Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Chris Gray became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse history, netting six points in North Carolina’s 19-11 loss to Duke on Sunday evening. Gray has 401 points, passing the mark of 400 set by Albany’s Lyle Thompson.
There’s a new No. 1 in Division I men’s lacrosse history. pic.twitter.com/kA0IBUSmT4
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) May 2, 2022
2. The bulk of conference tournament play is set for this week, and the Saint Joseph’s women’s lacrosse team gave us an early reminder of how special it can be. The Hawks knocked off George Washington, Richmond and UMass last week to win their first Atlantic 10 conference championship.
3. Those weren’t the only upsets happening. The Atlantic Coast Conference women’s tournament gave us two big ones with Notre Dame beating Duke and Virginia beating Syracuse. In the end, though, it will be the matchup we all expected with North Carolina and Boston College meeting for the championship next weekend.
4. No conference has been wilder this season than the men’s Ivy League, and the season ended with a three-way tie with Brown, Cornell and Yale sharing the league title.
5. Chris Sailer’s final season has been memorable, and on Saturday, the Tigers clinched a perfect Ivy League record for 2022.
Dance circle around Chris Sailer? @princetonwlax celebrating their coach after winning the @IvyLeague regular season title. pic.twitter.com/WXQ3UREykz
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) April 30, 2022
6. It’s been a down season for the Loyola men, but are the Greyhounds ready to make a late run? Loyola knocked off Lehigh on Friday night to head into the Patriot League tournament on a high note.
7. The NFL draft started with former high school lacrosse player Aidan Hutchinson going No. 2 overall to the Detroit Lions, but the big excitement for the lacrosse community came when 2021 Tewaaraton winner Jared Bernhardt signed a free agent contract with the Atlanta Falcons.
Jared Bernhardt, who won the Tewaarton Trophy as the best lacrosse player in the country at Maryland and then led Ferris St. to a DII national title last year as a QB, is signing with the Falcons to play WR/KR, per source. Awesome story. pic.twitter.com/Pi7OXOJU7B
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 30, 2022
WHAT WE’RE READING
-
Canada announced its men’s lacrosse roster for The World Games, coming up in July in Birmingham, Ala.
-
Bri Gross, a Vanderbilt star and all-world selection at the 2019 U19 world championship, is hoping to help the Commodores capture some past magic this season.
-
First-year starting goalie Lacey Bartholomay helped lead Army to its historic victory over Navy in women’s lacrosse.
-
Mary Soures is the driving force behind Siena’s run for a NCAA tournament berth, something its women’s program has never achieved.
-
Small-sided play, particularly the USA Lacrosse Flex 6 program, is helping a program in Fairbanks, Alaska gain steam.
-
Harry and Thomas Alford, brothers who played at the University of Maryland, have endowed a scholarship for men’s lacrosse at the school by contributing the first major cryptocurrency gift to the school — a $50,000 donation in bitcoin.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
There are highlights, and then there are plays that go beyond description. This goal by Washington and Lee’s Braden Rhone fits the latter category.
MY WORD BRADEN RHONE.
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) April 30, 2022
The skill that it took to pull this off is off the charts.
What a play for @WLUGenerals. pic.twitter.com/mGYePCbJqx
WHAT’S ON TAP
The final pre-NCAA tournament rankings come out today.