GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here’s everything you need to know for August 1, 2018.

College Crosse News

North Carolina, come on down! You’re next in our Year in Review series.

Season Summary Remember when UNC went 4-10 in 2006? You probably don’t want to if you’re a Tar Heel fan. But despite not being under .500, North Carolina was very unimpressive in 2018 just two years after winning a national championship.

Just by looking at the record to start the season, you may have thought things were going well with a 6-0 record and a two-goal road win over Johns Hopkins. But during that win streak, the Tar Heels won overtime games against Furman and Lehigh and a one-goal game over St. John’s with a few seconds left in the game. Then the losing began. The Heels lost games to Denver, Hofstra, Richmond, and Maryland before entering ACC play at a surprising 6-4 record. In their conference opener against Duke UNC led by two goals late in the third quarter. But Joe Robertson’s buzzer beater with a second left in the quarter started a four-goal Blue Devil run which gave Duke the lead and eventually the win. After giving Virginia their first ACC win in 1,498 days, the Heels appeared to have their first conference win in reach with a three-goal lead over Syracuse with 7:22 left in regulation. But Cuse tied it late and eventually won the game in overtime. A win over Notre Dame didn’t do enough to put the Heels in the ACC Tournament.

Year in Review time for the Towson Tigers.

Season Summary: A year after making it back to Championship Weekend, Towson lost plenty of seniors on offense and took an expected step back in 2018. But despite some struggles in February and March, the Tigers stepped up in April and returned to the CAA championship game.

The season began with four tough games. Towson fell to Johns Hopkins in their season opener before edging out Mount St. Mary’s by two goals for their first win. Despite starting the first two games, Shane Brennan gave way to senior Josh Miller in all three contests. Miller started the second half against Hopkins, the second quarter against Mount St. Mary’s, and the entire game in a loss to Georgetown.

But Miller got sick prior to the Loyola game, which thrusted Brennan back in goal. Despite another loss, the redshirt-freshman finally looked like a number one goalie after making 12 saves and keeping the Tigers in it against the Greyhounds. Brennan then helped Towson to wins over UMBC and an upset victory over Ohio State in Columbus. But the Tigers lost their next three games in close fashion against Duke and in overtime against Denver, but finally looked like they were threats to win the CAA once again. However, head coach Shawn Nadelen suspended defenseman Sid Ewell and attackman Jon Mazza and removed attackman Dylan Kinnear from the roster prior to their conference opening loss to Hofstra. Mazza never returned to the program, but Ewell came back after sitting two games.

Got ‘em!

annnnnnnd, another one.

I see you, Trevor

East coast transplants helping to grow the game in Oregon.

Roseburg, Ore., a town of about 30,000 people, is located approximately 70 miles south of Eugene and situated on the western slope of the Cascade Mountains. It’s prime timber country, and heavy industrial logging has long dominated the local economy.

That same logging industry was the catalyst that brought former Maryland native and 1990s Johns Hopkins standout Werner Krueger to the area. Krueger is a forester who accepted a job with the Bureau of Land Management in 2004, moving sight unseen to Roseburg. He was pretty sure at the time that he had left lacrosse behind.

To his surprise, in his first month in Roseburg, the local newspaper featured a front-page story about the high school lacrosse team. It didn’t take Krueger very long to connect with the coach, Paul Bilder, and join the program as an assistant.

“It took me about two seconds to find his number,” Krueger said. “I’m like a moth to a flame.”

Don’t hurt ‘em, Uncle Ricky!!

The Portland Sea Dogs had a lobster toss using lacrosse sticks.

Lacrosse is growing, albeit slowly, in Slovakia.

Slovakia may be a young nation, but most Slovaks appreciate long-standing traditions. National recipes are fiercely protected, eyebrow-raising Easter traditions live on, and sports like ice-hockey and football seem to turn even the most inactive Slovaks into fanatic sport fans. However, some sports, especially those originating from other parts of the world like lacrosse, are not as easily accepted by the Slovak public.

Lacrosse, originally called “stick ball”, was a beloved pastime of Native Americans, especially among tribes of the east and the Great Lakes region. In the 1800s, the curious sport, which involves sticks with nets attached to the end, became popular in Canada and was later named the country’s national game. To this day, lacrosse remains a hugely popular sport in North America, while Europeans, Slovaks included, are slow to catch on. ‘‘Lacrosse in Slovakia is not well-known,’’ remarks Martin Kramár, president of the Tricksters Lacrosse Club in Bratislava. ‘‘Slovaks prefer ice-hockey and football, while other sports are minor.’’

Cool video about Encore Lacrosse about growing the sport around the world.

What’s Up, PhilaJersey?

The Borgota in AC & the NBA announceda partnership deal.

MGM Resorts International, owner of Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, is the official gaming partner of the National Basketball Association, the first such deal between a professional sports league and a casino operator in the United States. The deal allows MGM to use official NBA and WNBA information and statistics in setting betting lines and authorizes the gaming company to use league branding and logos. In exchange, the league will have access to real-time betting data, allowing it to monitor unusual gambling activity in an effort to protect the integrity of its games.

World/National News

Just win, baby: Parents are hiring video game tutors.

Ally Hicks fretted over her 10-year-old son playing the hugely popular shoot-em-up videogame “Fortnite.” It wasn’t the violence or the amount of time she was worried about. It was the result. He wasn’t winning. So she hired him a coach. For about $50, Ms. Hicks purchased four hours of online lessons from a player she found through a freelance labor website. For many children, “Fortnite” has become a social proving ground. More than 125 million people play it world-wide, according to its maker, mostly in a free mode pitting 100 combatants against each other until one person or team is left standing. Winning bestows the kind of bragging rights that used to be reserved for the local Little League baseball champ. Just like eager dugout dads opening their wallets for pitching lessons, videogame parents are more than willing to pay for their offspring to gain an edge.

Your GIF/Video for August 1, 2018

Knock knock.

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