GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for June 9, 2018.

College Crosse News

Chris did a great post on what to expect from St. Bonaventure & Utah in 2019.

The 2018 season is done. The Yale Bulldogs will now work on defending their national championship and recruit for the future this summer, while 70 other teams will retool for next season and try to knock Yale off the throne. And then we have the new kids on the block. 2019 will feature two new teams to the Division I landscape. The St. Bonaventure Bonnies and the Utah Utes will field varsity lacrosse teams to bring the total number of Division I college lacrosse teams to 73. As of now, they’re the last two school to add men’s lacrosse at a Division I level. We haven’t really mentioned these teams this past season, so maybe we should check in on where they are and how they might fare in 2019.

Speaking of Utah, check out episode 1 of Going West.

With change in Patriot League tournament, Loyola Maryland men’s lacrosse adds Rutgers to 2019 schedule.

Since the Patriot League adopted a tournament format in men’s lacrosse in 2004, there has been a weekend off between the end of conference play and the start of the NCAA tournament. But beginning next season, the league tournament will be moved back to coincide with other conference tournaments that take place on the last weekend before the start of the NCAA tournament. Loyola Maryland coach Charley Toomey is the first to acknowledge that he long resisted any such move, as the Greyhounds usually faced Johns Hopkins in that open week. But since the Blue Jays moved to the Big Ten Conference in 2015, the annual rivalry game has shifted to February. So Toomey is happy to see the conference enact the change in schedule.

“You want to play against top-quality out-of-conference opponents, and we were locked into playing a league game in February with one bye weekend going forward,” he said. “It just really made it hard. If you wanted to play tough teams, you had to back your season into late January or early February. This gives us a late-February game against a nonconference opponent. I think it’s exciting for the league. … I think this gives us the opportunity as a conference to go out and schedule some quality games that will not only help your own team but also the league in general. So I applaud the league for moving forward with this.”

Lacrosse players save teammate who collapsed during practice.

It was just like any other practice for the Westview High School boys lacrosse team until a ball to the chest stopped sophomore Colby Clay’s heart. At first, teammates thought Clay was joking around, stumbling and clutching his chest like any player who takes a hit. The ball had somehow hit him directly on the chest instead of on the padding. It wasn’t until Clay fell over that senior Ben Wu jumped into action, using skills he learned in the Health Careers Pathway program to assess Clay’s condition. Wu said he looked for pulse, respiration and consciousness. Clay was gasping for breath and Wu knew that meant he wasn’t getting the oxygen he needed. Wu remained calm and started doing chest compressions. Meanwhile senior Ben Balzer ran for his phone to call 911. Eventually, a school nurse and trainer from a nearby baseball game arrived for support, but Wu continued until EMS arrived. “In the moment I understood that if I didn’t do anything, he would die, Wu said. EMS shocked Clay with an AED before taking him to the hospital, where he woke up and learned about what happened from his mom.

KOIN interviewed the three lads for a segment last night.

Great picture of the Pioneers celebrating their seniors.

Notre Dame is still balling out in Spain.

Patrick Stevens unveiled his way early 2019 predictions, here are spots 1=5.

5. VIRGINIA

2018 record: 12-6 (1-3 Atlantic Coast)

Last seen: Getting bounced in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Loyola, though a strong fourth quarter made the final margin (14-12) look a bit more palatable.

Senior starts lost: 42 of 180 (23.3 percent)

Senior scoring departing: 53 of 366 points (14.5 percent)

Initial forecast: Say hello to a bunch that will be a popular choice as the breakout team of 2019. The Cavaliers made measurable progress in coach Lars Tiffany’s second season, ending a lengthy ACC losing streak (by defeating North Carolina), returning to the ACC tournament after a four-year absence (and beating Syracuse when they got there) and comfortably making it back to the NCAA tournament. The collection of offensive talent in Charlottesville is considerable, and Tiffany would be the first to say it was mostly assembled by predecessor Dom Starsia. Best of all, it’s young. Michael Kraus (44 goals, 39 assists) and Dox Aitken (39 goals, 12 assists) will be juniors. Ian Laviano (37 goals) and Matt Moore (19 goals, 15 assists) will be sophomores. Plus, do-it-all midfielder Ryan Conrad will presumably be back after a season-ending knee injury; he’s eligible for a medical hardship waiver and should be a redshirt junior next year. Also a junior is Justin Schwenk, who won 59.8 percent of his draws this year. Yet the defensive end of the field is a cause for concern. Virginia loses its best defenseman (Scott Hooper, an honorable mention All-America pick), and its goalies combined for a .481 save percentage this year. The Cavaliers will be fun to watch, but any realistic chance to make a deep run next May is subject to getting more stops than in recent seasons.

Ed Lee of the Baltimore Sun wrote up his review & preview of Loyola.

Here is the fifth installment of a series that checks in with the seven Division I programs in the state to give a glimpse into the past and the future. Teams are scheduled to appear according to the chronological order in which their seasons ended. Thursday’s visit was with Towson. Friday’s visit is with Loyola Maryland, which finished with a 13-4 overall record and a 7-1 mark in the Patriot League.

REVIEW

The good: Another year, another Patriot League tournament crown for the Greyhounds, who captured their fourth in the past five years and improved to 4-0 in final appearances. They have been the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament three times and are 8-1 overall. The value of a Patriot League championship is not lost on coach Charley Toomey.

“We expect that, and not to put that towards anybody else, but we talk about that from Day One, that it’s a priority for us because it’s a road to the [NCAA] tournament,” he said. “But then we also talk about the strength of our out-of-conference games and the importance of winning those games, and certainly this year, we’ll be able to go back and look at games that challenged us to get better. Look at the Bucknell loss at home [12-11 on March 24], and quite honestly, I think we needed that to move forward and to be a better team. So I think it’s a true accomplishment.”

What’s Up, PhilaJersey?

Not your parents’ prom: Inside Philly’s elaborate send-off culture.

Saudia Shuler promised there would be action. Last year, the North Philly mom made national headlines after dropping $25,000 for a prom sendoff. You might remember the camel she hired for the Dubai-themed bash she threw for her son, J.J. Eden Jr. When it came to creating a sendoff this year based on the film Black Panther, let’s just say she sensed which way to go. Her panther, Queen, stayed caged and mostly quiet Wednesday evening as hundreds of people gathered, scores in costume, on 22nd Street near Shuler’s soul food restaurant. Who would benefit from Shuler’s largesse this year? She had held a sort of casting call for the fete; she chose Dayanna McBride, a graduating senior at the YesPhilly school from South Philly as the star of her show, which went up almost immediately on social media.

World/National News

Kevin Durant is your 2018 NBA Finals MVP after the Warriors swept the Cavs.

Kevin Durant was named the 2018 NBA Finals MVP on Friday night after the Golden State Warriors finished a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers with a 108-85 blowout win. The 6-foot-11 small forward captured the award for the second consecutive year as the Warriors won their third championship in four years. “It’s just about the journey, all season,” Durant said. “Getting up every day, going to work with these guys, it’s amazing. The environment is incredible. It’s good for you to be around guys like this. It helps you become a better basketball player and a better man.”

Durant averaged 28.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game in the series. He secured his first playoff triple-double of 20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in Friday night’s Game 4. In Game 3, a pivotal swing game, Durant exploded for 43 points, including a deep dagger 3-pointer late in the contest to seal the victory. Stephen Curry, who was in the running for the award, registered a game-high 37 points and knocked down seven 3-pointers in Game 4. He splashed in 22 triples in the series.

Your GIF/Video for June 9, 2018

This pup really loves his showers

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