GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here’s everything you need to know for August 9, 2018.

College Crosse News

Oh my!

MLL unveils David Huntley Man of the Year Award.

The David Huntley Man of the Year Award is a new Major League Lacrosse (MLL) award for 2018 that will be presented during the second annual MLL Honors award ceremony. Named in honor of David Huntley, the former MLL coach for the Atlanta Blaze, Hamilton Nationals, Toronto Nationals, and Chesapeake Bayhawks, who passed away in December 2017, the award will be presented to the lacrosse athlete who has demonstrated, “sportsmanship and professionalism that are beyond reproach” and who “makes selfless, meaningful contributions to Major League Lacrosse, the game of lacrosse, and to his community.” MLL Commissioner Alexander (Sandy) Brown said Huntley’s influence on others was boundless. “Coach Huntley’s impact on others extended well beyond the game of lacrosse, for he touched lives with limited or no association with our game,” Brown said. “He truly embodied the spirit and passion for others that resides within our players, our game and Major League Lacrosse.”

Penn State! You’re up in our Year in Review series.

Season Summary: It was a difficult season for the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley. And it all started before their first game when attackman Grant Ament suffered a foot injury that lasted the entire season. Without their top assister, a lot of the offense depended on Mac O’Keefe to step up in a larger role than he did a year ago.

The season opener against Villanova looked like it would start with a Penn State win. The Lions led by five at the end of the fourth, but the Wildcats scored eight of the final 10 goals for the overtime win. After 15-8 victories over Hobart and Stony Brook, the Nittany Lions suffered another loss at home, this time to eventual NEC champion Robert Morris. In that game, Penn State led by just one, but the Colonials exploded on offense in the final frame.

The same thing happened again after wins over Penn and Furman with a loss to Cornell. The Nittany Lions led by three goals entering the fourth quarter, but the Big Red scored six of the final seven goals to win. Even with wins over Fairfield and Cleveland State, it looked as if Penn State had to win the Big Ten in order to make it to the NCAA Tournament. And the Nittany Lions made a statement in their 12-4 Big Ten opener against Ohio State. They also played strong against Maryland, despite losing by a goal. They did earn their first ever win over Johns Hopkins the following week and just needed one more win to get into the Big Ten Tournament. They lost to Rutgers and lost to Michigan in overtime to end their season.

Lake Placid update: Police say that lacrosse rowdiness was “enough to keep us busy.”

How rowdy was this year’s lacrosse week, off the field? About the same as other years, according to this village’s assistant police chief. “It wasn’t busier than past years, but we had enough to keep us busy,” Sgt. Chuck Dobson said Monday. Local business people who run vacation rentals and hotels say they no longer see damage at their lodgings, but many also say they have stopped renting to players in their 20s. Thousands of lacrosse players were here last week for the annual Lake Placid Summit Classic tournament, which included some 250 teams. Over the years, those players have earned a reputation for partying and sometimes disturbing the peace. Police charged only a small number of lacrosse players with crimes, but there were other incidents that did not result in arrests.

Twitter was all a flutter yesterday on the issue of Final Four weekend after our man Quint dropped this early morning take.

I actually think moving the title game off of Memorial Day Monday is not a bad idea. I like the present format, but I can see the argument against having the sport’s most important game two days after the Final Four.

Per ABC 10 in San Diego: Fan abuse has resulted in a referee shortage causing some sports like lacrosse to have to cancel games.

Kia Dehpanah has been officiating in San Diego for 25 years. While he does hear complaints from the sideline, he says younger referees deal with it the most. “After a while, these young referees say, ‘I don’t need this aggravation,’” said Dehpanah. Last year, some youth sports like field hockey and lacrosse had to cancel some games due to not enough referees. These sports face additional recruiting challenges like finding officials who can work early games. There’s also a misconception you must have prior knowledge of the sport beforehand.

We need more Top 5 lists in lacrosse.

Growing the game in the Spokane, WA.

Here’s a good article on Taryn VanThof.

Amongst women’s lacrosse circles, Taryn VanThof is a household name. And now, thanks to her game winning assist in the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League (WPLL) Championship, she’s a national champion too. Earlier last month (July 14), VanThof, a 2010 graduate of Livonia High School, and the rest of her teammates on the New England Command captured the inaugural WPLL Championship thanks to a 12-11 victory over the Baltimore Brave at the US Lacrosse Headquarters in Sparks, MD.

With twenty seconds remaining in the then tied game, Command defender Amber McKenzie caused a turnover and scooped up a ground ball in front of the Command goal, then found VanThof at midfield, who assisted Aly Messinger on the game winning goal. “It was a great experience,” VanThof said. “This summer was the first year of the WPLL, and I was drafted to the New England Command. I never thought it would be possible to play professional lacrosse but this league has given us that opportunity.”

The 90s were a magical time.

Here’s a great video on Northwestern’s lacrosse commits, Cats & Recreation.

Housekeeping: We’re taking a break from the Prospectus for a little bit. I’m have some time off from work and will be away for the next few days and Chris is settling into his new place in Connecticut. We’ll still have new content on the site over the weekend, but we won’t be back on our daily Prospectus schedule until Tuesday August 14th. Have a great weekend.

What’s Up, PhilaJersey?

Rider University caught an L as it was ranked the school with the worst dorms in America.

The good news for Rider University is it ranks among the nation’s 384 best colleges, according to a new rating. The bad news? The pricey private college in Lawrenceville has the worst dorms of any college in that group, its students said. Rider is ranked No. 1 in the Princeton Review’s “Is that a Dorm?” category, topping the list of colleges where students aren’t happy with on-campus housing. The poor reviews apparently aren’t news to the university, though. “We are in the midst of a $15 million bond investment for residence hall improvements,” spokeswoman Kristine Brown said Tuesday.

World/National News

NERDS!!!: Jayson Werth on dropping his agent and MLB’s ‘super nerd’ problem.

Former Washington Nationals staple and Chatham Glenwood High School graduate Jayson Werth formally announced his retirement from baseball on June 27. After he did not get a major league job this winter, a hamstring injury had derailed his attempt to earn a spot on the Mariners’ roster.

A man who did anything but fade into the background of the Nationals’ clubhouse faded out of baseball, with the exception of an appearance in the Bluegrass World Series — in which former MLB players play semipro stars — last week.

Last weekend, Werth was one of several members of the Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Series team who was honored at Citizens Bank Park. After seven years of boos meant to punish the man who sparked the rise of their division rival Nationals, Philadelphia fans finally cheered him again. Longtime Philadelphia sports talk host Howard Eskin invited Werth to be a guest on his show and conducted a wide-ranging interview that mostly spanned Phillies’ lore — but also included Werth’s decision to drop Scott Boras as his agent and his thoughts on Bryce Harper.

Your GIF/Video for August 9, 2018

Nice kicks, pup!!

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