood the game, I fell in love with it.”

Now a sophomore at Seattle Preparatory, Menbere has emerged as one of the best high school players in the Pacific Northwest.

SPARKS, Md. — Colorado produced three integral pieces of the USA Select U18 women’s team that took to Tierney Field on Sunday morning to fight for the Brogden Cup.

Attacker Camille Johnson picked up the game in Boulder, while defender Samantha Hughes (Castle Rock) and goalie Betty Nelson (Littleton) honed their craft in the Denver area.

Once club rivals in a blossoming Colorado lacrosse scene — Hughes and Nelson play for 3D Colorado and Johnson for Team 180 — the trio got the chance to represent their state, and country, as part of the U18 USA Select team.

SPARKS, Md. — In between games of the Brogden Cup action at the USA Lacrosse Fall Classic on Sunday afternoon, Todd Rassas pulled up a picture on his phone. In the picture, the two-time USA defenseman is holding a young toddler — his daughter Madison.

On Sunday, Madison Rassas was the one wearing the USA uniform. She helped the USA Select U16 team complete a perfect 4-0 weekend by scoring hat tricks in both of Sunday’s games, an 8-2 victory over Team Ontario and a 13-1 victory over the Haudenosaunee Nationals.

SPARKS, Md. — Brock Behrman added to the storied history of the U.S.-Canada lacrosse rivalry Saturday, netting an overtime winner against Team Ontario in the Brogden Cup. Indicative of the rivalry’s recent back-and-forth swing, Ontario got the best of the USA Select U18 boys’ team on Sunday morning at USA Lacrosse headquarters.

Both the U.S. and Ontario finished 3-1 in the three-day event — a showcase of future border bouts to come.

SPARKS, Md. — Will Chiasson threw a one-handed wrap check riding back on Hunter Lubiniecki that dislodged both stick and ball from the Team Ontario midfielder. He scooped the ball from the Tierney Field turf, lobbed it up the field and sprinted to the substitution box.

“Phew,” he said, breathless as he moved through the line of outstretched gloves ready to compliment him on his gritty play. “I did not think I was gonna land that.”

The next generation of USA men’s lacrosse players proved that the Americans will be a force on the global stage for years to come during Brogden Cup play Saturday. The USA Select U16 and U18 teams went a combined 4-0, with each squad scoring wins over the Haudenosaunee and Ontario.

USA U18 topped the Haudenosaunee Nationals 16-3 before edging Ontario 9-8 in overtime. Brock Behrman (Salisbury School ‘23/Notre Dame) netted the overtime winner as part of a six-goal day.

Much has been made about how this weekend marked a “changing of the guard” for the U.S. women’s national team with Taylor Cummings, Kayla Treanor and Alice Mercer retiring. The American senior team downed North Carolina in the Fall Classic, but the USA Select U16 and U18 teams showed the long-term future is also bright. Both teams topped their peers from the Haudenosaunee and Ontario Saturday, combining for a 4-0 record in the Brogden Cup.