College Crosse Prospectus: Albany Great Gets Own Trading Card; Olympics Discussion

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for July 31, 2017.

What You Missed

Former Boston University Terriers attackman Cal Dearth is adjusting to the MLL after being traded from Charlotte.

Former college coaches Dave Cottle and Dick Szlasa will be inducted into the IMLCA Hall of Fame.

Lacrosse The Nation

Former Albany Great Danes attackman Lyle Thompson has his own trading card!

Lyle Thompson, who made the Times All-North first team in lacrosse as a freshman at Salmon River High School, appears on card No. 250 in Topps’ Allen and Ginter set, a 350-card set that was released on July 19 and is available at retail stores like Target and Walmart.

The card features Thompson in his uniform for the Georgia Swarm, the National Lacrosse League team for which he plays. The Swarm won the NLL championship in June and Thompson was named the league’s most valuable player.

The back of the card recognizes his record-setting career at the University of Albany, where he set the NCAA mark for career points (400) and assists (125). It also mentions his two straight Tewaaraton awards. The award honors the NCAA lacrosse player of the year. Thompson won the honor in 2014 with his brother Miles, also a former Salmon River athlete. Thompson repeated the honor in 2015.

He attended Salmon River in eighth and ninth grade before moving and attending LaFayette High School near Syracuse for his sophomore and junior years. He transferred to Salmon River for his senior season in 2010-11.

Once again, the United States women’s team defeated Canada to win another championship, from Matt DaSilva of US Lacrosse Magazine.

The journey culminated Sunday in an 11-8 U.S. victory over Canada in The World Games final in Wroclaw, Poland. Alyssa Murray (Syracuse ’14) scored four goals and Brooke Griffin (Maryland ’15) added three for the U.S., which broke a 6-6 tie with five unanswered goals in the second half and held Canada scoreless for more than 24 minutes to pull away.

Canada rallied late, scoring twice in 90 seconds with a chance to pull within two goals when Erica Evans (Canisius ’18) controlled the ensuing draw. But in perhaps an enduring image of what propelled the U.S. to 12 wins in 18 days — its relentless full-field pressure — goalie Gussie Johns (USC ’18) and defender Megan Douty (Maryland ’15) pressed Kaylin Morissette (Louisville ’16) to the end line and caused Canada’s 23rd turnover with 2:34 remaining. Douty scooped the ground ball and the U.S. maintained possession for the rest of the game.

The three-goal win was the slimmest margin of victory on this unbeaten trip for the U.S., which went 8-0 in the FIL Women’s World Cup and 4-0 in The World Games, an international multi-sport event featuring lacrosse for the first time.

“We told them in the locker room, ‘Regardless of what happens in the game, the sun is going to come up.’ But if you win the game, you’re going to be two-time world champions, and that will be the first time it’s ever been done,” U.S. coach Ricky Fried said. “I’m really proud of the effort they put into this team. It would’ve been really easy to win the gold medal in England, take a break and mentally check out, but they didn’t do that.”

Lacrosse was featured in The World Games, which is run by the International Olympic Committee. Could it mean the sport is in the Olympics soon?

[Shelley] Maher recognises the benefits of being at a high-profile multi-sport event and thinks that players are delighted to have the chance to see what being at the Olympic Games is like.

“Being in the World Games for the first time has given us so many more opportunities," the Australian said.

“Our players have been to see so many other sports and had other athletes and officials come to watch them.

“To be part of a bigger sporting programme is an opportunity that I think we have been looking and waiting for.

The best chance for lacrosse would be if the IOC decides to give Los Angeles the 2028 Summer Games. If the IOC gives LA 2024, it might be a little too early.

LA also seems to be the prime location because most lacrosse players are from the United States, and it borders Canada, which also produces a good amount of worldwide lacrosse players.

However, as much as having the sport in the Olympics, I have some concerns that there are other sports that are more deserving than lacrosse that should be added to the Olympics. Sports like Billiards, Ju-Jitsu, Kickboxing, Muaythai, Racquetball, Squash, and Tug of War are played throughout the world and have strong bases in multiple countries. In the case of Tug of War, it was an early sport in the modern day Olympics up until 1920.

Lacrosse has only two dominant countries, the United States and Canada. All other countries come nowhere close to those two in either men’s or women’s, as shown in both FIL championships. The Iroquois, which are a participant in the FIL World Championships, are not a recognized country. I’m not 100% sure if they would be able to be included in the Olympics as their own “country”, but I’d lean towards no.

If the worldwide competition of lacrosse improves in future years, then I would think the IOC would consider adding the sport. Rutgers Scarlet Knights head coach Brian Brecht said lacrosse was close to being added to the Olympics.

So who knows where lacrosse stands with the IOC. But let’s not get too excited about this, yet.

Philly Jawns

The Philadelphia Eagles held an open practice at Lincoln Financial Field yesterday, to the delight of about 23,000 fans.

World News

Shaun Weiss, aka Goldberg from the Mighty Ducks movies, gets 150 days in jail. For stealing $151.

Video of the Day

A person tried to eat 203 Chips Ahoy cookies. Good luck.

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