Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Four Flames, Zumpano to support Men’s World Lacrosse Championships in San Diego
6/9/2023 5:18:51 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Four members of Liberty University’s men’s lacrosse team will join FCA Lacrosse to play on Team Serve, which will scrimmage against and practice with teams at the Men’s World Lacrosse Championships set for June 21-July 1 in San Diego, Calif. The tournament will bring the top 30 men’s lacrosse national teams from around the world to play more than 100 games over 11 days.
Graduate attack Mark Rolewicz, senior defender Bryn Jungles, junior defender Benjamin Chun, and sophomore midfielder Shane Supek will be accompanied by Flames Assistant Coach Mike Zumpano, who will help with defensive coaching and play as needed. They will attend sophomore attack Bennett Newman’s wedding in Cincinnati before flying to San Diego on June 18.
Their flight will leave Cincinnati at 8 a.m. EST and is expected to arrive in San Diego at 10 a.m. PCT, in time for the players to attend Sunday services at The Hill Church in La Mesa, Calif., where Team Serve chaplain Sean Robinson is on staff.
Team Serve played a similar role at the 2018 World Lacrosse Championships in Netanya, Israel, where Zumpano and alumnus Brett Bernardo brought two Flames players while two others played for Puerto Rico (alumnus Miguel Lozada) and Germany (Lukas Tophoven).
This year’s FCA Lacrosse Team Serve will feature a 30-man roster with a handful of former college players including Notre Dame midfielder Ben Pridemore, who will serve as the team’s spiritual leader. It will also have a number of high school and collegiate student-athletes, including Sumner Gantz, a faceoff specialist for the University of Georgia. Liberty defeated the Bulldogs in the MCLA Division I National Championship quarterfinals to advance to its first Final Four last month in Round Rock, Texas.
Other current collegiate players are from Air Force Academy and Loyola (Md.) College and a few of the high school players are Johns Hopkins University men’s lacrosse commitments.
“Team Serve will again work to serve the World Championships lacrosse community, putting on events for sharing fellowship and sharing the Good News of the Gospel,” Zumpano said.
World Championship games will be played at the University of San Diego and San Diego State University, where teams, including Team Serve, will be housed.
“We will be staying on campus, in the same dorms as the national players and interacting with them in the dining halls, as well as putting meals together at the stadiums and doing team events at parks in San Diego, building relationships,” Zumpano said. “We may do baptism services at the beach or local spots where we can have access to pools, and use every opportunity we have to share the Gospel and see if we can help lead some people to know the Lord.”
Team Serve is coached by Messiah University Head Coach Dan Carson while Glen Miles, a USA Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee and member of the U.S. National team in 1990, will also provide leadership support.
Frankie Kelly, who was a faceoff specialist at the University of North Carolina before playing professionally, is the overall team leader, with support from his father, former Cornell University player Frank Kelly. Frank Kelly helped found FCA Lacrosse with Delaware graduate Dan Britton, the current FCA Executive Vice President of International Ministry. His son, Caleb Britton, and nephew, Eli Britton, played for the Flames and two of his daughters played for the Lady Flames’ NCAA Division I lacrosse team.
Team USA, the 10-time world champions composed primarily of professional players from the Premier Lacrosse League, will open play on June 21 with a rematch of its 2018 gold medal game against Team Canada in Israel. Canada is the only other team to win the tournament, defeating the United States in three gold medal games.
Team Serve will scrimmage as many as four teams per day in abbreviated tune-up games, facing Poland, Puerto Rico, and Scotland on the first day.
“They’ll be competitive matchups as we will be helping teams prepare for their first games,” Zumpano said. “We are going to be coaching the other national teams as well, teaching them new skills. The purpose of the scrimmages is to give them scouting information on the teams they’ll be playing and some insight into skills and strategies for the upcoming games.”
Other teams in the field include Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Germany, Haudenosaunee (formerly the Iroquois Nations, composed of Native American players), Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, Switzerland, and Wales.
Zumpano hopes to catch up with Vova Demediuk, president of the Ukrainian Lacrosse Federation and an international leader for FCA Lacrosse, who visited Liberty in July 2021 before the Russian invasion forced many of its national team members to join the fighting or to flee the country.
“That would be a great chance to connect with him to get the state of affairs in Ukraine,” Zumpano said, noting that Demediuk is mostly involved in development and regrouping, “gathering more support for the team to compete in future years. Dan (Britton) has been instrumental as a friend of Liberty Lacrosse to help facilitate our international missions opportunities with FCA Ukraine and connecting with Vova.”
Zumpano and the Flames players are looking forward to the opportunity to practice against many of the world’s best lacrosse players before watching them compete for the championship.
“It is one of the most saturated opportunities in the lacrosse world to offer ministry to teams from every continent,” Zumpano said.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
