clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

College Crosse Prospectus - February 21, 2018: Monmouth Over Wagner; Maryland Beats Penn; New Crossecast; Fresh College Crosse Top 20 Poll.

All the lacrosse news you can handle and plenty more!!!

Statue Of Liberty Closed Due To Government Shutdown Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for February 21, 2018.

College Crosse News.

Monmouth took care of business yesterday versus Wagner, 17-4.

“Today was a really good day for our guys. We bounced back nicely after a tough loss Saturday at Princeton where we played really well in a lot of areas of the game. Our guys handled some of the adjustments we made really well on a short week and that showed today. It was nice to get everyone on the field, and when they played they played with energy and our starters were excited and enthusiastic to see them performing well. “ - Head Coach Brian Fisher

Maryland beat Penn last night, 13-4. The victory gave BOSS Tillman win number 100 at College Park, the fast coach to do so in school history.

Maryland men’s lacrosse coach John Tillman became the fastest coach in program history to win 100 games as the No. 3 Terrapins defeated No. 17 Penn, 13-6, Wednesday evening at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium.

“Candidly I don’t think much about things like this,” said Tillman in regards to the achievement. “I’m so lucky to have the job I have. I think the greatest thing after the game was to see all those former players [on the video board] and how much I admire and value my relationships with them. Seeing them successful keeps me motivated. I just love coming in everyday and seeing our kids have success.”

Tillman moved past former coach Dave Cottle for third on Maryland’s victory list, as he improved his record to 100-29 (.775) with the Terps. Tillman’s overall coaching record of 120-48 (.714) is the second-highest winning percentage among active coaches behind Bill Tierney.

”Everything Coach Tillman teaches and preaches carries off the field and into life and I’ve become a better person because of him,” said senior goalie Dan Morris. “The attention-to-detail and hard work that he puts in every day - it’s not surprising to me at all.

New Crossecast dropped yesterday!!

Skyler hooked you all up with his women’s lacrosse power rankings!

Welcome to the inaugural College Crosse women’s lacrosse power rankings. Almost every Division-I program has played a game this season (save for Bryant, Coastal Carolina, Delaware State, George Mason, Howard, Loyola, Siena and UMass Lowell, all of whom will begin within the next week).

For the 106 teams that have played, 30 are undefeated. Boston College, Duke, and James Madison are the three squads sitting at 3-0, and they are rewarded handsomely with a spot in our rankings.

Speaking of rankings, we dropped our College Crosse Top 20 Poll Tuesday night. The post also includes our ballots for the Poll and our Week 3 Elimination Pool Picks.

William “Billy” Costigan Nathaniel Hawthorne once said “Families are always rising and falling in America.” Well the same can be said of lacrosse teams in 2018, as we had all sorts of movement from last week’s Poll, including a new #1 team on our College Crosse Top 20 Poll.

This youth lacrosse article out of Florida is wild: School district clears Ponte Vedra High School lacrosse coach.

The St. Johns County School District said it has cleared a well-known high school lacrosse coach who was investigated for possibly breaking athletic association rules. Parents asked the I-TEAM to look into complaints about Ponte Vedra lacrosse coach Tom West that made it all the way to the Florida High School Athletic Association, or FHSAA. In business records obtained by the I-TEAM, West is listed as the manager of three private lacross travel teams, which give players the opportunity to showcase and perfect their skills in preparation for the high school season.

“If you don’t play in his off-season leagues, then you won’t play on the high school teams,” one parent told the I-TEAM. “That’s a direct conflict of interest.” That parent and another News4Jax spoke with asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation against their sons, who still attend Ponte Vedra High School, where West coaches. Other parents told the I-TEAM that the few parents who are complaining are upset because their kids were benched or cut from the high school team. The St. Johns County School district said they’ve investigated and found no wrongdoing. The complaining parents said text messages we obtained through a public records requests show a conflict of interest. In the text message, West asked a lacrosse player, “Is there a reason why you are not playing for my Ponte Vedra team this weekend?” The student responded: “No, I really just wanna, it’s just, that with football practice, I would miss practices. I thought you wouldn’t let me play in the tourney.” West responded: “You are expected to be a major contributor this year.”

Utah is ready to go!!!

