CAPTAIN AMERICA: Princeton University men’s lacrosse star Austin Sims, right, and incoming Tiger freshman player Michael Sowers celebrate after helping the U.S. edge Canada 13-12 to win the championship at the FIL (Federation of International Lacrosse) 2016 U-19 Men’s World Championships in British Columbia last month. Rising junior midfielder Sims, who served as a co-captain of the U.S. squad, finished with a goal and four assists in the competition.

For Austin Sims, playing on the U.S. squad for the 2016 U-19 Men’s World Lacrosse Championships is something that has been on his to-do list for years.

“In 2012 I was on a visit at the University of Virginia and I was checking the updates on Twitter and saw that they won,” said Sims, a rising junior midfielder for the Princeton University men’s lax team.

“I immediately realized that I will be eligible in four years so I thought it is something I definitely wanted to try to do.”

Sims applied to try out for the team and went through some tryout camps as the pool of players was pared from 105 to 50 to 30.

Earlier this year, Sims learned that he made the final cut, achieving his goal of getting to compete for the U.S.

“I was honored, really happy, and really excited for the chance to be able to play for the gold medal for the U.S.A.,” said Sims, a 6’1, 185-pound native of Fairfield, Conn, who went on to score 23 goals for Princeton in the 2016 campaign and earn second-team All-Ivy League honors.

Sims served as a co-captain of the U.S. team, leading it to the gold medal as it rallied to beat host Canada 13-12 in the final and win its eighth straight U-19 world title.

In Sim’s view, the U.S. squad came together in its camp at Seattle in late June.

“We flew out to Seattle four or five days before the tournament actually started and had a couple of practices there,” said Sims.

“When we went to Seattle, we were all kind of living together in dorms with eight kids per room so that is when we really started to build relationships and team bonds.”

Being voted as one of the team’s two co-captains gave Sims a greater responsibility to get the U.S. on the same page.

“That was an awesome honor, I was really happy that my teammates thought that I would be one of the two guys to help lead the team through the process,” said Sims.

“I am more like a calm, cool, collected type of person; I am not going to get too high, I am not going to get too low during the games. I want to really help people stay even keeled, even if we are losing. I try to make sure that everyone keeps working hard and doesn’t give up or get complacent.”

Although Sims distinguished himself this spring at Princeton with his shooting prowess, his offense took a backseat as the U.S. started competition at the world tourney.

“I played defensive midfield, which is different from what I have been playing at Princeton so it was a challenge at first,” said Sims. “I just accepted it and realized that was what I had to do to help the team.”

Sims enjoyed interacting with the different teams that made their way to British Columbia.

“There was a lot of excitement, a lot of buzz,” said Sims. “It was definitely cool to see these kids that play lacrosse from different countries that you never knew played lacrosse.”

Topping host Canada 12-5 in the opening game of the competition was an exciting experience for Sims and his teammates.

“We had lost to Canada in two scrimmages, one was to the Hill Academy but a lot of those kids were going to play in the Canadian team and then we lost to them in overtime in January,” noted Sims.

“They were our first game so we definitely wanted to come out and make a statement and beat them and then continue on through group play and then to the championship game.”

Getting to play with future Princeton teammate, incoming Tiger freshman Michael Sowers, was a definite plus for Sims.

“It was awesome, Mike is a great kid,” said Sims. “I am really excited that he’s coming to Princeton. His quickness and explosiveness and his ability to feed both handed makes him special. He has great vision and is also just a tough kid, he will go to the goal hard.”

Going undefeated heading into the knockout stage of the competition, the U.S felt good about its chances to win an eighth straight U-19 world crown

“We were really confident in the preparation that we put in,” said Sims. “We watched a lot of film and we had a lot of meetings. We had a really good game plan going into the semifinals and the finals.”

Initially, things didn’t go as planned in the title game as the U.S. found itself trailing host Canada 8-2 at halftime.

“They definitely were riding the emotion of the crowd: I think we were a little bit tight coming in knowing that the USA hadn’t lost a U-19 championship game ever,” said Sims.

“They made some changes that were beneficial to them and also played a little bit better than they did in the first game. But credit also goes to everyone on the team and the coaches for coming together and realizing that it is a long game, there is definitely still time to come back.”

The U.S. came back in style in the second half, reeling off a 4-0 run in the waning stages of the contest to earn the victory, tallying the winning score with eight seconds remaining in regulation.

“People were just making plays when they needed to,” recalled Sims, reflecting on the dramatic rally.

“Our goalie, Willie Klan, made a couple of huge saves and cleared the ball well. Jared Bernhardt made a clutch goal, Mac O’Keefe had a clutch goal, and Ryan Conrad had the game winner.”

Sims made strides as a player and a person through helping the U.S. to the title.

“Playing a little bit more defense helped me there,” said Sims, who finished with a goal and four assists in the competition. “As a captain, just being a leader and being put out of my comfort zone a little bit helped me mature as a person. Meeting 24 other new friends was great, they are going to be friends for life.”

Looking ahead to his junior season at Princeton, Sims is psyched to hit the field with his college friends.

“I am super excited for what is going to happen next year,” said Sims. “After getting some rest, I am going to start working out, running and just improving my stick skills; those are things that will help any lacrosse player get better. My scoring last season was big, I am definitely looking to keep that going. I am going to hit the field and take shots everyday and just keep improving.”