College Crosse Prospectus: Rutgers’ Brecht, Air Force’s Seremet Discuss Possible Rules Changes, Olympics

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for June 7, 2017.

What You Missed

Our final Power Rankings came out, with the Maryland Terrapins being the obvious No. 1.

Our final College Crosse top 20 was released as well.

Lacrosse The Nation

Rutgers Scarlet Knights head coach Brian Brecht and Air Force Falcons head coach Eric Seremet had a Twitter Q&A last night on the Inside Lacrosse account. They had some interesting answers for some of the hottest topics in the sport right now.

More on the shot clock discussion.

Overall, THANK YOU FOR SHOWING LOVE FOR A SHOT CLOCK!

They also discussed the dive...

As well as the specialization of high school athletes...

And the growth of the sport at the collegiate level in the south and out west...

Brecht had some thoughts on the selection process (I wonder why).

And probably the most interesting one is lacrosse in the Olympics.

I’d be down for that. An interesting discussion to say the least, and I hope there’s more of these chats later in the summer.

Shoutout to Denver Pioneers assistant head coach Matt Brown on being inducted into the Colorado Lacrosse Hall of Fame!

Our good buddy Jim Simmons over at Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician discusses what the Syracuse Orange roster could look like in 2018.

Stud defenseman Nick Mellen should be back for the 2018 campaign. Mellen sat out the preseason scrimmages while recovering from a shoulder injury and then missed the entire 2017 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Mellen was an Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-American and named to the preseason All-ACC Team. He had 38 groundballs and 14 caused turnovers in 2016 as a freshman and will have three years of eligibility remaining. The West Genny grad is a smaller defenseman, listed at 5’9” but is extremely athletic. He will be the heart of the close defense.

Tyson Bomberry came to Syracuse as primarily a long-stick midfielder but played close defense for the Orange this past season. You can really tell that he is used to the LSM position when you watch his transition game. He had the second most caused turnovers on the SU squad last year and had the most groundballs of any player not named Ben Williams. I absolutely love his fast paced, aggressive style of play.

Marcus Cunningham picked up his first collegiate start in 2016 against the Cornell Big Red when Mellen was sidelined for the game, his only start of that season. In 2017 he shouldered a much heavier burden. He will still be the third defenseman, but I think Nick DiPietro could give him some competition for that role. The 40th ranked incoming recruit in this past year’s freshman class, DiPietro was used in a defensive rotation. We will probably see more of the same in 2018.

Also, keep an eye on Brett Kennedy, a soon-to-be sophomore out of Ridgewood, NJ. Kennedy redshirted in 2017 but by all accounts, including College Crosse’s Chris Jastrzembski [Ed. Note: THAT’S ME!], he has been impressive in practices.

The Towson Tigers are back in the States.

Former Virginia Cavaliers head coach Dom Starsia stresses the importance of passing the ball for those younger studs.

I loved my father dearly, but I grew up listening to him use a coarse language to describe people or different situations. I may have been tone deaf early in my life, and it caught me by surprise when I became uncomfortable with him talking the same way around my own children. When I admonished him, the common refrain would be “I didn’t mean it that way”. It really didn’t matter what you meant, Dad, what mattered was what people heard.

Yowzer, how does this relate to lacrosse? Well, becoming a great passer follows the same paradigm. I had a defenseman at Virginia who grew up playing hockey in New England (are you listening Matt Lovejoy?). He was especially good with the ball around his feet and could throw the ball effectively from sidearm and below. The problem was that even his well-thrown balls were hard to catch. When a middie is running up the field wondering whether he is about to have his head taken off, where the clearing spaces are and whether he may wind up with a shot at the other end, there are not enough brain cells left to track a rising fastball from across the field. He needs to see the ball early and he needs it delivered simply, to a good spot.

Greece became the newest member of the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL).

The journey began in July of 2014 when the Greece Lacrosse Association (GLA) was formed by co-founders Paul and George Katsiaunis during the 2014 Men’s Lacrosse World Championship in Denver, Colorado.

