Men's Lacrosse Southern Conference

Furman's Meade to Coach Team USA at World Championship

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Furman men’s lacrosse head coach Richie Meade is set to lead Team USA into World Championship play later this week as the head coach for the American squad.

Meade will guide the United States through the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Men’s World Championship, presented by Trusted Choice, which takes place July 10-19 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., the “Official Competition City” for the world championship.

“We’re very humbled to represent our country and endeavor to do so to the best of our collective ability,” said Meade after announcing the 23-man USA roster on June 30.

A record 38 nations will participate in this year’s world championship and will play 142 games over 10 days, beginning with a rematch of the last world championship game. The event opens on Thursday, July 10, with the opening ceremony at 5 p.m., followed by the host United States team battling Canada. The U.S. beat Canada, 12-10, in the 2010 world championship in Manchester, England.

The field is broken into nine divisions, with the top six teams, including Meade’s USA squad, competing in the Blue Division. The other eight divisions all have four teams and are not grouped by world ranking.

The Blue Division has six days of pool play (July 10-15) and the top four teams in the Blue Division advance to the quarterfinal round. The top two seeds receive byes into the semifinals. The other eight divisions have three pool-play games and will begin bracket play on July 14. The top team in each of the eight divisions after pool play will have the opportunity to advance to the quarterfinal round of the championship bracket.

This is the first time the quadrennial FIL Men’s World Championship has been held in the United States since 1998, when it was played in Baltimore, Md.

All five of Team USA’s pool-play games will be shown on ESPNU, including the event’s pool-play opener against Canada at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, July 10, on ESPN2. Click here to see ESPN’s full World Championship broadcast schedule.