Eight months after University of Utah lacrosse head coach Brian Holman officially announced his team had been approved to become an official NCAA Division I sanctioned sport, he broke into a smile while recalling the moment that he found out that the Utes were moving up in the college lacrosse world. “My reaction was just sheer joy and happiness and extreme gratitude. That would be the three words that pop into my head right away,” Holman said. “My heart was filled with joy, because it was a process that we worked really hard toward, and a lot of people were doubting us, thinking it wouldn’t happen, and so when it finally came out, it was just kind of this rush of joy, for sure,” said Seth Neeleman, a sophomore and team captain.

Wonderful segment by WBAL 11 NBC on Dr. Miles Harrison, Hopkins legend Kyle Harrison’s father.

Despite racial tensions in the early 1970s, Miles Harrison Jr. -- a surgeon and groundbreaking sports figure -- and others formed an African-American college lacrosse team. Harrison was recently featured in an exhibit at Morgan State University. “I got an action figure depicting my stance,” Harrison said. The lessons learned while playing lacrosse helped shape the life of Harrison, taking him from student-athlete to surgeon. “This was a right-of-passage sport Native Americans played, and we adopted it as a sport, so I understand the spirituality of the sport,” Harrison said. As a young man in the early 1907’s, he and other Morgan State College students formed an African-American lacrosse team, took the field and made history.

Lacrosse in Oregon continues to grow, even as participation slows and concussion concerns emerge.

When the first snowflakes fell Sunday, a wry cheer arose from the grandstand.

Months after Syracuse women’s lacrosse coach Gary Gait and his Oregon counterpart, Katrina Dowd, discussed bringing the powerhouse Orange to the Northwest for a rare visit, their teams stepped on West Linn High School’s synthetic field amid a wintry mix of hail, rain and temperatures in the mid-30s.

Bringing the seventh-ranked Orange here was a coup by itself: The program hadn’t played on the West Coast in seven years.

Yet down on the field, wrapped in a rain-blocking jacket and pants, Ben Finklea was just as moved by what he saw in the stands: a sellout, with nearly 2,000 fans, many of whom were young girls and boys wearing white T-shirts commemorating the matchup.

For Finklea, the president of the Oregon Girls Lacrosse Association, the turnout was proof of lacrosse’s hardy foothold in the state despite conditions that, like Sunday’s weather, can often be challenging. Though the game’s history in Oregon dates to the 1960s, its roots across the state remain largely shallow, with many youth and high school clubs younger than the players who fill their rosters. That’s a far cry from the sport’s East Coast power centers in Maryland and New York, where lacrosse is a “lifestyle,” Dowd said, fostered and handed down through generations.

Vail lacrosse looks pretty cool.

Detroit Mercy made SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays of the Day on Tuesday night!

What’s Up, PhilaJersey?

HBO is filming down in Atlantic City.

The tunnel that connects Brigantine to Atlantic City will be closed both north and southbound for much of Thursday, according to the Brigantine Police Department.

The tunnel will be closed in both directions from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday. Heavy traffic is expected around Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and the White Horse Pike/Huron intersection.

The tunnel is being used to film a scene for a new HBO drama series called “Succession,” said Mark Amorosi, communications manager for the South Jersey Transportation Authority.

”Succession” has 10 episodes for its debut season, which starts in June and will air exclusively on HBO.

World/National News.

CHERRY BLOSSOMS ARE OUT IN DC!!

For the second winter in a row, exceptional warmth has been the theme in Washington. We can hardly remember the biting cold that rang in the New Year now that the temperature is 80 degrees — the earliest on record in the District.

Predictably, plants are starting to come out of their dormancy. Buds are sprouting on trees and bushes, and cherry blossoms — actual blossoms — are popping out on the Mall. Things aren’t as far along as they were at this point last year, but we’re seeing signals an early bloom is possible. Of course, as we saw last year, that can mean trouble.

The early-blooming cherry trees will be the first to pop. That’s what we’re seeing on the Mall near the Washington Monument and also across the river in Arlington. Around the Tidal Basin, we have yet to see anything significant from the Yoshino variety of cherry tree, which is what all of the cherry blossom festivities revolve around. The Yoshinos were originally planted by first lady Helen Taft and Iwa Chinda, the wife of the Japanese ambassador, in 1912. It may be weeks before those trees bloom.

Your GIF/Video for February 21, 2018.

#Blessed.

That’s it for today!! I’ll see you out there!! Make sure you follow us on social media!

Twitter: @College_Crosse

iTunes: College Crossecast

Facebook: College Crosse

Instagram: @College_Crosse

Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell