College Crosse Prospectus: Midseason Freshman Rankings, High School Player Discusses Rehab After Serious Car Crash

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for April 21, 2017.

What You Missed

This week’s Power Rankings are up.

Albany defeated Binghamton to clinch at least a share of the America East regular season championship.

Lacrosse The Nation

Terry Foy from Inside Lacrosse released his midseason Freshman Rankings.

5. Dox Aitken, M, Virginia (28G, 11A in 14 games)

Aitken's season has set records among freshman midfielders in Charlottesville, and his production is among the best in recent memory.

4. Kieran Mullins, A, Rutgers (32G, 15A in 12 games)

Rutgers' leading scorer, Mullins has morphed from a goal-scorer — which was predominantly his role early in the season — into a two-headed monster starting the Scarlet Knights' offense alongside Jules Heningburg.

3. Jeff Teat, A, Cornell (25G, 29A in 11 games)

Because of a slow start and Cornell's 4-7 record, Teat's surge since Albany has flown somewhat under the radar. He's averaging a hair under five points per game, good for ninth in all of Division I.

An unbelievable story from Stephen Haynes of The Poughkeepsie Journal about Red Hook High School (NY) senior Liam O’Farrell and how he’s back on the field five months after surviving a near-fatal car crash.

"I'm fortunate to just be alive." Liam O'Farrell didn't have time to think - there wasn’t even time to be frightened.

There still was the matter of his physical rehabilitation, of course. His parents tried to get a jump on that, goading him into daily walks around the hospital ward and dissuading him from using a walker.

"All I wanted to do was lay in the hospital bed and be left alone, but they wouldn't let me," Liam said. "They tried to keep me active."

Whenever he complained of thirst his 25-year-old brother, Connor O'Farrell, made him get up to reach for the water himself, Liam said.

In retrospect, he said, it probably aided in his recovery. Liam said he didn't require physical therapy, but he essentially received it during the winter while working out with Liam Quinlan, the lacrosse team's goalie.

A great video showcasing Drexel’s 75 years of lacrosse.

Another great profile of Ben Reeves from Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register.

Highly-motivated student-athletes driven toward a greater purpose is nothing new to men’s lacrosse coach Andy Shay. This is Yale, after all. Sports are often a healthy diversion to future doctors, lawyers and captains of industry.

Others, like junior midfielder Tyler Warner, an ecology and evolutionary biology major, have emerged as All-America candidates while maintaining a heavy academic workload.

Still, Reeves, as one of the best players in the country, if not the best, is accomplishing feats never before seen in 135 years of Yale lacrosse. And his role in the Bulldogs’ rise to national championship contender is unquestioned.

“In a game, if we’re down a goal, or at the end of the quarter with short time, we’ll run a play here and there,” Shay said. “But the default is, under 15 seconds, to get it to Ben. The fact we can say ‘Get it to Ben’ is awesome. We get to say it a little while longer.”

Delaware BOSS Bob Shillinglaw was pretty much Blue Hen lacrosse, pens Kevin Noonan of Town Square Delaware.

For the most part, Shillinglaw labored in obscurity, simply because most people don’t consider lacrosse to be a major sport. But nobody can argue about the major impact Shillinglaw has had on lacrosse. For one thing, he’s coached in more college games, as an assistant and as a head coach, than anybody in history – 639. He also won more than 300 games as well 15 conference titles.

Another perspective – Shillinglaw’s teams have advanced to the NCAA Tournament four times. The first time was in 1984 and the last time was in 2011, so he wasn’t just good at what he did, he was also consistent.

The pinnacle of his coaching career came in 2007, when Delaware went to the Final Four for the only time in history, beating No. 1 ranked Virginia along the way. Granted, lacrosse’s Final Four isn’t as prestigious as basketball’s Final Four, but it’s still an impressive thing to put on your resume.

But, as with anybody who coaches for that long, Shillinglaw’s real legacy is the impact he’s had on hundreds of young men who became better men because of his subtle, yet strong influence. Shillinglaw has always been a teacher more than a yeller and screamer, and the lessons he’s taught over all of these years – mostly subconsciously – mean much more than wins and losses.

It was certainly a busy and grueling week for Maryland.

Monmouth is having their best season yet, and part of that is due to a solid senior leadership, notes Patrick Stevens of US Lacrosse Magazine

“There’s a lot of ownership and trust that exists with those seniors because they’ve been with us a long time,” Fisher said. “We’re as close to being on the same page as a coach and group of guys could be, because we’ve been through a lot together.”

Tempting though it might be to suggest this was a logical breakout season because of the Hawks’ veteran presence, Fisher didn’t point to a particular year to turn the corner when he was hired in 2012 after a stint as an assistant at Notre Dame.

There are parallels to Monmouth’s strengths and those of Notre Dame as it was cementing itself as a perennial postseason team a decade ago. The Hawks are sixth nationally in scoring defense and ninth in clearing percentage. The formula of sound defense and minimizing errors reflects Fisher’s background and the work of defensive coordinator Andrew Geison, a former head coach at Division III Elmhurst.

It’s also a tested bunch, with each of the Hawks’ first seven games decided by two goals or less. The Hawks earned a victory over Villanova that aged well over the course of the season, as well as a competitive showing at Hofstra.

“You want to have an understanding of who you are, and having a large senior class that has been through the ropes, they understand that and get it more than most,” Fisher said. “We’re never going to beat teams by 10. That’s who we are, and it allows us to play a good brand of lacrosse and gives us chances to win games. With that said, it’s great we learned some of the right lessons in those wins and a couple close losses. I’m proud of the poise we displayed.”

Take a listen to this week’s edition of the Ryan Moran Coach’s Show.

NEW GEAR ALERT!

Philly Jawns

The Eagles and the rest of the NFL released their 2017 schedule.

PEEP CHRISTMAS DAY AT HOME AGAINST THE RAIDERS!

A ‘Rocky’ landmark has been torn down.

World News

China is putting bombers on ‘high alert’ amid a possible situation in North Korea.

Video of the Day

Learn about the mysterious life of artist Bob Ross.

Seven games are on tap for today, including the Patriot League regular season finale, which includes Bucknell taking on Lehigh with the winner advancing to the Patriot League Tournament.

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