Since its inception, the growth of the GLA has been steady, initially on the international competition level and now at the grassroots level in Greece.

Paul, a gifted long stick defenseman from Tenafly High School in Tenafly, N.J., captained Greek squads comprised of mostly Greek-American players that competed in three international friendly tournaments in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

George, the Executive Director for the GLA, along with with Bob Vlahakis, GLA General Manager of Lacrosse Operations, has been working recently to develop lacrosse in elementary, middle and high schools, and at the collegiate levels throughout Greece.

GET THOSE GRADES UP!

Unless you’ve graduated, like some of the Princeton Tigers have.

After his first year as head, UMBC Retrievers BOSS Ryan Moran looks to continue building the program, and has even gotten praise from one former UMBC coach, pens Edward Lee of The Baltimore Sun.

While the program’s improvement might not have weighed heavily with the other eight coaches in the voting for the All-America East first team, Don Zimmerman, Moran’s predecessor, took note of the job that Moran and assistant coaches Jamison Koesterer, Neil Hutchinson and Joe Bucci had done.

“I thought Ryan and his staff did a really good job, and I felt the kids did a really good job as well,” said Zimmerman, who worked as an analyst for ESPN this past spring. “That transition is not easy. Ryan Moran as a first-year head coach comes in, and this is his opportunity to put his stamp on a program, and I did follow the team. I watched them online, I saw their Vermont game at home, I went to senior day to support those seniors who our staff recruited. So I think UMBC took some nice strides, and I think the players adapted well, and that’s not always the case. So I give credit to the players and the coaches for making some nice strides.”

US Lacrosse Magazine’s Patrick Stevens has released the second part of his early 2018 rankings.

NO. 19 TOWSON

2017 record: 12-5 (4-1 Colonial)

Last seen: Building an impressive early lead over Ohio State, only for the Buckeyes to rally and then deny the Tigers’ attempt to force overtime in the final moments of a national semifinal.

Senior starts lost: 94 of 170 (55.3 percent)

Senior scoring departing: 195 of 242 points (80.6 percent)

Initial forecast: This was Towson’s chance, and it took full advantage of its opportunity. A year after reaching the quarterfinals and then needing to rebuild their close defense, the Tigers advanced to Memorial Day weekend for only the third time in school history and the first time since 2001. A return trips seems … unlikely. Towson’s top three scorers (attackmen Joe Seider and Ryan Drenner and midfielder Mike Lynch) were seniors, as was goalie Matt Hoy and two-thirds of the sport’s best defensive midfield (Jack Adams and Tyler Mayes). Towson can count on midfielder Zach Goodrich to be one of the game’s best all-around players next season, and the Tigers possess such a firm sense of who they are that massive slippage is unlikely. But with six of the seven players who managed 10 points or more departing, it’s going to take some time for Shawn Nadelen and Co. to find what works best next season.

Bad news from Long Island: Members of the Yorktown boys team have been accused of harassing and intimidating members of the Somers girls team a couple of weeks ago, from Gabrielle Bilik of Tap Into Somers.

In two statements released June 6, Somers Central School District administrators said members of the Somers girls lacrosse team were preparing for the game in the Yorktown boys locker room when members of the Yorktown boys lacrosse team entered and “engaged in harassing and intimidating behavior,” which caused the girls lacrosse students to leave, and relocate to a different locker room.

"Unfortunately, what should have been a day showcasing the competitive-spirit, athletic abilities and sportsmanship of both teams, was marred by the rude and disrespectful behavior of certain students," said Somers Superintendent Dr. Raymond Blanch.

The incident was investigated internally and follow-up conversations were had with Yorktown school officials to make them aware of the outcome of the investigation, Blanch said, and added that the information was also shared with the Section 1 Office of Interscholastic Athletics.

Yorktown is also without longtime head coach Dave Marr, who’s sitting out this season due to previous outbursts and ejections, including one in last year’s state championship game.

Philly Jawns

The escaped Bucks County prisoner is back in custody.

World News

Christopher Wray has been picked as the new director of the FBI.

Video of the Day

Carpool Karaoke with Ed Sheeran!

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