Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. US Lacrosse mourns the death of COO George McGeeney.
McGeeney, who joined US Lacrosse earlier this month, died suddenly on Friday. He was 59.
The National Lacrosse Hall of Famer helped UMBC to its first and only national championship in 1982. After college, he joined the U.S. national team for gold-medal victories in 1986 and 1990.
2. February lacrosse is nuts.
It was another wild weekend in Division I men’s lacrosse, which saw the top two teams in the country fall within hours of each other.
Saturday, Yale took down then-No. 1 Penn State behind a strong effort from ID Ierlan, and Princeton got eight points from Michael Sowers to upset then-No. 2 Virginia at Klockner. Also notable, Penn got past Duke without an injured Sam Handley, Chris Gray scored eight times to help North Carolina beat Johns Hopkins at Homewood, Merrimack got its first Division I win over Michigan and Loyola held off Rutgers. In total, seven top 10 teams lost Saturday.
YALE SILENCES PANZER.
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 22, 2020
Nine different goals scorers for @YaleLacrosse, as the Bulldogs down @PennStateMLAX 12-10.
TD Ierlan: 16-26 pic.twitter.com/b9VxhyktTu
Sunday, Syracuse rallied behind Jamie Trimboli to down Army and Notre Dame avoided an upset with a dominating with over Richmond.
Friday, Cornell rode freshman Michael Long to a win over Towson.
Catch up on all the action here.
Saturday | Sunday
3. The chaos continues in women’s college lacrosse.
Just days after Florida snapped Maryland’s home win streak, Loyola dominated the Gators in Gainesville to further shake up the top 20. Also on Saturday, Syracuse rallied with eight goals in the final 20 minutes to beat Northwestern in Evanston, No. 1 North Carolina coasted to a win over rival Maryland and Virginia held off Princeton to pick up a huge win.
No. 1 @uncwlax topples No. 5 Maryland, 19-6
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 22, 2020
Scottie Rose Growney with 6 goals. Jamie Ortega 4 goals, 3 assists.
(: ESPN https://t.co/FRp38UntQ6) pic.twitter.com/Wv3ckz36q5
Sunday, Michigan got itself a statement victory, dominating Colorado 20-7.
Friday night, it was USC getting a big win, downing Boston College 18-9.
Kerrigan Miller went BTB on the free position in USC’s 14-6 win today pic.twitter.com/mEB3jDem94
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 24, 2020
Read up of the rest of the action.
Saturday | Sunday
4. The top teams in the NLL battled it out this weekend.
Here were the notable results from the five NLL games:
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Mark Matthews dished off eight assists, and Ben McIntosh tallied three goals and three assists to lead Saskatchewan (first in the West) to the 15-10 win over Philadelphia (first in the East).
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In a matchup for first place in the North, Halifax withstood a furious rally from Toronto to capture a narrow 9-8 victory. Cody Jamieson had two goals to lead the Thunderbirds, and they also had this #SCTop10 nominee.
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Dane Dobbie scored the game-winning goal with 1:40 left in overtime to give Calgary the 18-17 victory over Georgia in an absolute thriller. The Roughnecks led by as many as four goals, but a five-goal Swarm run brought the game to 11-11. The teams went back and forth before Dobbie (six goals) got an assist from Curtis Dickson (five goals, five assists) for the winner.
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Callum Crawford poured in four goals and eight assists to lead New England to the 18-7 win over Rochester.
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Casey Jackson scored five goals and added an assist in San Diego’s 15-10 victory over Vancouver.
WHAT WE’RE READING
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ICYMI: A story worth monitoring as the season continues. Virginia’s Dox Aitken will pursue a fifth year in football at Villanova, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
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American FOGOs Trevor Baptiste (Wings) and Alex Woodall (Riptide) are making an impact in the NLL — a trend that could continue in future years.
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Get to know U.S. women’s national team stars Kristen Carr and Caylee Waters in the February edition of Give & Go.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Lacrosse fans, there's another Kavanagh making waves at Notre Dame. Pat Kavanagh, the U.S. U19 training team member, scored four goals yesterday.
LIL’ KAVY IS HERE. @Pkav3 drops goals and an assist to lead @NDlacrosse to the 13-5 win over @SpiderMLAX. pic.twitter.com/ay9uBiv1HW
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 23, 2020
Drew Braden gave us this fantastic no-look backhander for Baldwin Wallace.
NO-LOOK BACKHAND BEAUTY.
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 23, 2020
Props to you, Drew Braden and @BWmenslacrosse . pic.twitter.com/4JI8nTEzLn
Cleveland State's Tristan Hanna had himself a day.
The tolled, Tristan Hanna scored his th goal and @CSUVikingsLax got its first-ever win over a nationally ranked opponent, defeating Air Force 12-11 in OT.
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 22, 2020
Wild @NCAALAX Saturday: https://t.co/wayK7bevP1pic.twitter.com/n3ro9uz0L2
Charlie Bertrand threw this BTB down in Merrimack's first Division I win.
HISTORY FOR MERRIMACK. @MerrimackMLAX gets this BTB highlight and downs @UMichLacrosse 14-12 for their first Division I victory. pic.twitter.com/gtS0kR1Mx5
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 22, 2020
Michael Sowers was doing Michael Sowers things in Princeton's upset win.
About that Sowers guy....... pic.twitter.com/UGluzD7KWU
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 22, 2020
WHAT’S ON TAP
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A new set of Nike/US Lacrosse rankings, with plenty of shake-up in both the men's and women's top 20.
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US Lacrosse Magazine Players of the Week for college men’s and women’s lacrosse.