July 13, 2006

Washington, D.C. - Former Georgetown University men's lacrosse player, and current Hoya assistant coach, Scott Urick has played in a lot of big games. Urick helped lead the Hoyas to the 1999 Final Four and to several NCAA tournament appearances. He is also playing his fifth season for the New Jersey Pride in the Major League Lacrosse.

One thing Urick has never done, however, is play for his country. He, along with two other former Hoya men's lacrosse players, will get the chance this weekend when they will participate in the World Lacrosse Championships, being held in London, Ontario, Canada. The World Championship starts on Friday, July 14 and runs through Saturday, July 22.

Urick will play for the United States National Team, joined by former Hoya All-American Kyle Sweeney. They will be joined at the tournament by another former Georgetown All-American, Brodie Merrill, who will be playing for the Canadian National Team.

Urick and his American teammates left for Canada on Wednesday after a series of exhibition games. "It's unbelievable, it's really a special feeling," Urick said over the phone from Canada, where he was readying for a pre-tournament banquet. "It's an honor just to represent our country. We were up in Syracuse for a game on the Fourth and came up on that fact.

"It's Independence Day and here we are, wearing the Red, White and Blue. We took a moment as a team to reflect on how fortunate we are and to think of the soldiers overseas who are fighting for this country. You have to keep things in perspective and we're playing a game, but it's very special."

This is the first appearance on the national team for Urick and Sweeney. Urick was a senior in 2000 and team up with Sweeney for one year before coaching him his final three years. The first year there was a national team, Urick was not able to participate because he was playing for the New Jersey team in the MLL. The league and United States Lacrosse, however, made arrangements this year to have the professional players available. Urick and Sweeney were among a group of players from across the United States who tried out last summer and were selected to the 24-man roster.

"In our sport, it's by far the marquee team," Urick said. "If you want to look back on your career and really show you were among the best, I don't know that there's a better way than to say you were on the national team. The tryouts last year were a who's who of lacrosse. This is the pinnacle of everyone's career."

Urick just completed his fifth season as an assistant coach for the Hoyas, where he has helped lead the team to the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament the last five years and in eight of the last nine. "We're pretty proud of that as a program," Urick said. "Having Georgetown's name attached to the national team is an accomplishment. To have my name, Kyle's name and Brodie's name too, any time you can get Georgetown with the upper echelon, it can have an impact."

One thing Urick is sure will happen this weekend is that he'll be going head-to-head with Merrill, who he coached the last four years. "We'll play them this weekend at some point," Urick said. "It'll be weird. I couldn't have more respect for him. He's a great kid, a great athlete and it wouldn't surprise me if he's the best defender in the world. But it certainly doesn't mean I'm not going to go hard against him and get my goals. And he won't pull any punches either. It'll be no-holds-barred when we play, but we'll be the best of friends afterward."

The United States opens play on Friday at 12:30 p.m., playing against Japan. Canada opens against England on Friday at 7:30 p.m.