Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. We pause briefly from leading with college team previews to celebrate the latest steps taken by UMass-Lowell's Noelle Lambert, who lost her left leg in a July 30, 2016, moped accident.
Lambert completed the gauntlet, a series of runs around the track, with her prosthetic leg. She's also started a foundation named “Born to Run” to help fellow amputees.
2. Goalie Gussie Johns played for world champion Team USA last summer, gaining valuable experience from the bench as she begins her fourth year between the pipes for USC.
Yes, some of three-week tour through the FIL World Cup and IWGA World Games came from the sideline as she watched Trojan coach devon Wills finish off perhaps the best goalie career in the history of international women's play. USC enters the season ranked No. 8 in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women's Preseason Top 20.
3. With a fall season of men's lacrosse that included visible shot clocks in many instances, the NCAA has some data and feedback to work with as it considers rule changes to implement in 2018-19.
The NCAA in August granted teams the ability to play with one of two timing options for a visible shot clock during fall ball, and many employed those and have since responded to separate surveys authored by the NCAA and by Denver coach Bill Tierney, who is the IMLCA representative on the rules committee. Prevailing thought seems to render inevitable the institution of a visible shot clock, but the specifics of same remain far from consensus.
4. Penney for your thoughts? Vancouver Stealth goalie Eric Penney started the season as the third string, but he got the call to start Jan. 13 at Buffalo and turned in a memorable 52-save performance to help the Stealth to an 11-10 win.
It was a bittersweet win, his first in nearly two years, for Penney, originally drafted by the Bandits in 2013 but traded to Vancouver a year later.
5. Sudden change just prior to the season: Albany women's coach John Battaglino stepped down yesterday, citing personal reasons.
Battaglino coached the Great Danes to an 81-26 record in his seven years at the helm. Accomplishments included America East Conference Championships in 2011 and 2012, league coach of the year awards in 2013 and 2014, and at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in 2015 and 2017.
The school promoted assistant coach Jessica Davos to interim head coach for the season. Davos, formerly DeRosa, is in her eighth season on the staff. Albany opens at Yale Feb. 17.