College Crosse Prospectus: We’re Down To 16 Teams In The Big BBQ!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for May 11, 2017.

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What You Missed

Our 50th College Crossecast is up, and what better way to celebrate it than to bring on Cleveland State head coach Dylan Sheridan once again!

The Bryant Bulldogs took care of the Monmouth Hawks and will play the Maryland Terrapins Sunday afternoon.

There were other postseason games that happened on Tuesday too!

Paul Carcaterra had some thoughts about North Carolina-Albany.

Lacrosse The Nation

Preparation for the First Round games is still going strong!

Roman Stubbs of The Washington Post details the great relationship between Maryland midfielder Henry Chastain and manager Tommy Brophy.

In those moments, there is only one other person on the field who can fully comprehend what Chastain is going through. Maryland’s student manager, Tommy Brophy, might not play for the Terrapins, but he has lived with cystic fibrosis since he was six months old. He shares much of the same daily routine as Chastain, using round-the-clock treatment to loosen mucous in the lungs and other organs, perpetually fighting an incurable condition in which life expectancy in the United States is about 40 years.

But cystic fibrosis offers another cruel layer: People with the disease are highly vulnerable to bacteria in their lungs and thus can easily cross-infect each other if they interact face to face. Chastain and Brophy have rarely been closer than 15 feet to each other during their first year in the program together, forced to communicate either by text or with raised voices to compensate for the distance they must keep from each other.

That has created an uncommon logistical wrinkle for the Terrapins (12-3), who will enter the NCAA tournament that begins this weekend as the No. 1 overall seed. It has created an unlikely bond between two college students who never physically cross paths.

“Other kids, they understand that you have CF, but they don’t know what it’s like,” Chastain said. “So it’s cool to talk to someone about it, through text or down the hallway. I’ll be yelling at him, ‘Yo, Brophy!”

Loyola Greyhounds BOSS Charley Toomey was featured in Crain’s Business about his mistakes and how they’ve shaped to be who he is today.

The Mistake:

When I first started, I wanted to get the best athlete and the most talented lacrosse player I possibly could. We didn’t make the playoffs very often when I started, and now we see ourselves as a team that should be in the playoffs every year. But we wouldn’t be the team we are now, if some of those early recruits didn’t win big games — we had big wins that got the recruiting pipeline started.

We weren’t as consistent, but they were talented lacrosse players. We were able to win games against highly ranked opponents, but just not consistently. But because of those guys, and the foundation they built, we’re able to be a more consistent program.

Michael Kelly of The Daily Gazette discusses how Albany Great Danes BOSS Scott Marr has created a unique identity in the Capital District.

“Scott’s built a very strong brand of lacrosse: It’s UAlbany lacrosse,” said Mark Benson, UAlbany’s athletic director. “It’s got a personality and a brand across the country. When people think of UAlbany lacrosse, the success is obviously part of it, but it’s also a style of play — a fun style of play.”

Marr’s organically crafted that brand for nearly two decades, ever since taking control of UAlbany’s program prior to the 2001 season. It’s an uptempo system that stresses fun, one that relies on its players to give everything they have on the field and its coaches to live with the mistakes that come with the team’s frenzied pace and behind-the-back passes. Go to a Great Danes practice, and there is no yelling. Just laughing.

“We try to be good people here,” UAlbany senior midfielder Bennett Drake said.

“That’s the bigger thing for us,” Marr said. “It’s about integrating [our players] into our system and them knowing how it works at UAlbany.”

On the other end are the North Carolina Tar Heels, led by former Niskayuna star Luke Goldstock. Mark Singelais of the Times Union writes how the senior received lessons from former Great Dane All-American and current coach Merrick Thomson.

When Goldstock was in seventh grade, he took individual lessons from former UAlbany All-America attack Merrick Thomson, who was still enrolled in graduate classes while playing professionally. They met through youth camps Goldstock attended at UAlbany.

"We worked together a lot," Goldstock said. "He taught me a lot. He's a great guy. We're pretty close."

