BALTIMORE – US Lacrosse has announced that Army’s Joe Alberici, the Philadelphia Barrage’s Tony Resch and Stony Brook University’s Rick Sowell will serve as the assistant coaches for the U.S. men’s lacrosse team that will compete in the 2010 Federation of International Lacrosse World Championship in Manchester, England. The trio will work with Bryant University’s Mike Pressler, who was named the head coach of the team in September.

"I think we have three quality guys and I’m very pleased with the [coaches selection] committee’s decision and who they choose from a quality pool of candidates," said Pressler. "I think we’re going to have great camaraderie, and they’re all committed to doing whatever it takes."

Alberici, the head coach at Army for the last three seasons, was an assistant under Pressler at Duke University from 1997 to 2005. Army finished the 2008 season ranked 19th in the country and defeated rival Navy for the first time in 11 seasons to earn a share of the Patriot League regular-season championship. Alberici’s 2007 team was the first Army team to beat Syracuse in 23 years and his 2006 team finished No. 20 in the country. Prior to his tenure at Duke, Alberici served as an assistant coach at Army, the head coach at Oneonta State and a graduate assistant at Alfred University. He is a 1991 graduate of Alfred where he was a two-time All-American for the Saxons.

Resch has been the head coach for Major League Lacrosse’s Philadelphia Barrage since 2005 and also is the director of athletics at LaSalle College (Pa.) High School. He won MLL championships with the Barrage in 2006 and 2007 and also won four National Lacrosse League championships as the head coach of the Philadelphia Wings from 1994 to 2001. A member of the 1990 U.S. team that won the world championship in Perth, Australia, Resch is a 1985 graduate of Yale University where he was a two-time All-American and three-time All-Ivy League player.

Sowell is entering his third season as the head coach at Stony Brook where he has gone 15-12 in his first two seasons. Sowell previously served as the head coach for St. John’s University and Dartmouth College. At St. John’s he built the foundation for the reinstatement of the varsity program and was the head coach for one year. At Dartmouth, he led the Big Green to a share of the Ivy League title in 2003, the school’s first since 1965. Sowell also had a successful run as an assistant coach at Georgetown. Sowell is a 1985 graduate of Washington College. He was a two-time All-American with the Shoremen, earning Division III midfielder of the year honors in his senior year.

In addition to the assistant coach positions, several other staff appointments were made. Paul Cantabene will serve as a consultant to the coaching staff, focusing on the faceoff component of play. Cantabene, the head coach at Stevenson University, was an alternate for the 2006 U.S. men’s team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest faceoff specialists ever, having set MLL career wins and winning percentage records while helping his teams to three league championships. He’s a 1993 graduate of Loyola College where he earned All-America honors.

Also named to the staff were assistant general managers Jimmy Butler (East Patchogue, N.Y.) and John Jez (Ossining, N.Y.), and head athletic trainer Anthony Ortolano (East Nassau, N.Y.). All three served on the staff of the 2006 U.S. team as well.

The U.S. is looking to reclaim the top spot in international lacrosse after losing to Canada, 15-10, in the 2006 world championship game. The loss snapped a 38-game winning streak in international competition and denied the U.S. the gold medal for the first time since 1978. The U.S. has won seven of the nine international world championships conducted since 1974.

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US Lacrosse, a 501(c)(3) corporation, is the national governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse. US Lacrosse has more than 260,000 members around the country. To learn more about the organization, please visit its Web site at www.uslacrosse.org.