Trio of former Carroll players invited to try out for US women’s national lacrosse team

Carroll County will see representation from a trio of women’s lacrosse players who were selected to participate in the official tryout for the U.S. women’s national team.

Century High School graduates Katie Haus (Maryland) and Alice Mercer (Maryland), and Manchester Valley alum Sami Chenoweth (Towson) are three of 50 players who received an invitation for the tryout at U.S. Lacrosse headquarters in Sparks from Dec. 4-6.

The world championship is set for July 1-17, 2021 at Towson University, the first time the event has been held in the United States since 2005. A record 30 nations are expected to compete in the championship, and the United States will try to do what no country has ever done — win the gold medal on home soil.

Haus and Mercer are two of 10 returning players on the tryout list who helped Team USA win the 2017 world championship in England. Haus was a member of the 2013 U.S. gold-medal winning team as well.

She earned two Times Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year awards playing at Century (she was Katie Schwarzmann back then).

“Every year since I’ve been in the U.S. Lacrosse system, the game has gotten so much faster and the players have gotten better,” said Mercer, the Times Player of the Year in 2012. “They’re really working to speed the game up and make it the fastest game on TV.”

The United States has won the last three World Lacrosse championships and has a record eight titles since the World Cup began in 1982.

Mercer, a defender, said December’s tryouts should give athletes in attendance a chance to experience just how fast the game is played on a national level.

“On the offensive end, that means quick ball movement, attacking from different spots on the offensive end of the field, great shots,” Mercer said. “On the defensive end, where I am, it’s fast-paced play in the sense of dictating what your attacker is going to do and dictating the tempo and speed of play on that end of the field.”

“I would expect that, hopefully, if I’m a part of the World Cup this summer, it would be nothing shy of that as well.”

Dreams coming true

Chenoweth, also a defender, graduated from Manchester Valley in 2016 and was a pivotal player for the Mavericks. She earned three first-team all-county selections with Man Valley. The Towson senior emerged as one of the nation’s top defenders entering the 2020 season before the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the cancellation of sports.

She led the nation in caused turnovers last season and was named to the 2020 Tewaaraton Award Watch List.

In March, the NCAA voted to allow schools to provide spring-sport athletes an additional season of competition and an extension of their period of eligibility. Chenoweth said she took this as an opportunity to remain focused on her fitness.

“It’s kind of what kept me sane through all of this, focusing on exercise and bettering myself, both mentally and physically,” Chenoweth said. “It’s been really hard during this crazy COVID year, but I’ve also been getting that extra time to spend with my family and I wouldn’t have gotten that if we had still continued our season and school year.”

Chenoweth resumed workouts with her Towson teammates Sept. 28 and joined a boxing gym in Towson as well. She also got involved with CrossFit to relieve additional impact on her shins.

Two weeks ago, Chenoweth was sitting in bed at 11 p.m., scrolling through her email notifications, when she discovered one from U.S. Lacrosse notifying her that she had been invited to try out women’s national team.

“This is something I’ve always wanted to do ever since I was younger,” Chenoweth said. “It would be so cool to be a part of the U.S. team and now it feels like it’s sort of becoming a reality.”

Carroll connections

Mercer is a full-time school counselor in Potomac and coaches a Capital Lacrosse Club team as well. The pandemic eliminated all chances for Mercer to hold in-person practices with her players, so she started hosting practices and training sessions over Zoom.

Mercer was able to get her players outside in small groups when fields opened in July and said coaching them has been rewarding, especially since she could not play or practice for anything related to U.S. lacrosse because of the pandemic.

This is the first year in which an application process was used to select players for the final tryout.

“This is extremely special for me, when you come from a place like Carroll County,” Mercer said. “I looked up to [Haus] and I had the privilege of playing with her since I went to college and being on this team together. She’s someone I’ve looked up to for as far as I can remember.”

For Chenoweth, it’s her first time experiencing this tryout at the national level.

“Lacrosse is what Carroll County is known for and now, just being able to represent it in a bigger way, I never thought I would be invited to tryouts,” Chenoweth said. “When I got to college, it’s like ‘Oh, you’re one of the best players in Carroll County,’ and then you get to college and you’re a really good college lacrosse player.

“Now, you’re one of the top 50 people in the country, and I still don’t think it’s set in yet.”