By James Joseph
WSL Senior Features Writer

Two years ago, the Mercer Island lacrosse program received an unexpected gift.

Last spring, that gift was unexpectedly – and cruelly – taken away just when it was about to provide its greatest reward.

The gift was Australian attackman Daniel Shields.

“I just wanted to see the world, so I came (to the United States) as an exchange student," Shields said. "And I ended up at Mercer Island.”

Shields had a cousin living in Seattle, so he came to the Pacific Northwest in 2007 prior to the start of his junior year. He had grown up in Perth, Western Australia, but was not unfamiliar with lacrosse.

"I've been around lacrosse since I could walk," Shields said. “My grandfather played, both my parents played and all my uncles played."

Shields said the game in Australia is “really small compared to Washington state. But it’s growing.” Even though the game in Washington was “way more advanced,” “quicker” and filled with “more skilled” players, Shields adapted quickly. 

“From his cousin, I knew he was a good player,” Mercer Island head coach Ian O’Hearn said. “He was a very good player his junior year. And his senior year he exploded and just dominated.”

Shields was a lethal finisher and was outstanding in traffic – so good, in fact, that opposing coaches routinely asked for his stick to be checked to see if the pocket was legal.

“It was just so hard to take the ball away from him,” O’Hearn said. “He’d be doubled, tripled, he’d run through traffic, and they couldn’t get the ball out.”

In 23 games during the 2009 season, Shields – a U.S. Lacrosse All-American – had 57 goals, 20 assists and 51 ground balls. In one of the biggest games of the season, against top rival Bainbridge Island, Shields scored four goals – including the game-winner in overtime – and had an assist in a 7-6 victory.

Shields scored the game-winner off a rebound of a shot by his brother, Matt.

“It was a pretty remarkable goal,” O’Hearn said. “He caught the rebound and put it away and then literally the entire stands rushed the field and swarmed him.”

The victory was the second of 11 straight that fueled a run to the state championship game. But on the Monday before the semifinals, with a state championship in sight, Shields broke his ankle on a routine play in practice.

“I was just doing the same thing that happens every day,” Shields said. “We were practicing, I was driving on a defender, and I turned the wrong way.”

Without Shields, Mercer Island won its semifinal but fell in the state final to Issaquah, 10-9. The Islanders had beaten Issaquah with Shields in the lineup in the regular season, 6-4.

“It was a huge loss for the championship,” O’Hearn said of Shields' injury.

And a tough situation for Shields.

“We worked so hard all season to get (to the state final) and then not to play in the game was really disappointing,” Shields said.

Even without a state title, however, Shields’ impact on the Mercer Island program had a large, tangible effect.

“Both teams that he was on would have been very good teams,” O’Hearn said. “But he gave them that edge.”