NETANYA, Israel - Four Rutgers men's lacrosse alumni represented the program on the international stage this month, as the World Lacrosse Championships were held in Israel from July 12-21. Two recent alumni played in the event (Scott Bieda - Team Puerto Rico and
Christian Scarpello - Team England), while two alumni were coaches (John Danowski - Head Coach, Team USA and Kris Alleyne - Assistant Coach, Team Puerto Rico).
Danowski, a 1976 graduate of Rutgers, who was a four-year letterman on attack and three-time recipient of the Sasser Trophy, led Team USA in the event to a gold medal. The U.S. defeated Canada 9-8 in the Championship in dramatic fashion to ensure the country's 10th overall championship.
"This is my first experience in international play, and it's just incredible," Danowski said following the game. "The two games with Canada, so much emotion. So many great plays, so many great players. It was intense from beginning to end. It's a shame one team has to lose. The Canadian team played so well. But in the end we made one more play."
Scarpello led Team England to a fifth place finish. The 2018 Rutgers graduate had a team-high four points in an 11-9 comeback victory over Japan to clinch 5th place, and finished the event with six goals and five assists for 11 points, as well as five ground balls in eight games.
Behind Bieda and Alleyne, Team Puerto Rico made a successful debut at the FIL Championships, finishing in 8th place. Bieda, the 2016 Big Ten Offensive Player of the year at RU, was one of the leading attackmen for Puerto Rico with 8 goals and 10 assists for 18 points over eight games. After finishing his Rutgers career sixth all-time in assists and as a three-time Sasser Trophy winner, Bieda led Team Puerto Rico in the category. Alleyne, who finished his RU career with 545 saves helped guide Team Puerto Rico as an assistant coach, serving as a mentor to the team's goalkeepers.
"It was really an awesome experience," Alleyne said. "I've known the Puerto Rico Head Coach Jeff Ramos since I was a kid, so I have to thank him for the opportunity. It was really a once in a lifetime chance to coach against top talent out there. We only had two real practices as a full team before leaving for Israel, so to be able to get everyone together and have the success out there that we did was really great to see."
Alleyne and Bieda were teammates On the Banks for four years from 2013-2016. The pair reunited on the international stage with great success.
"The best part for me was having Scott out there with me," Alleyne said. We actually roomed together, so it was awesome to have a familiar face around on the sideline and having that comfort."
Rutgers had numerous other representative present at the event, including former head coach Tom Hayes (FIL Olympic Vision Director), Bob DeMarco (Director of FIL Development), current BTN Plus broadcaster Rick Mercurio (FIL Development Chair), and alumni Brendan Porter as the event helped to grow the game of lacrosse internationally.
"There was such incredible comradery at the event," Alleyne explained. "Everyone was handing out there together in this vendor village, we got to meet people from Spain, Luxemburg, all over the world. We got to face Scarpello in one game, he played really well against us and really throughout the tournament, so that was great to see. His dad was actually also there in our pool as the coach of Bermuda. There was just so many connections from throughout the lacrosse world that whole week."
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