College Crosse Prospectus: Practices Begin!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for January 4, 2018.

What You Missed

We took a look at Stony Brook’s and Fairfield’s schedules.

LinkedIn for lacrosse recruiting is happening.

Lacrosse The Nation

PRACTICES ARE HAPPENING!

I hope those are Michigan’s practice helmets, because I’ll be outraged if the team plans on using them as a primary helmet.

Meanwhile, the National Championship teams start today:

Other teams are starting very soon:

We also have a scrimmage this weekend!

Congratulations to St. Bonaventure Bonnies head coach and former Canisius Golden Griffins head coach Randy Mearns on his selection to the Western New York Lacrosse Hall of Fame! He joins former Buffalo Bandit John Tavares and Louisville Cardinals women’s head coach Scott Teeter (also a former Canisius head coach) in the Class of 2018.

The Virginia Cavaliers have brought back Hannon Wright as a volunteer assistant. He replaces Rocco Romero, who is now an Operations Assistant. A little more about Wright from the UVA website:

Wright has been active on three of UVA’s national championships (1999, 2003, 2006) as both a player and a coach. Most recently, Wright was an assistant coach at UVA from 2006-09, coaching goalies and faceoff specialists. He was part of the Cavaliers’ historic 2006 NCAA title team when UVA went a perfect 17-0. After his time coaching at Virginia, Hannon joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving on active duty from 2009 to 2013. Currently a member of the reserves, he was recently promoted to major.

A 1999 graduate of UVA, Wright earned three letters as a goalie for the Cavaliers (1996, 1998-99) and was part of UVA’s 1999 NCAA title team as a player. He received the Doyle Smith Award for having the highest grade point average on the squad in 1998 and was co-winner of the team’s Spirit Award as a freshman in 1996.

While attending UVA’s law school he served as a volunteer assistant coach for two seasons, including the Cavaliers’ 2003 NCAA title season. Following his graduation from law school that year, he spent six months coaching in Australia with the Bayswater Lacrosse Club of Perth.

Sacred Heart released their 2018 schedule.

This is a great post from former Hill Academy player Callon Williams:

Perhaps one of the most dramatic, Oscar worthy, monologues over a missed shot. Crying, and knowing I am running low in my ball bucket, I hike through the snow in search of this stupid yellow rubber ball. Where did it go? How could I have missed the net by this much? The known-all-too-well throbbing sensation has arrived in my knee just in time as my nose begins to flow like Niagara Falls. With each step, I repeat “why”, as if finding this ball was going to give me the answer I was looking for.

Then it happened. Like a well-written ending to a story, there it was in the distance – a feather. Floating slowly through the air, changing directions a few times, before finally finding its home on the grass. Walking over, I spot indents in the snow, as if… a ball had skid across it shortly prior. There the feather rest, perfectly to the right of a half snow covered yellow rubber lacrosse ball. Reminding me of my earlier days at The Hill Academy, the feather jogged my memory. That was my answer! All the questions I was asking, all the whys I was muttering, and all the answers I was searching lay there with the feather. I knew my why. I had known it for a long time, I just needed to be reminded when I forgot.

I cannot eloquently put into words the effect lacrosse has had on me mentally, physically and emotionally, other than it truly has become my own medicine game. Whether I am playing wall ball, 1v1 with a basketball hoop as a net, or scoring goals in a collegiate game – as soon as I have a stick in my hands, the world melts away. I have read composers say that where there is music, there is hope – and the same holds true for me with lacrosse. It has taught me to be driven and dedicated, but adaptable and open. It has taught me to be fiercely competitive, but how to show empathy and kindness to those of difference. It has brought me pain and suffering, but allowed me to prove my resiliency and strength. It has brought me friendships and love, and in return, I have given it my heart.

Anna Taylor from In Lacrosse We Trust profiles Toronto Rock rookie and former Penn State Nittany Lion Dan Craig as he starts his NLL journey:

The Shelburne, Ontario native played minor lacrosse in his hometown before being drafted to Jr. A in Barrie. In four years with the Lakeshores, he amassed 300 points in 79 games and was named league MVP in 2014. He was traded to the Northmen for a Minto Cup run in his final year, but a broken thumb waylaid the season.

“We made a good push as far as we could, but we actually didn’t make it out of the first round. It just kind of fell apart (after my injury),” said Craig.

After his junior career, Craig focused on his collegiate career, where he started 38 games over years, tallying 44 goals and 28 assists. He was twice named an Academic All-Big Ten.

His success at the junior level convinced the Rock to take a chance on him despite his time off from box lacrosse, but he’s fit in well with his teammates and readjusted well.

“The mood in the room was a little sombre to be honest,” he said. “We were throwing a lot of rubber at the goal in the first two games and couldn’t really find the back of the net but Saturday’s win was huge for us. It gets our confidence back.”

Paul Carcaterra raves about Tehoka Nanticoke and by god am I excited to see both of them do their things this year:

Boston Cannons midfielder Sean Lawton discusses playing lacrosse in Japan with Matt McGuirk of the Cannons’ website:

Playing Team Japan wasn’t the only thing Lawton and his teammates did while there. The day after the game, Team USA broke up into two groups and traveled to local schools to introduce the sport of lacrosse. Lawton and his teammates were not in Japan for very long, so it was important to take advantage of the time they had to advocate the sport to young kids.

Lawton explained further, “The guys broke up into two sessions. [One group] went to a middle school and then my group went to a junior high and a high school. We did one two-hour session teaching the kids what lacrosse was, and then we did drills and [similar activities].”

Lawton is no stranger to playing lacrosse overseas. After finishing up his college career at Western New England University in 2014, Lawton spent a couple of months playing lacrosse in Australia. However, the sport had already been introduced. In Japan, Lawton and his teammates helped build the foundation of the sport and it was something he personally enjoyed doing.

“Introducing lacrosse [to Japan] and spreading the game was absolutely awesome,” Lawton said. “The people there were extremely welcoming, and they were very enthusiastic about the sport. That was probably the biggest take-away from the whole trip.”

Speaking of international lacrosse, the Leopards are recruiting all around the world!

Stand up Amesbury! They’re finally adding lacrosse for their high school!

Some sad news: Christopher Page, a lacrosse coach at James I. O’Neill High School in New York, died in a car crash on New Year’s Day. He was 27.

Philly Jawns

Brace yourselves for the “bomb cyclone!”

World News

$1 nacho fries are coming to Taco Bell!

Video of the Day

This is scary and a record setter!

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