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Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:

1. Thirty-six are set for U.S. women’s national team training camp.

After last week’s three-day tryout with more than 60 players on hand, head coach Jenny Levy and her staff have invited 36 players to a training camp for the U.S women’s national team to be held June 29 through July 1 at USA Lacrosse headquarters. The event is the first of three training camps/competitions for the U.S. women’s team through the remainder of the calendar year.

Any players invited for last week’s tryout will be eligible to be invited to any of the events remaining in 2021. 

Check out the full list of invitees here.

2. Two G.O.A.T.S. have united in Syracuse.

Cue the Avengers GIFs. Dave Pietramala, arguably the greatest defenseman of all time, has been tabbed by Gary Gait as the defensive coordinator of the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team.

While Pietramala’s name surfaced quickly and was at the top of many lists after Gait succeeded the legendary John Desko last week, the idea of two of the greatest players of all time roaming the sideline of the Carrier Dome together still consumed the focus of the lacrosse world yesterday afternoon.

Pietramala parted ways with Johns Hopkins, his alma mater, in the spring of 2020 — a little over a month after his 20th season at the helm was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. The only person in Division I men’s lacrosse history to win a championship as a player and a coach, Pietramala compiled a record of 207-93 at Johns Hopkins with 18 NCAA tournament appearances, seven trips to the final four, four appearances in the championship game and NCAA titles in 2005 and 2007.

More on the move here.

3. Graham Harden lost his valiant battle against ALS on Saturday. He was 52.

A Schmeisser award winner and captain of the unbeaten 1991 NCAA champion University of North Carolina men’s team, Harden continued to coach the girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams at Mariemont High School in Cincinnati after he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in August 2016.

“Even in a motorized scooter, when he was allowed to come to games, Harden was the most influential person on the sidelines,” the Cincinnati Enquirer noted.

Harden and his supporters established a movement called the GForce Initiative to build awareness and spark progress in developing treatments for the currently incurable disease. 

More on the sad day for the lacrosse community here.

4. After a virtual meeting last week, the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Rules Committee proposed a package of rules changes with the goal of making the game more efficient. According to an article on the NCAA’s site, shortening the duration of the game without taking away the 60 minutes on the game clock dominated the committee’s discussion. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

  • Some call Martinsburg the fastest-growing town in West Virginia. Why would it not be the epicenter for the fastest-growing sport in the country? More from the May/June edition of USA Lacrosse Magazine on how the sport is growing in the Mountain State.

  • Catch up on the news and results and everything you might have missed this past weekend in the PLL notebook. 

  • With Ridgefield leading scorer Kyle Colsey sidelined after an emergency appendectomy, his older brother, Ryan, picked up the slack. The Virginia commit scored four goals in the second half to secure a comeback win over Fairfield Prep for the Class L Title.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Kerrigan Miller used a hook shot to turn a low-angle situation into a goal last week at Tierney Field. It made the Top 5 goals from the U.S. women’s national team tryouts.

WHAT’S ON TAP

  • The latest USA Lacrosse Magazine boys’ and girls’ national Top 25 rankings drop.

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