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College Crosse Prospectus: Rutgers Loses Another Player; Weekly Honors

All the lax news and then some for February 14, 2017.

Rutgers v Minnesota Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Happy Valentine’s/Single Awareness Day! Let’s hit the Tuesday links!

What You Missed

This week’s edition of the 10-Man Ride includes Virginia’s two-way midfielders, Jacksonville’s new era, and Albany’s headshots.

One writer thinks a CAA team other than Towson or Fairfield can get into the NCAA Tournament.

Lacrosse The Nation

Rutgers loses another offensive weapon for the season in midfielder Christian Trasolini. According to the Rutgers press release, he’ll take a redshirt season and be back as a redshirt senior in 2018.

“Christian is an exceptional young man and has been a leader in our locker room during his entire time here,” head coach Brian Brecht said. “I know that he will continue to be a positive influence to our program during his recovery process this season as he works diligently towards a return. We are excited to have him back next year to play his senior season.”

Trasolini has started 46 of 47 career games at Rutgers through three seasons, scoring 69 goals and adding 22 assists for 91 points. Prior to this season, he was named preseason all-conference by Inside Lacrosse and a Big Ten Preseason Honoree.

The Scarlet Knights lost Adam Charalambides for the season prior to the start of the regular season.

We may be losing stars to Cross Country, but we’re gaining fans like former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar!

Shoutout to Monmouth for these wonderful Adobe Spark game capsules!

Plenty of weekly conference honors to go around!

UVA’s freshmen are hot!

It ushered in an offense Lars Tiffany wants to play.

Speaking of La Salle College High School product Nick Hreshko...

It looks like the successor to Tyler White in goal at Towson will either be Matt Hoy or Josh Miller, according to Edward Lee of the Baltimore Sun.

“I’m not overly concerned that we don’t have a clear-cut starter right now,” [Shawn Nadelen] said. “I’d be overly concerned if all three goalies were not playing well and we were banging our heads against the wall and trying to figure out how we’re going to cover up that position. I think we have really competitive and good options in the cage, and we’re going to continue to evaluate just as we do with all of our positions and see what the best plan is for us.”

Both players bring differing strengths to the table, according to Nadelen.

“Matt is more technique-based,” he said. “Not that Josh isn’t, but Matt is a guy that does a good job of squaring up the shots and does a good job of exploding to the shots. Josh has the ability to be a little bit more uncharacteristic in his saves. Not that that’s a settling thing for me, because you never know sometimes if he’s set and ready or not, but he’s working on that and doing a little bit better working with [volunteer assistant] coach [Andy] Shilling to be more square to shots and be more on top of the ball.”

Brown head coach Mike Daly was part of a Brown basketball halftime show.

Take a look at a handful of articles from The Daily Pennsylvanian as Penn opens up their season this weekend.

Game time and site changes!

#SPRINGSPORT!

Look for Nick Eufrasio to carry a bigger role on the Marquette defense this year, pens Jack Goods of the Marquette Wire.

With the graduations of [B.J.] Grill, [Liam] Byrnes and long-stick midfielder Tyler Gilligan, Eufrasio is the only long pole left who started a majority of the team’s games last season. The senior started in 14 of his 16 appearances, snagging 28 ground balls and forcing 12 turnovers.

“(I learned) to stay patient on the field,” Eufrasio said. “Don’t let your emotions overcome what’s going on. … That was the biggest thing.”

His tactical role hasn’t changed. He’s still the quarterback on defense on the inside and won’t frequently match up against opponents’ top weapons. Nevertheless, his importance on the field has increased drastically.

Replacing veterans Grill and Byrnes are two players in their first year at Marquette — freshman Nick Grill, B.J.’s younger brother, and transfer Jackson Ehlert. He’s needed to take on more of a leadership role, and head coach Joe Amplo said his need to be vocal on the field has brought his personality out.

Syracuse senior Scott Firman is transitioning from LSM to close defense this year, from Charlie DiSturco of The Daily Orange.

It started with 1-on-1 and 6-on-6 drills in practice. In the former, Firman would work on technique. Each day, [Lelan] Rogers had a new tip or a note for Firman to improve on — whether it be spacing or proper footwork. During the latter, he would be able to see the full field and improve communication down low.

The transition came with a degree of difficulty. The main difference was learning to deal with attackmen who’d run behind the net, something Firman wasn’t used to when guarding midfielders.

When Firman played close defense in high school, it was because he was one of the best athletes on the team. Now, he needed to learn the fundamentals.

“(At Syracuse) it’s more of a ‘We’re going to put you down here,’” Firman said, “’but you’ve got to learn everything in terms of technique and team defense.’”

You should feel bad for freshman Russell Masci, who had to impersonate Jack Ray this week for Maryland’s practices, from Daniel Bernstein of The Diamondback.

As defender Curtis Corley prepared to use his body to unsettle Ray, a 6-foot-6, 261-pound behemoth, he repeatedly crushed Masci, who weighs just 205 pounds.By the end of the week, Masci was beaten, bruised and exhausted. But his physical sacrifice helped Corley blank Ray in Saturday's 15-12 win.

"Poor [Masci] just got beat to a pulp over and over and over again," [John] Tillman said with a laugh. "He gave us a great look. You just don't have guys like that on your roster very often."As a sophomore last season, Ray tallied 26 goals and 12 assists. Tillman said his production, along with imposing size, made him a primary focus for the Terps.

Corley was assigned to neutralize him because he's "pound-for-pound our strongest guy," according to Tillman.

Although Ray registered seven shots against Maryland, he failed to record a point. Navy coach Rick Sowell felt the attackman was "a little off" throughout the game as he battled Corley's dogged defense.

Lacrosse is growing in....Qatar?

Philly Jawns

Some bad U.S. News & World Report ranking has Philadelphia behind Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Pittsburgh as the best places to live in the state of Pennsylvania.

World News

National Security adviser Michael Flynn has resigned.

Video of the Day

Do you really need friends? (Yes you absolutely need to)

If you’re single, like me, you do have a Valentine. It’s lacrosse. Sad isn’t it? Three games on tap for later today, and all three games are free streams! WOO!

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Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell