College Crosse Prospectus: Salisbury Celebrates 11th National Championship

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day!

WHAT YOU MISSED

With helmets arriving in girls’ lacrosse, did the sport really become safer?

LACROSSE THE NATION

Salisbury celebrated their 11th Division III National Championship in program history yesterday, with Chris Mackowiak of The SU Flyer providing a recap of the festivities.

For the unveiling of the ultimate prize–a national championship ring–the team held a ceremony in Holloway Hall which was open to the public and, of course, all of the supporters, friends and family that had an integral part in the national championship run.

“It was awesome. That’s why we come here, to win a championship. To kind of finish it all off at the end of our journey as seniors with the ring and a trophy in our last ever real game we’ll ever play is the best feeling ever. It’s just a testament to our hard work and all the coaching and everything that came before us,” former middie Tom Cirillo said. Cirillo was named a First Team All-American following the season.

[Jim] Berkman, along with the rest of the coaching staff, gave out awards to many of players that made up the 50-person team roster. Awards ranged from statistical leaders to most improved players. Overall, 10 players on the team received All-American honors.

“I think one of the things that was a key to our success was that we were pretty good at everything. I don’t know if we were truly outstanding at any one thing, but we didn’t really have a weakness. We had a solid goalie and defense. We had good middies and attackmen. We were just a very consistent team throughout the different positions which allowed us to compete with what the other team’s strength was,” Berkman said.

And here’s the ring:

Princeton has arrived in Portugal! One of their goals will be to make Cristiano Ronaldo a lacrosse fan.

Looks like the World’s Largest Outdoor Lacrosse Party was a success this weekend in Jacksonville.

Speaking of Jacksonville, assistant coach and former Syracuse GOAT Casey Powell is going to show love to his players this season.

Do you know why else I like that response? That sounds like something Coach Roy Simmons Jr. would have said about me in the mid-90’s at Syracuse. He would have said that about me when I played my absolute best. And he would have said that about me after the final game of my career when we lost 10-9 to Princeton in the NCAA semifinals.

Coach Simmons way of supporting and motivating me was to befriend me and make no secret about the kind of potential he thought I had. As a player – that angle helped me reach that potential because I wasn’t afraid to fail. It’s a lot like parenting. If you want to raise fiercely independent children, you must show them love so that they have confidence to go out in the world and give it their best without being afraid to fail.

Enough with the objective evidence. Let’s get to the empirical evidence. University of Houston Head Football Coach Tom Herman takes loving and respecting his players to another level. Any one of his Cougar warriors could be walking off the bus to get dressed for a big game or heading into the locker room for half time and it would not be out of the ordinary for Coach Herman to grab them for a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. It’s just how he shows his love. The team has responded by finishing last season 13-1 with a national ranking of #8, their highest end-of-season ranking since 1980. This year they are ranked 13th and they’re 6-1. Need I say more?

I got to go. I’m going to get Coach “JG” [John Galloway] and I a case of Chap stick because those records sound damn good to me.

Three teams had their alumni games yesterday.

Ohio State’s Class of 2022 was in Columbus this weekend.

Inside Lacrosse’s Matt Kinnear started his new Coaches’ Podcast with legendary Johns Hopkins and UMBC head coach Don Zimmerman, who retired at the end of the 2016 season.

Westwood High School’s girls’ lacrosse coach Leslie Frank is stepping down after a remarkable 18-year career, from Tom Fargo of Wicked Westwood.

Frank took over a fledgling Wolverine program in 1999, claimed her first state title in 2003 and added to the trophy case in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016. In her 18 seasons, she compiled over 380 victories, posted five unbeaten campaigns and delivered a steady stream of players to all levels of the college ranks.

Starting with the championship season in 2003, Westwood is 328-12-3 over the past 14 years, an incomprehensible winning percentage of 96.1.

Frank said that winning the eighth title and going out on top had no bearing on her decision. She considered walking away a year ago but wanted to remain with the team coming off an emotional season in which it dealt with the traumatic brain injury suffered in an off-field fall by teammate Maddie Walter, who has made great strides in her recovery and returned to support the squad from the sidelines during her senior year last spring.

Her coaching career is far from over, however, as she said will continue as director of Mass Elite and possibly pursue other opportunities in the future, either in college or the Independent School League.

PHILLY JAWNS

Sixers and Flyers lost yesterday, but IT’S EAGLES GAMEDAY! The Birds are in Dallas to take on the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. My Birds 24/7 colleagues, Brandon Lee Gowton (of Bleeding Green Nation fame) and Josh Paunil, have some predictions.

The out-of-style class rankings system in high schools are starting to go away.

WORLD NEWS

The Indians are one game away from winning their first World Series since 1945 with a 7-2 win over the Cubs in last night’s Game 4.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Drumpf are neck-and-neck in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll with just over a week to go until the election next Tuesday.

PSA: GO OUT AND FREAKING VOTE.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Let’s give you all some history on the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry.

This video doesn’t mention the Bounty Bowl, Jimmy Johnson getting snowballs thrown at him, Fourth and One, and the Pickle Juice game.

Needless to say, GO BIRDS!

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Managers/Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell