College Crosse Prospectus: This week’s individual honors; Georgetown’s Bucaro done for season

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here’s everything you need to know for April 24, 2018.

What You Missed

Yale is getting love from everybody...except from one person.

That’s why they’re our new #1 team in the nation.

If you missed Sunday’s action, Yale, Ohio State, and Rutgers all won.

Lacrosse The Nation

Let’s get to some of the national and conference honors for the week:

ACC:

• Offensive Player of the Week: Justin Guterding (Duke)
• Defensive Player of the Week: Alex Bassil (North Carolina)

America East:

• Offensive Player of the Week: Chris Pickel (Stony Brook)
• Defensive Player of the Week: Billy O’Hara (UMBC)
• Rookie of the Week: Tommy Linger (UMBC)

Big East:

• Attack Player of the Week: Jake Carraway (Georgetown)
• Midfielder of the Week: Connor Kirst (Villanova)
• Defensive Player of the Week: Dylan Gaines (Denver)
• Rookie of the Week: Ted Sullivan (Denver)

CAA:

• Co-Players of the Week: Sean Sconone (UMass) & Alex Woodall (Towson)
• Rookie of the Week: Chris Connolly (UMass)

Ivy League:

• Player of the Week: Ben Reeves (Yale)
• Rookie of the Week: Chris Brown (Princeton)

MAAC:

• Offensive Player of the Week: Matthew Vangalen (Detroit Mercy)
• Defensive Player of the Week: Will Vitelli (Quinnipiac)
• Rookie of the Week: Logan Shamblin (Detroit Mercy)

NEC:

• Player of the Week: Chris Blewitt (Saint Joseph’s)
• Defensive Player of the Week: Jack Toomb (Robert Morris)
• Rookie of the Week: Mike Adler (Saint Joseph’s)

Patriot League:

• Offensive Player of the Week: Jack Ray (Navy)
• Defensive Player of the Week: Foster Huggins (Loyola)
• Faceoff Specialist: Joe Varello (Navy)
• Goalkeeper of the Week: Joe McSorley (Boston University)
• Rookie of the Week: Chris Gray (Boston University)

The Big Ten and SoCon release their individual accolades later today.

Here’s the USILA Coaches polls for Division II and Division III:

USILA

USILA

This was the bad time for the Georgetown Hoyas to have a bad injury to an impact player. Daniel Bucaro is done for the year:

Cuse got some sweet orange chrome lids for the ACC Tournament!

Patrick Stevens for US Lacrosse Magazine has a new Bracketology post.

Yale’s Chris Fake is a really good defenseman, as Matt Kinnear of Inside Lacrosse explains:

“Coach Bax [Andrew Baxter] and I went through all the matchups. We know everything they’re going to do because we are prepared so well. Any of us can play with anyone because we’re so prepared,” he said.

“He’s a really competitive kid. He felt like he needed to know everyone on the attack anyway in case he was switched on a pick. For him, he’s going to play the same way. He’s going to be aggressive and fast and strong,” said [Andy] Shay.

He frustrated [Tehoka] Nanticoke, lifting his stick and matching up with the big guy physically. It surely was a team effort, with Jerry O’Connor sliding and a phenomenal game from senior Chris Keating. Fake had a groundball and caused four turnovers.

[Ben] Reeves gets it every day in practice. It’s one of the many reasons he’s one of the best in the country.

“Our defense in practice every day is incredible. We have some meat sticks down there. Chris Fake, Chris Keating, Jerry O’Connell are all massive humans,” said Reeves.

Is Casey Rose a better lacrosse player or skiier?

A good read on Atlanta Blaze owner Andre Gudger from Matt Rybaltowski of Forbes:

Just as importantly, Gudger is determined to spread lacrosse through Metropolitan Atlanta, an area that is steadily warming up to the sport. Lacrosse, the fastest-growing sport in North America, is currently offered at approximately 100 high schools in North Atlanta, where the Blaze play their home games on the campus of Kennesaw State University. For Sunday’s 2018 home opener against the Florida Launch, the Blaze will provide more than 50 youngsters from underserved communities with free lacrosse sticks in an effort to expand lacrosse across Atlanta.

”Bringing the Atlanta Blaze to the community is refreshing to me and is something that is part of our goals for the year,” Gudger said. “In fact, it is going to be a part of our vision statement: to be great on the field and great in the community.”

Moreover, Blaze president Jim Pfeifer hopes to work closely with the top select travel teams and recreation programs in Atlanta to create a “lacrosse participation pyramid,” throughout the area. Already, several Blaze players, including long stick midfielder Scott Ratliff, coach high school programs around the city. The players, Pfeifer said, are extremely accessible to the fans, always willing to stay after practices and games to sign autographs. This hasn’t always been the case at cities around Major League Lacrosse, where some players have made few appearances for their respective teams besides Gameday. Some even opt to live hours from team headquarters.

Gudger also plans to use his tech background to further relate with fans. One of the team’s main strategies involves showcasing player content as a way to connect with supporters. As a result, the Blaze’s website may contain instructional videos featuring the team’s top players and a variety of trick shots before the season ends. In the coming weeks, Blaze fans may also see blogs on a “Day in the Life,” of [Connor] Kelly or Kevin Rice, who finished 2017 tied for seventh in the MLL in points.

STAND UP, PHILADELPHIA! Wings coach Paul Day talked to 6abc about his new gig and his time as a police officer!

Day, a native of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, has worked for years to get to this point where he has the chance to lead a Philadelphia team to a championship.

But his hard work and determination have not always been solely focused on the lacrosse field. In fact, Day just recently retired from his full-time day job - police officer.

”When I was at university, I was sharpening skates at a sports store. A guy I used to play hockey with, he was drafted by the Calgary Flames, he came in with his skates, I thought he was still playing, but he said, ‘No, I’m retired, I’m a police officer.’ I said, ‘What’s that like?’ He said, ‘It’s like being on a team,” Day said.

For 27 years, until his retirement last August, Day was a member of the Niagara Regional Police Service in Ontario. Though the two professions may seem dissimilar, that’s far from the truth, Day said.

“Dedication, commitment, teamwork, sometimes it’s life and death rather than wins and losses, but it’s very similar. It was a great career, but I’m happy to be doing lacrosse fulltime,” Day said.

Shoutout to Hobart’s D. Bennett Moore!

Philly Jawns

Sixers-Heat Game 5 is tonight.

World News

Former President George H.W. Bush is in intensive care.

Video of the Day

Garlic bread...in space!

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