GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here’s everything you need to know for October 22, 2018.

College Crosse News

The big story of the weekend: Sources - Wagner hires Monmouth assistant Bill McCutcheon as next head coach.

The Wagner Seahawks have hired Monmouth Hawks assistant coach Bill McCutcheon as their next men’s lacrosse head coach, multiple sources have told College Crosse.

McCutcheon replaces Matt Poskay, who resigned from his position last month to become the head coach at Division III Montclair State. Poskay has since been added to Montclair State’s coaches web page, but is still on Wagner’s coaches page.

A Wagner spokesperson said the school does not have an official announcement regarding a head coach at this time, but the school hopes and expects to make a formal announcement next week. A Monmouth spokesperson confirmed McCutcheon is no longer at the university.

McCutcheon comes over from Monmouth after spending the program’s first five years as an assistant coach. He worked with the Hawks offense which included recent graduate Bryce Wasserman.

The other big story from the weekend is that NJIT will be joining the NEC as an associate member for lacrosse starting in 2020.

The NJIT Highlanders have accepted an invitation to join the Northeast Conference as an associate member in men’s lacrosse beginning in 2020 in a joint press release sent by NJIT and the NEC. The Highlanders are beginning their fifth year as a Division I program and have spent their entire time as an independent. College Crosse visited the program back in June and had a chance to talk to head coach Travis Johnson and assistant coach Alex Lopes. One of their big goals was to get the program in a conference and were targeting the NEC. This should help get the program off and rolling after winning three games in four years.

“We are very excited to join the Northeast Conference as an associate member in men’s lacrosse. Since our program’s inception, we have been searching for a competitive league within our geographic region and the NEC is a perfect fit,” said NJIT’s Director of Athletics Lenny Kaplan in the press release. “This partnership is the final piece to help us grow into the competitive program that we envisioned since its launch.”

BBC Sport did a wonderful segment on Uganda Lacrosse and the growth of the game in the rest of Africa.

Uganda, the only African nation to have ever competed at the Lacrosse World Championships, are hoping they can help grow the sport across the continent. Head coach Peter Ginnegar says his players can compete physically with the world’s best but in years to come.

The cold & rain couldn’t stop the Cornell men’s lacrosse team from hosting the 14th annual 21 Run this weekend.

Denver love the kids!!

Carroll County Times with a nice profile on a women’s lacrosse player working hard to get back on the field after a torn Achilles.

It’s 4 p.m. on a Wednesday, and Anna Ruby is lying face down on a table while Morgan Johnson kneads the back of her calf with a heavy cylinder made of steel. This process is painful for Ruby, and she cringes as Johnson, her physical therapist at Evolution Sports Physiotherapy in Cockeysville, guides the rod down the back of her leg in order to assess the tightness of her muscle.

He stops when he reaches a defined scar that protrudes from Ruby’s left ankle. The scar, which Ruby describes as a “great conversation-starter,” is hard to miss. It’s a symbol of recovery for the Westminster High School senior, who suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the Class 3A girls lacrosse state championship game May 24 against Mount Hebron. The Owls won 9-5 to capture the program’s first state title, and Ruby scored a team-high three goals before leaving the game five minutes into the start of the second half. Ruby said she felt a lot of pain in that moment, but a torn Achilles never crossed her mind.

Ohio State had a box training session with Team USA.

Always trust coach Amplo’s sartorial advice.

It’s not hard to start off on the right foot when your kicks are painted with the Marquette rainbow. On his brown leather dress shoes, University President Michael Lovell has a hand-painted dark blue, championship blue and gold stripe outlining the toe boxes ... “At graduation when I’m walking down at the arena, people will be yelling at me, ‘Love your shoes,’” Lovell jokes.

Men’s lacrosse head coach Joe Amplo gave the shoes to Lovell as a birthday present nearly two years ago. Only two pairs of these shoes exist. Lovell has one pair, while Amplo has the other. Amplo’s shoes include a subtle Marquette lacrosse logo on each side. Adding the logo is simple, but deciding on a paint is a much harder process, as it must handle Wisconsin’s treacherous winters.

Wesleyan men’s lacrosse team got their rings over the weekend!

The University of Scranton’s lacrosse clinic was a big hit with local kids.

Some kids in Lackawanna County had the opportunity to learn a new sport today. The University of Scranton held the US Lacrosse, TryLax Clinic. The 6 to 14-year-olds had the chance to pick up a stick for the first time and learn the basics. Some of the college kids helped out over a hundred boys and girls, who showed up for this national program’s stop in the Electric City.

”They’re doing some basic skill work,” organizer Becky Davis said. “It’s both boys and girls playing today. So, we have ground balls, shooting, passing and catching, just drills that’ll get them interested and excited about the game. We have probably 20 University of Scranton, both men’s and women’s players here and they are doing a phenomenal job.”

Sounds like Cleveland State’s inaugural Fall Celebration Banquet went very well.

What’s Up, PhilaJersey?

The return of Hound-O-Ween in Philadelphia.

Halloween is going to the dogs. This Saturday is Hound-O-Ween, a special event at The Piazza in Northern Liberties, and you and your hound are invited. Hound-O-Ween is Street Tails Animal Rescue’s sixth annual pet costume contest, full of treats, prizes and creative costumes coupled by man and dog. Allison Lewis with Street Tails said it’s for a good cause, too. “Street Tails Animal Rescue is a rescue for dogs and cats in the Philadelphia area. We treat them and make sure they are OK, and then we look for a forever home for them,” she said. During the event, Lewis said several vendors will be there for the Tournament de Tacos, in which neighborhood restaurants throw down the gauntlet in a taco-making brawl. The winner earns the title of “Best Neighborhood Taco” for the year.

World/National News

That’s one pricey rock: 12-pound lunar meteorite sells for more than $600,000.

A 12-pound (5.5 kilogram) chunk of the moon that fell to the Earth as a lunar meteorite has been sold at auction for more than $600,000. Boston-based RR Auction announced Friday the $612,500 winning bid for the meteorite, composed of six fragments that fit together like a puzzle, came from a representative working with the Tam Chuc Pagoda complex in Ha Nam Province, Vietnam. RR predicted it would get $500,000 at auction.

Your GIF/Video for October 22, 2018

Pretty cool video of what goes into making a wedding cake.

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