Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. After the NLL postponed its three games last weekend, the league announced that “we fully expect to return to play this weekend,” according to an official statement. The NLL’s first game back is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 7, between the Colorado Mammoth and Vancouver Warriors. Check out the TV listings for all the league’s Week 6 games here.
2. After essentially a two-year hiatus, the Penn women’s lacrosse team features just seven players on its roster that have played at the NCAA level. Senior defender Ellen O’Callaghan leads a team short on experience but not short on talent.
“They own their identity and brand of lacrosse,” one rival coach said. “They’re so prepared going into any game. I think now that they’ve had last season away, their players will be that hungry and they’ll be dangerous.”
Read Just Feil’s full preview of the Quakers, who come in at No. 20 in the Nike/USAL Preseason Top 20, here.
3. The scoring knack of Zack Greer and the dodging ability of Matt Danowksi. That’s high praise.
Bryant third-year captain Marc O’Rourke earned it from Mike Pressler when asked to assess his star attackman. Last spring, O’Rourke played with a heart monitor implanted in his left pectoral muscle after he missed the first eight games of the season due to a myocarditis diagnosis related to a case of COVID-19. He scored six goals in his first game back and finished with 21 goals in just five games.
Learn about O’Rourke’s meteoric return in Matt DaSilva’s Bryant team preview and why the Bulldogs, ranked No. 20 in our preseason rankings, could make some noise this spring.
4. USA Lacrosse’s Southeast Region director Lou Corsetti was named the recipient of APIVEO’s (Always Play For Each Other) 2021 Brian Snitker Award as the organization’s youth coach of the year. A 2011 inductee into the Georgia Foundation Hall of Fame, Corsetti’s involvement as a youth lacrosse leader dates back to 1992, when he helped launch the sport in the Peach State. More on the APIVEO honor here.
WHAT WE’RE READING
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Johns Hopkins’ graduate student midfielder Shelby Harrison, who is 31 draw controls away from the individual program record, will be one of the new-look Blue Jays’ biggest keys to success this spring, writes Justin Feil.
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With the start of 2022, chest protectors and shoulder pads for boys’ and men’s field players now must meet the NOCSAE performance standard ND200. More here.
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Lacrosse Bucket looks at whether Michigan can take the next step after earning its first Big Ten conference tournament win last spring.
- Get know to know North Carolina freshman midfielder Edwin Shy from Memphis.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
New Year. New moves.
Defenders are evolving before our eyes… this move was
— TLN (@LacrosseNetwork) January 3, 2022
(via @Kieu_Media) pic.twitter.com/rO0vj6EvcU
WHAT’S ON TAP
Go inside the January 2022 edition of USA Lacrosse Magazine.