Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. VMI senior goalie Michael Hutwelker donated his stem cells to a 51-year-old male with leukemia through the HEADstrong Foundation. Hutwelker provided a cheek swab during the HEADstrong Lacrosse tournament his freshman year in 2013, then received messages one month before graduating in 2017 that he was a potential match for the stem cell recipient.
“I had totally forgotten that I even provided that sample more than three years ago,” said Hutwelker, a Lahaska, Pa., native. “I was surprised, but really excited that I might be able to make a huge difference for someone else.”
The HEADstrong Foundation, founded by former Hofstra defenseman Nicolas Colleluori who died from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a blood cancer, in 2006, aims to improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their families by providing essential services.
Hutwelker missed Monday’s game at Monmouth, and will also miss a week of practice and Saturday’s tilt against Air Force in order to recover, but the stem cell harvesting procedure has not severely affected his daily assignments or military duties. Hutwelker, majoring in mechanical engineering, has lined up a job as a project engineer with CVG Building Company in Arlington, Va.
2. The Vermont Voyageurs of the Quebec Senior Lacrosse League (QSLL), which includes Junior Voyageurs (17-21) and Senior Voyageurs (21+), will suspend operations prior to the 2017 season after eight seasons of competition, owners Joe Evans, Jake Rick, Duke Szymanski and Trevor Wagar announced Monday.
The Vermont Voyageurs operated as the longest-running box lacrosse franchise in the United States, and the only U.S.-based team to compete in the Canadian Junior and Senior Leagues.
“My original goal was to create opportunities for American players to compete in high-level box lacrosse against well-established Canadian and Native teams,” said founder Jeff Culkin.
In August 2015, the Voyageurs were invited to compete in two scrimmages against the U.S. men’s national indoor team to help Team USA prepare for the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship.
Regy Thorpe, current coach of the 2019 U.S. men’s indoor team, aims to get the best U.S. players for the box game, building the program up to compete with the Canadians and Iroquois.
3. In this week’s Nike/US Lacrosse rankings, Syracuse becomes the new No. 1 in Division I men’s lacrosse, while former top seed Penn State drops to No. 5 after suffering its first loss of the season to Big Ten rival Maryland.
There wasn’t much movement on the women’s side, but James Madison is back on track, jumping up two spots as the leader in the CAA. On the flipside, Boston College dropped four spots after being upset by Duke.
A look at the major-college and junior-college polls released on Monday:
NIKE/USL RANKINGS
MD1 | WD1 | MD2 | WD2 | MD3 | WD3
MAVERIK/CASCADE/IL MEDIA POLLS
MD1 | WD1
USILA POLLS
MD1 | MD2 | MD3
IWLCA POLLS
WD1 | WD2 | WD3
JUNIOR COLLEGE MEN
4. The Epoch/US Lacrosse Players of the Week are North Carolina’s Marie McCool on the women’s side and Denver’s Trevor Baptiste on the men’s side.
5. The NCAA early recruiting legislation vote nears. Stay up to date by revisiting content produced by US Lacrosse surrounding the proposal.
6. It was a quiet Monday night. Monmouth defeated VMI 15-8 in the lone Division I men’s game. The only Nike/US Lacrosse Top 20 team in action was No. 15 Mercy in Division II women, which dominated Philadelphia 18-1.
What We’re Reading
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“Being the best is a destination, while getting better is a journey. Focus on the journey and not the destination,” writes ESPN’s Quint Kessinch in his weekly Top 20 men’s rankings for Inside Lacrosse.
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Fellow ESPN analyst Matt Ward provides his take on the results in men’s lacrosse this past weekend for the Baltimore Sun.
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Syracuse shrugs off the pressure of being the new No. 1 men’s team.
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The Daily Tar Heel takes a look at men’s lacrosse coach Joe Breschi’s 100th win on Sunday, which was his birthday, and why it was important.
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The quick turnaround for Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse is in the spotlight.
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With the Stony Brook women heading to Baltimore to take on Johns Hopkins on Tuesday, The Statesman analyzes the Seawolves’ performance over the weekend and discovered star Kylie Ohlmiller is considered “one of the Beatles” in the eyes of coach Joe Spallina.
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On Wednesday, Salisbury will meet York in a rematch of the CAC tournament final with revenge on its mind as it was the reigning NCAA Division II men’s champion's lone loss of 2016.
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Mallory Fogus became the first player in Hanover history to tally 100 points during the Panthers’ 14-5 win over Thiel (Pa.) on Saturday.
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McDonogh girls’ lacrosse continues to roll, building a 10-goal lead by halftime in Monday’s match against Bishop Ireton.
What We’re Watching
Tamara Brown, @NDSportsBlogger, got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the No. 12 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team in its dominant 24-4 win over Kennesaw State, a victory that could set the tone for the remainder of the season.
“If we can match that,” said coach Christine Halfpenny, “we’re on the right track. We’re going to finish this April out the way we want to.”
The Irish are currently 10-5 and have two more ACC matches against No. 20 Virginia Tech and No. 18 Boston College before heading into the conference tournament. With a 3-2 conference record, Notre Dame currently sits third in the ACC behind North Carolina (5-0) and Syracuse (4-1). The Orange’s lone ACC loss came at the hands of the Irish, 16-7.
“This was a record-setting day.”-Coach Halfpenny@NDSportsBlogger got an exclusive look at @NDWomensLax’s 24-4 win vs. Kennesaw State. pic.twitter.com/Hyh4W6pEjk
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) April 10, 2017
What’s On Tap
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The Nike/US Lacrosse high school rankings come out today. Check back later to see which boys’ and girls’ teams are No. 1.
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In Division I men, No. 10 Notre Dame battles No. 20 Marquette, while three more Top 20 teams are in action Tuesday. No. 1 Syracuse takes on Cornell, No. 12 Princeton plays Lehigh and No. 17 Virginia faces off against Robert Morris.
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In Division I women, there are two key matches where unranked teams can boost their resumes for postseason consideration. No. 4 Stony Brook plays at Johns Hopkins and No. 8 Cornell hosts Albany.