GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for March 2, 2018.

Midwest Classic Game Day

We have a nice Friday doubleheader today to ease us into the weekend. Unfortunately neither game will be streamed/televised. However, there is a radio broadcast for both match-ups if you want to go old school this afternoon.

Below is the specially customized Big Board for this afternoon’s Midwest Classic going down in Pontiac, MI. Clicking on the team name will take you to that team’s homepage. Clicking on the Radio Broadcast cell will take you to the that game’s radio call, while clicking on the Live Stats cell will take you to the live stats of that game.

College Crosse News.

We dropped a new Crossecast on Wednesday night!

On this edition of College Crossecast I’m joined by Safe and Jake as we take our weekly look around the world of college lacrosse. But in addition to our usual stuff, we’ve got a million dollar idea for everybody: Saturday Night Lacrosse.

We start off by looking around the games from last weekend, including the midweek games of Penn-Maryland and UNC-Hopkins (3:00), discuss Penn State’s predicament (20:30), a scoreboard breaker at Klockner between UVA and Princeton (23:40), and some thrillers out of Army-Syracuse, Duke-Penn (31:50), and Ohio State-Jacksonville (42:15). Then we take our look at the top 20 polls (53:56).

Jake and I then make our presentation for Saturday Night Lacrosse at 57:13, as we discuss why we think it’s a really great idea. Then if that doesn’t enlighten you by the end of it, we dive into a weekend of some big games in College Park, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charlottesville, and Chapel Hill (1:12:55) among others. We offer our upset specials and game picks as well (1:25:45). I also have a special announcement at the end, too.

Time to go to work at Lehigh.

The Lad Skyler released his new women’s lacrosse power rankings yesterday.

There is a new number one team in the women’s power rankings this week, and it’s the Stony Brook Seawolves, who won their home opener last weekend in a 13-goal rout of Denver. All three wins by Stony Brook so far this season are over teams that were ranked in at least one major poll at the time of the game, and in all three wins, the Seawolves won quite easily.

Following Maryland’s overtime loss to North Carolina last Saturday, the decision to make Stony Brook the first overall team was easy. But after the Seawolves, it’s a dog fight. Five or six teams have legitimate claims to the second-overall place in the rankings.

Let’s sort that out.

The Boy Chris does his usual reviews and previews, and delves into the initial Tewaaraton Watch List on this week’s episode of Across College Lacrosse podcast. Plus, how might Syracuse do in their next five games, and is winning on the road better than at home?

Episode 9 of Across College Lacrosse is here! I recap the midweek games and preview the games that are happening this weekend. But before that, I delve into the initial Tewaaraton Watch List for the men and discover some interesting names. Plus, Syracuse and their next five games, and whether some people prefer winning on the road than winning at home.

Show Topics

Midweek recap (1:49)

Tewaaraton Watch List (9:43)

Syracuse and their next five games (18:30)

Winning at home vs. winning on the road (26:00)

Weekend preview and picks (34:03)

Speaking of podcasts, BOSS Madalon was on the Princeton Laxcast to talk about the Virginia game and this weekend’s game versus Johns Hopkins.

The Diamondback with a good article on Maryland’s recent struggles versus Notre Dame’s defense and what BOSS Tillman is doing about it in the run-up to this weekend’s huge top-10 match-up between the Fighting Irish and the Terps.

Not many teams have challenged Maryland men’s lacrosse since coach John Tillman took over in 2011. The Terps are 100-29 under his watch. They won last year’s NCAA title.

But Notre Dame has beaten Maryland twice in two years, holding the Terps to their two worst scoring outputs since 2013. No other program has experienced similar defensive success against Tillman.

Still, No. 2 Maryland remains hopeful its new-look attack can manufacture offense against No. 8 Notre Dame on Saturday by being patient against the Fighting Irish’s pressure.

Shout out to my man Parker putting in work for the culture.

The scoreboard operator of this weekend’s Rutgers vs. Brown game should get a lot of rest on Friday night.

The Rutgers men’s lacrosse team is set to kick off a crucial three-game road stretch on Saturday when the team heads to Providence, Rhode Island to take on Brown.

The No. 15 Scarlet Knights (3-1) are coming off a 12-7 win over Fairfield, where senior goalie Max Edelmann and the offense were clutch down the stretch putting away the Stags.

After being ranked No. 18 to start the season, the Bears (1-1) had a poor start, losing in overtime to an unranked Quinnipiac team.

They bounced back a week ago, blowing out Stony Brook by a score of 18-11. In that game, faceoff specialist Ted Ottens went 18-of-24 (75 percent) from the ‘X’ and added two assists to keep Brown in control.

That is immediately a matchup to look for, as senior faceoff specialist Joe Francisco is back to full strength for Rutgers and went 11-of-18 (61.1 percent) against Fairfield. Head coach Brian Brecht would not commit to Francisco as the lone starter, as he has used senior Alex Schoen extensively this season.

”(Francisco) is right in the mix, and he was our starter last year,” Brecht said. “Schoen and him took all the reps two years ago. I like the two-headed monster and the 1-2 punch that we have with both of them right now fully healthy.”

Woof, tough to see Grant on a scooter: As Penn State men’s lacrosse continues to struggle, injured star Grant Ament progresses.

Some of Grant Ament’s teammates were surprised at how much he moved around. For a player with an injured foot, Ament found his way into every huddle and paced the sidelines in a scooter. “It’s probably been a humbling role for Grant,” coach Jeff Tambroni said. “He’s never been on the sidelines in that capacity.” Ament injured his foot after taking a plant step in practice days before the season opener. The junior has never had a long term injury like the one that has sidelined him for the start of the Nittany Lions’ season.

“It’s definitely something I never anticipated nor have ever gone through before,” Ament said. Ament’s dodges are some of the best in the nation. Hard cuts and spins are a part of his style, making this kind of injury a matter of time. The junior is one of the most talented players on the Nittany Lions’ roster, receiving multiple preseason honors. Tambroni said the junior’s decision making and ability to read defenders makes him dangerous.

The Tewaaraton Watch List was released!!

The Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2018 Tewaaraton Award men’s and women’s watch lists. The lists include the top players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse and highlight the early contenders for the 2018 Tewaaraton Award.

Among the 2018 watch list returnees are 2017 finalists Marie McCool (UNC), Kylie Ohlmiller (Stony Brook), Trevor Baptiste (Denver), Connor Fields (Albany), Ben Reeves (Yale), Pat Spencer (Loyola).

”Six of ten finalists return and this year, as always, will be a wide open and competitive race for the 2018 Tewaaraton Award,” said Jeff Harvey, chairman of The Tewaaraton Foundation. “The 100 players are deserving of being on our first Tewaaraton Watch Lists of the season. Our selection committees have as broad a field to choose from as we’ve ever had.”

The Tewaaraton Award annually honors the top male and female college lacrosse player in the United States. The selection committees are made up of premier collegiate coaches and are appointed annually by The Tewaaraton Foundation.

I see you, Robert Morris: Jimmy Perkins has used patience to excel for Robert Morris lacrosse.

Jimmy Perkins’ lacrosse career at Robert Morris has been defined by patience.

It took patience for him to push through his first two seasons, when two separate injuries kept him off the field both years. That patience taught him to appreciate the game that he loves so much even more, but it’s also helped him out on the field.

After scoring 18 points in 16 games in his first year on the field for Robert Morris last season, Perkins, a Quaker Valley graduate, has burst onto the scene with 21 points in four games in his redshirt junior season. That point total, as well his marks of 9 goals and 12 assists, rank first on the 2-2 Colonials.

“Being injured those first two years was definitely pretty mentally taxing. Especially going to school, you came here to play Division I lacrosse, and it definitely gives you your doubts at times,” Perkins said.

“But honestly I think I’m a better person from it, and a better lacrosse player from it. It taught me a lot of patience in life and on the field, and it kind of made me not take things for granted. I’m just happy to be out on the field and be able to give the full effort and not take for granted those opportunities.”

Indiana University lost to Rutgers (a lacrosse school) last night in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament in Madison Square Garden.

Steve Pikiell can be forgiven if he experienced a little deja vu as he called timeout after timeout in the early stages of Rutgers’ 76-69 victory over Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament second round. When these teams met four weeks ago, Indiana jumped out to leads of 11-2, 17-3 and 22-6 en route to a 22-point triumph. The same thing happened Thursday night, as Indiana scored the first seven points and had a pair of 14-point leads in the first 14 minutes. But unlike the previous affair in Piscataway, Rutgers woke up in a big way. “As I told the players, these games aren’t easy,’’ Pikiell said, “but we have to continue to stay the course.’’

Lax World CEO files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.

Lax World CEO Frank Barbarino filed for voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection last month, the latest development in the saga of the troubled lacrosse retailer. Barbarino listed liabilities between $1 million and $10 million in a Feb. 11 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland. He also listed assets of between $500,000 and $1 million. The former Jos. A. Bank senior vice president and general merchandise manager led the group that bought Lax World in 2013.

Robert “Bobby” Martino, a former professional lacrosse player who was chief operating officer of Lax World, and Michael Stewart, another former Jos. A. Bank executive who was an executive at Lax World, previously filed for Chapter bankruptcy protection in January. Robert Grossbart, an attorney at Grossbart, Portney & Rosenberg representing all three executives, could not be reached for comment.

Lacrosse is ready to go big time in IL: Lacrosse ready for step up to Illinois High School Association.

It’s a great time for high school lacrosse in Illinois. Monday begins the first season of the sport for boys and girls under full sanctioning of the Illinois High School Association. Seventy-eight boys teams and 59 girls teams -- all in the Chicago area but for the O’Fallon girls and the Dunlap boys -- are slated to participate in the first lacrosse state series that concludes with dual state finals at Hinsdale Central from May 31-June 2.

“I believe it was a good move,” said second-year Glenbard West girls coach Laura Finfrock. “Lacrosse is something in the Midwest that is growing very rapidly and it’s nice to be brought in with the other sports,” said Finfrock, who “chose my passion” when deciding between her job as a pathology support technician or coaching high school lacrosse. “It’s not a little sport anymore, we’re growing, there’s more and more youth coming up. The interest is exciting. It’s nothing like the East Coast or the West Coast, but we’re definitely growing and it’s a great sign. It’s nice to be in with soccer and football, that group.”

What’s Up, PhilaJersey?

Big news if you are a falafel fan in the Philadelphia area!!

Mamoun’s Falafel, a New York staple for Middle Eastern cuisine since 1971, is coming to Philadelphia. Per Eater Philly, the iconic falafel and shawarma spot, which also has locations in north and central Jersey, Dallas, and New Haven, Connecticut, will take over a 1400 square-foot space in a mixed-use development at 300 Market Street. The restaurant is also planning an expansion to Chicago.

Philly is already rich in falafel options, with longtime favorites like Mama’s Vegetarian and the seasonal King of Falafel cart at 16th and JFK, plus newcomers like Michael Solomonov’s trendy, tehina-soaked Goldie. Mamoun’s offers platters and sandwiches — inside the pita — stuffed with crispy-fried falafel patties, lamb shawarma, and chicken and lamb kebobs, with options like hummus, baba ghanoush, and tabbouli. They’ll also offer sides like seasoned rice, fries, salad, and stuffed grape leaves.

World/National News.

KFC UK is running out of gravy.

First it was chicken, now there’s a gravy shortage at KFC locations in the United Kingdom. Some restaurant are serving a limited menu, with many not serving gravy at all. KFC faces problems with a new delivery system using DHL.

Almost every KFC location was forced to close last week when they didn’t have any chicken to serve. The gravy problem is not forcing any additional closures. Suppliers are now being told to bypass the new system and deliver ingredients straight to restaurants. A KFC spokesperson says the chain is working hard to resolve the issue. Hundreds of stores closed because of the chicken shortage. The company claims that 95-percent of them are back up and running.

Your GIF/Video for March 2, 2018.

Man, if you have to say goodbye, this is the way to do it.

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.