College Crosse Prospectus: Dylan Donahue Preparing For His Lacrosse Camp

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Merry Christmas Eve and happy first night of Hanukkah (if you celebrate either holiday). Anyway, let’s hit the quick links.

WHAT YOU MISSED

The global lacrosse equipment market is going to grow in the next few years.

We got some more rankings from our other writers.

LACROSSE THE NATION

Former Syracuse star Dylan Donahue is starting up his own lacrosse camp.

Dylan Donahue says the best way to get playing time in a game is to score goals, but it’s not as easy as it sounds, he says.

“If you can score, you're going to be on the field and that's kind of where I had to start too,” Donahue said.

That’s what he wants to instill in kids during his new camp, Lacrosse Sniper School. Next January, he's hoping to teach the nearly two dozen kids of all ages proper techniques, and of course, the right attitude.

“There's never enough time to get shooting reps and the little techniques that you need in each practice. There's certain things you can control and certain things you can't control, you can control your work ethic, you know, how you practice and the thing about shooting is it has to be practiced the right way,” Donahue said.

Former Villanova grad Brian Karalunas has been named the new head coach for Stanford’s club team.

Peep Petro’s facial hair game. It’s strong.

Justin Lafleur has a great story on Lehigh’s walk-ons.

"As soon as I decided to come to Lehigh, I knew I wanted to try out," said sophomore goaltender Chris Kiernan. "I loved playing lacrosse in high school, and playing in college was a dream of mine. I was recruited by some other schools, but I knew I wanted to go to Lehigh and be a part of this storied lacrosse program."

Kiernan has done more than just make the team. He earned the nod as starting goaltender midway through last season.

Kiernan may be the Mountain Hawks' most improbable story, from trying out to starting in the matter of months, but the Mountain Hawks have featured a number of key walk-ons over the years, including five on the 2017 team: senior Donny Stires and sophomores Kiernan, Ralph Shields, William Gunn and Kevin Tsao. They all have similar stories.

"As a senior in high school, I spoke with my coach about the possibility of playing college lacrosse and he suggested a few schools that I could speak with," said Shields. "At that point, I had already applied to Lehigh and was fairly certain I would attend if I got accepted. My coach told me it would be a challenge to walk on to a Division I team and would require a lot of work. It was worth a shot, so I put in a ton of work leading up to the tryout."

Peep Isaiah Davis-Allen.

Oh and happy holidays!

The Inside Lacrosse gang chimed in on what they would give the sport of lacrosse. Kyle Devitte’s gift is one that caught my eye.

Perspective — I would give lacrosse the gift of perspective. Love, as we are reminded at nearly every wedding, is blind among other things. We all love lacrosse to a certain degree. If you’re reading this, your interest has progressed past the stage of flirtation and you’re at the very least dating this great sport. Personally, I am completely and irrevocably obsessed. If you talk to addicts about the first time they tried their particular vice they will tell you that it changed their entire world — how they look at the world. That’s how I felt during my first lacrosse game and I never have [and never will] forget it. So I’m a lacrosse addict and I think that I’m in need of a bigger picture; a more rational truth.

That truth is this: Lacrosse is not a top tier sport. It may be top-tier-adjacent, but it’s not basketball, it’s not football, it’s not baseball and it’s not even hockey. If you’re from Long Island, Maryland or Upstate New York then you may have blanched at that previous sentence…and you may be part of the problem. The hotbed elitism of lacrosse is fracturing and nauseating. At your core if you’re a true fan of the game, then you know how far it needs to go to compete with not just top-level sports, but other pursuits. It’s growing but it’s not full grown. Your role as a lacrosse fan is to spread the game with positivity. Don’t say "my sport is great because”; show someone how great it is by taking them to a game. We all love lacrosse, but maybe we all need to be a little more accepting of where it is in the sporting landscape and do our part of help reach its full potential. Push progress; don’t preach primacy.

MLL Commissioner Dave Gross is stepping down after the 2017 season. He was the league’s first commissioner, beginning in 2004.

PHILLY JAWNS

There was a weird smell that spread through Philly and even into some of the suburbs last night.

WORLD NEWS

Carrie Fisher, aka Princess Leia from the Star Wars original trilogy, suffered cardiac arrest on a flight to Los Angeles and is in intensive care.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

I just saw this a couple of days ago and didn’t know it was six years old, but whatever. It’s still great. Thanks Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly!

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