Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. The American Athletic Conference is adding women’s lacrosse as its 22nd sport starting in 2019. The league will be comprised of six teams: Cincinnati, UConn, Temple, East Carolina, Vanderbilt and Florida.
All but East Carolina, which is starting women’s lacrosse in 2018, will be leaving the Big East for the American Athletic Conference. That includes the Gators, who have won the past three Big East tournaments and was the only team to make the NCAA tournament from the conference in 2017.
“The American Athletic Conference will be a great new challenge for this program,” Gators coach Amanda O’Leary said. “We faced a high level of competition in the Big East, and are thrilled to carry that over into The American. We’re very excited to build on the tradition of success we’ve created in the past eight years.”
2. Old Dominion will join the Big East to fill out the six-team conference. As a result of the departure of five of its teams, the Big East announced that the Monarchs will join the conference as an affiliate member. It meets Denver, Georgetown, Marquette, Butler and Villanova in the Big East, keeping the conference qualified for an NCAA tournament automatic bid.
Old Dominion, also a member of the Big East in field hockey, leaves the Atlantic Sun Conference, which will break in half to share with the Southern Conference. Confused? Here's a nice breakdown of where each conference lies at this point.
Big East |
American Athletic Conference |
Atlantic Sun |
Southern Conference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butler | Cincinnati | Jacksonville | Central Michigan |
| Denver | Connecticut | Kennesaw State | Delaware State |
| Georgetown | East Carolina | Stetson | Detriot Mercy |
| Marquette | Florida | Coastal Carolina | Furman |
| Old Dominion | Temple | Howard | Mercer |
| Villanova | Vanderbilt | Kent State | Wofford |
3. Tehoka Nanticoke was the next heralded recruit to find his way to Albany, and he’s already found a mentor in Connor Fields. Great Danes coach Scott Marr put the two talented attackmen against each other in the first practice, but Fields and Nanticoke will be working together to create one of the more lethal attacks in lacrosse.
Fields remembers a time when he was a freshman, learning from senior Lyle Thompson — to whom Nanticoke draws comparisons. He’s hoping he can serve the same role for the nation’s top recruit last year.
“It’s crazy to go full circle now,” Fields said. “Lyle was a mentor to me and a great friend and great teammate. Obviously as a freshman, you look up to the seniors and you know they’ll always have your back. I’m the senior now with Tehoka coming in. We’re great friends and I try to give him as much as advice as I can.”
WHAT WE’RE READING
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Now with a year as a Niagara assistant in the books, former Maryland standout and Team USA star Alice Mercer pens the "Things You Never Realized as a Player."
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Just over a year after losing her leg in a moped accident, UMass-Lowell's Noelle Lambert is persevering despite her limitations, passing the team fitness test.
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Festivities surrounding Syracuse's alumni game, including the unveiling of the Roy Simmons Jr. and Roy Simmons Sr. statue, will proceed despite the recent mumps outbreak that effected the campus.
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Rutgers is mourning the death of former All-American Bob Vencak, who passed away this week at the age of 57. Vencak will inducted into the school's Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 20.
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Pearl Cano, a senior at Rapid City High School (S.D.) wanted to arrange a medicine game after the events in Charlottesville, Va. earlier this year. She’ll get that chance when she heads to Virginia, along with coach Cody Hall, to meet the Cavaliers during alumni weekend.
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Steve Soriano, who played his collegiate lacrosse at Bellarmine and continued to grow the game in Kentucky, was hired to Princeton men's lacrosse's staff.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
The Team USA Fall Classic concluded Sunday with a battle between Team USA White and 2017 final four member Towson at US Lacrosse Headquarters. Check out the highlights from Team USA's 22-2 win.
Lyle Thompson, the Chesapeake Bayhawks and Georgia Swarm star, said he had no idea MLL Rookie of the Year Josh Byrne was from Canada. He thought he hailed from Long Island.
.@lyle4thompson on @Joshbyrne94, "my first couple of games I thought he was from Long Island...I didn't know he was a Canadian." pic.twitter.com/TnJYwJH4zh
— Travis Eldridge (@tgeldrid) October 11, 2017
WHAT’S ON TAP
• We'll have a gallery of the best images from the 9/11 First Responders game that highlighted the Team USA Fall Classic on Sunday.