Thomson, who is from Ontario, brought Goldstock indoors to a racquetball court in UAlbany's Physical Education Building so they could work on scoring in a tighter space on a smaller net like the Canadian game of box lacrosse. Then they went outside to the turf field to improve his dodging and shooting.

Now Thomson serves as the offensive coordinator at UAlbany, which could spoil Goldstock's homecoming and end his college career.

"It's funny because he was so tiny then (in seventh grade)," Thomson said. "He's grown and he's such a great kid. But he always had an elite stick. Even when I was working with him, he had strong hands. What we really worked on was his shooting and also catching (the ball) in tight."

After a record breaking career with the Maryland Terrapins, La Salle College High School product Matt Rambo wants to break something else, the Terps’ title drought, from Daniel Bernstein of The Diamondback.

In particular, the Terps enjoy Rambo's wild impromptu goal celebrations. Though he's registered 147 career strikes, he said the feeling of the ball hitting the back of the net provides the "same adrenaline rush and happiness."

"When he scores, sometimes I'm not too sure what he's doing," attackman Colin Heacock said. "He's kind of fist-pounding and screaming. He looks at you and starts getting all loud. You want to make that next play and feed off of him."

Rambo's passion, as well as his on-field accomplishments, have vaulted him to the top of the discussion for Maryland greats. Urso called him one of the best to ever compete for the program. [Gary] Niels called him "top-three all-time."

His teammates view him in the same light. Rambo notched a team-high 63 points and 33 goals during the regular season, guiding the Terps to Big Ten regular season and tournament championships. Against Johns Hopkins in the rivalry game, he broke the points record, and he notched three goals and four assists.

"I don't think we'd be anywhere close to where we are now without out him," attackman Dylan Maltz said. "He's our leader, and he's the best player in the country."

With the Yale Bulldogs, Aidan Hynes has become a valuable part to the Elis’ defense, notes Chip Malafronte of The New Haven Register.

Hynes has become Yale’s go-to defenseman, assigned to the opposing team’s top scorers. It a role neither he nor Yale head coach Andy Shay envisioned earning so quickly.

At Mahopac (N.Y.) High, Hynes was a standout three-sport athlete. Twice he captained the soccer team and, as a lockdown defender, twice made all-conference in basketball. But at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, he didn’t necessarily fit the ideal standards for a major college defenseman.

“With your defenseman at this level, you want 6-foot-5 and faster than everyone else and stronger with an incredible stick,” Shay said. “Aidan, not that he isn’t a good athlete because he’s a very good athlete, but he’s not the prototypical guy you think is going to shut down a lot of people. But he puts himself in the right position and makes a lot of the plays with his stick. That’s one of the best jobs I’ve ever seen on [Dylan] Molloy. The first time, he was terrified, and rightfully so. This time he was, I’m just going to play and was incredible.

Yale is still ironing out a definitive strategy against Syracuse. Unlike most teams, the Orange get the bulk of their scoring from midfielders. Sergio Salcido leads the team with 48 points and 32 assists; Nick Mariano is close behind with 32 goals and 46 assists.

The Buckeyes are also for the kids!

Syracuse Orange midfielder Nick Mariano previews the NCAA Tournament.

Marquette had a team dinner with their school President!

BOSS Marr also has a message, and some very good facial hair!

Check out the entire ESPN broadcasting schedule for the Men’s and Women’s tournaments!

Meanwhile, Drexel Dragons goaltender Jimmy Joe Granito discusses his huge save he made against Hofstra in the regular season.

And, you may have seen this from Adelphi lacrosse already, as they came out to a Donald Trump speech.

Onondaga Community College FOGO Koichi Nakamura discovered lacrosse from watching Mikey Powell highlights on YouTube.

Philly Jawns

La Salle defeated Haverford School in a thrilling 9-8 game.

The Philadelphia Phillies signed manager Pete Mackanin to a two-year contract extension.

World News

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is thinking about running for President in 2020.

Video of the Day

Have you seen those fidget spinners lately? There’s now a trick video about it.

That’s it for today!! I’ll see you out there!! Make sure you follow us on social media!

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Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell