College Crosse Prospectus: The Season Is Starting Soon! Or Now!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Let’s get your weekend started with some links!

WHAT YOU MISSED

Mercer released their schedule. They were team number 69 to do so, and that’s so nice.

What to think about the Patriot League’s Preseason poll?

The SoCon has some really good teams and some notable games as well.

Check out video from this past year’s alumni game from Robert Morris.

LACROSSE THE NATION

Furman’s Twitter account can’t wait for practice, but I don’t know about the players!

It’s also the last season for the first Furman class, which will always have the spirit of Kip Taviano with them. #10VE

Continuing on with practices from across the country:

Next weekend’s Team USA Spring Premiere, which will feature Notre Dame’s men’s and women’s teams, as well as Florida’s women’s squad, will be streamed for free on uslacrosse.org next week!

Streaming Schedule

Saturday, January 14

3 p.m. (Eastern): U.S. women’s team vs. Florida

Sunday, January 15

10 a.m. (Eastern): U.S. women’s team vs. Notre Dame

1 p.m. (Eastern): U.S. men’s team vs. Notre Dame

New threads for Detroit Mercy!

Ohio State looks good in front of the camera.

And for the majority of the nation, YOU MADE IT THROUGH THE OFFSEASON!

“Shackus”

Take a look at some of the best pictures from Inside Lacrosse’s Jaclyn Borowski and Zach Babo from 2016.

The Wittelsberger Legacy Stretches all the way down to El Salvador, writes Bill Tanton of uslaxmagazine.com.

Into this family, Mary Wittelsberger was born in 1988. She is the granddaughter of Ray Wittelsberger, one of the greatest players ever to play at Loyola College, now Loyola University. Her cousin Franz Wittelsberger, son of Ken, was an All-American at Johns Hopkins in the 1970s. Franz was the all-time leading scorer at Hopkins with 151 goals when he graduated in 1976. Mr. Witt was her great grandfather.

So everybody knew Mary would be a lacrosse player. Her father, Ray Jr., handed Mary her first stick at age 6. They just didn't know that one day she'd be taking the game to El Salvador.

After Hereford High School, Mary went to Georgetown and played for coach Ricky Fried. I've never known a Georgetown woman who didn't love playing for Ricky. Mary is no exception. Playing for the Hoyas, Mary had an ACL injury and knee surgery. Four months later, she was back playing lacrosse.

Mary joined the Peace Corps. That led her to a 27-month tour in El Salvador, a tiny Central American nation known for its Pacific Ocean beaches and mountainous landscape. In the small village of San Luis de la Reina, Mary taught school children English, exercise ... and lacrosse.

Nationally ranked figure skater Hannah Dowell plays lacrosse at Oklahoma Baptist, from Nicole Smith.

When she's not skating for OBU, Dowell plays another sport for the university: lacrosse. Dowell got started playing after expressing her desire to her parents to try at least one other sport besides figure skating.

"I've been figure skating my whole life and I begged my parents just to let me try another sport and so they said, 'Fine. You can try lacrosse on the side just to see if you like it,'" she said.

Dowell began playing for her high school in Edmond, Oklahoma, and by her senior year had become the captain of the lacrosse team. Noticing Dowell's abilities as a player, the OBU lacrosse coach at the time offered her a scholarship. Because Oklahoma Baptist is only an hour or so from Edmond, Dowell said she felt comfortable with continuing to pursue both sports.

"She offered me a scholarship so I figured, 'It's close enough to the rink. I can still skate and I can still play lacrosse,'" Dowell said.

Fairleigh Dickinson is heading back to Bermuda for their preseason training.

Head coach Patrick Scarpello, who brought a team to the island in 2014, credits his relationship with the Bermuda national lacrosse team, the work of the Bermuda Tourism Authority and the facilities at the NSC for driving his decision to choose Bermuda again.

“I’m hoping that this week will give the team a chance to bond and become closer as a group,” Scarpello said. “The objective is to train and get ready for our season which starts on February 1st. We look to get a lot of teaching done and work on our fundamental skills and start to put in some offensive and defensive schemes. Conditioning will be a big part of our training while we are there.”

The men will also be put through their paces on the beach at Coco Reef, the team’s host hotel. Morning runs on a pink sand beach is a part of the regimen, which would be difficult to replicate in the winter weather of Madison, New Jersey, where the team are from.

Planning meals is also an important component and most sports teams insist on eating together. Local sports bar Outback has made a point of catering to sports teams including the contingent of 74 from Indiana University recently and will welcome the Fairleigh Dickinson team as well.

PHILLY JAWNS

Pennsylvania Senator Jay Costa proposed a daily fantasy gambling bill, but with a catch.

#NBAVOTE Joel Embiid.

WORLD NEWS

Streaming has become the number one way Americans listen to music.

A college professor at Armstrong State is having an English course about Outkast.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is an undercover Lyft driver.

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Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell