By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Representing your country in an event is a dream most Americans never get the opportunity to fulfill.
For Medfield’s Owen Murphy, though, that dream became a reality this past week. The 18-year-old Johns Hopkins-bound lacrosse star was selected to the 2020 United States training team, set to play in the 2020 FIL U-19 World Lacrosse Championships in Limerick, Ireland next July.
The initial tryouts took place back in June at US Lacrosse Headquarters in Glencoe, Maryland, with 104 total players trying out. Murphy was among 50 players invited back to Glencoe for the second wave of tryouts and was named to the 32-man training team, which will eventually be cut to 23 players by next July. Murphy is the lone representative from the state of Massachusetts to make the 32-man training roster for the United States. The remaining 31 players hail from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Colorado, North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Florida.
“You know, it’s a great honor,” said Murphy on the selection. “To be able to play for the red, white, and blue. They’ve got a great coaching staff over there, all guys who have great reputations and have been coaching for years. Coach [Nick] Myers, I’m sure everyone in the lacrosse world knows about him. Head coach of the Ohio State, seeing him in the Final Four. To me it was one of my dreams to play for this team, and it really means a lot.”
Before finishing up his school career at Avon Old Farms the last two seasons, Murphy emerged as a star for Medfield High School, winning a state championship as a freshman before finishing second on the team in scoring the following season as a sophomore, behind only Jack Cahill. Despite having only played two seasons at Medfield, Murphy says his time as a Warrior was pivotal in his development.
“Medfield was awesome,” said Murphy. “I had a great freshman year. The seniors ahead of me like [Robert] Treiber, [John] MacLean, [Kevin] McCordic, Nigel [Reiff] and [Kyle] Gately, they kind of put me under their wing and it really helped me out. They were tough on me at times and other times it was fun. Winning a state championship with them my freshman year, it was just a great group of guys and they all went onto college and are crushing it.”
For funny and insightful sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter @fLAno0.
