GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here’s everything you need to know for October 4, 2018.

College Crosse News

Big news for The Island! Long Island University to unify Brooklyn and Post athletic programs; will compete in NEC.

Long Island University will combine their Brooklyn and Post athletic departments into one and move to the Northeast Conference in time for the start of the 2019-20 academic year, which was announced this morning in a press conference at the New York Athletic Club. The two campuses are roughly an hour apart from each other.

The LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds are currently a member of the NEC, while the LIU-Post Pioneers are a member of the East Coast Conference with football as an affiliate member of the Northeast-10. With the move, football will be a member of Division I FCS. All LIU teams will be immediately eligible to compete in NEC and NCAA tournaments, according to a university spokesperson.

LIU will feature a Los Angeles Chargers-like blue and gold color scheme. Their official mascot will be chosen by LIU students and alumni.

In regards to lacrosse, Post is the only campus that features a men’s lacrosse team. The Pioneers finished last season 10-5 and fell to NYIT in overtime in the ECC Championship game in head coach Eric Wolf’s first year in charge. LIU will be the 75th team in Division I men’s lacrosse and the ninth in the Northeast Conference, joining Merrimack who announced their move back in September. The NEC will be tied with the Patriot League as the largest men’s lacrosse conferences with nine teams each.

Looks like LIU is already making friends.

Shot clock a hit in early reviews from Syracuse lacrosse.

Schools are breaking in a new 80-second shot clock that’s designed to pick up the pace and create more scoring chances. Teams have 20 seconds to clear the ball out of their own end and then 60 seconds to put a shot on net. SU has been practicing with the clock and also played with it Sunday in a pair of scrimmages against Marist and Binghamton. The early reviews from the Orange, as you might imagine, are glowing. “We all love it so far. It just speeds up the pace of play,’’ said SU attack Stephen Rehfuss. “There’s no sitting on the ball, or anything like that. Especially for us, we’ve got a lot of athletes in the middle of the field, so it’s been a lot of fun.’’

#AnotherOne

Lacrosse background helps CMR’s Delcomte.

Many high school football players use track and field in the spring in attempts to get bigger, stronger and faster. David Delcomte, who loved baseball as a youth, prefers a different ball and stick these days. “I play for the Great Falls Fury,” the C.M. Russell High standout junior said of the lacrosse club team in town. “It definitely makes you quicker and faster.” Delcomte plays fast for the Rustlers all right. The 5-11, 180-pound junior is a key performer for the impressive CMR defense, which Friday night hits the road to take on Billings Skyview. “He’s a good kid and a good football player,” said Russell head coach Gary Lowry. “He’s worked hard in the offseason and has really gotten strengthened up.” Lacrosse has helped. “He’s tough. Playing without a lot of pads in lacrosse, I’m sure that’s toughened him up,” Lowry said. “He’s a good player this year and next year I think he’ll really be one to watch.”

Looking good, Harvard.

Here’s a nice article on Chris Cloutier joining the Philadelphia Wings.

For the remainder of October, he’s a millwright assistant who spends a significant chunk of his spare time at the gym. Next month — Nov. 3 to be exact — the burly Kitchener native becomes a full-time lacrosse player. Chris Cloutier is counting down the days to his training camp debut with the Philadelphia Wings, the expansion franchise that selected him with its first pick, second overall, in last week’s National Lacrosse League draft.

The 22-year-old Cloutier immediately becomes the face of the franchise and will figure prominently in the team’s marketing blitz when he moves into his Philadelphia apartment at the start of November. The Wings open their inaugural campaign on Dec. 15 at the Wells Fargo Center against the visiting Buffalo Bandits. “I assume the expectations are quite high, just because of me being their first-ever pick. There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that,” said Cloutier. “It’s such an honour. Austin Staats went No. 1 and he’s an amazing player, super talented, so to be drafted right behind him by a program that is just starting out, it’s an incredible feeling.”

It sounds like Lafayette isn’t messing around.

US Lacrosse with a good article on Albany’s new women’s lacrosse head coach, Katie Rowan.

Katie Rowan grew up just a few miles from the University of Albany in nearby Delmar and graduated from Bethlehem High School (N.Y.) in 2005. The Albany area is — and always has been — home for the former Syracuse star.

After spending three years as head coach of the Wagner women’s lacrosse team, Rowan was named the head coach of the Great Danes in June. There won’t be a parade with a marching band, but this is definitely a homecoming.

“This is home for me,” said Rowan, who went 31-27 at Wagner with two NCAA tournament appearances. “I grew up just a few minutes down the road from the University of Albany, and to be able to lead the program here in my hometown is really special to me. The great potential that is here at the University with the program, it was just a really good fit for me.”

Practice makes perfect!

What’s Up, PhilaJersey?

Now that’s a headline I wasn’t expecting to read: Gabe Kapler named in a wild report about the FBI’s investigation into the Dodgers.

The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI have launched an investigation into the recruitment of international players by MLB teams, according to a report Tuesday by Sports Illustrated. The “sweeping probe,” as Sports Illustrated refers to it, is exploring “possible corruption” within the recruitment of international players, “centered on potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” One of the teams most prominently mentioned in FBI files obtained by Sports Illustrated are the Dodgers, who Gabe Kapler served as director of player development for starting in 2014 before being named manager of the Phillies last October.

World/National News

This sounds like how many sci-fi/horror films begin: Weird giant may be the first known alien moon.

About 8,000 light-years away, a giant planet circles an aging star, marching once around its sun in a single Earth-year. But that planet, called Kepler 1625b, might not be traveling completely alone. Scientists now suspect the planet’s skies are filled by an orbiting mega-moon, a stunningly large world the size of Neptune that may be the first moon spotted outside our solar system. Early hints of its existence surfaced in July 2017, when scientists tentatively announced that they’d found some evidence of an orbital companion for Kepler 1625b. But it wasn’t until the Hubble Space Telescope aimed its eye at the faraway star a year ago that scientists were able to gather enough data to build the case for the so-called exomoon’s presence.

Your GIF/Video for October 4, 2018

When someone calls you a “good boy” but you’re just being yourself.

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Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell