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

1. It’s the first day of May, and the second season begins. And while human polls have no bearing on the NCAA tournament selections coming Sunday, it’s always fun to compare and contrast. Here’s where teams stood Monday:

Nike/US Lacrosse Rankings
MD1 | WD1 | MD2 | WD2 | MD3 | WD3
Maverik-Cascade/IL Media Polls
MD1 | WD1
USILA Polls
MD1 | MD2 | MD3
IWLCA Polls
WD1 | WD2 | WD3
NJCAA Polls
Men | Women

2. Yale gets its turn at No. 1. The Bulldogs capped their perfect run through the Ivy League’s regular season since 1956 with a 16-8 thumping of Harvard on Saturday. Coupled with Duke’s loss to Notre Dame in the ACC tournament, it leads to yet another shuffling of the top spot in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20.

3. Princeton and North Carolina —two of the hottest teams in the country—were responsible for most of the movement in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20.

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4. Princeton’s George Baughan and Stanford’s Allie Dacar were named national players of the week for their performance in upset wins over the weekend. Baughan, the first defenseman to earn Warrior/US Lacrosse Player of the Week honors, blanked Cornell sensation Jeff Teat, caused four turnovers and scored his first career goal. Dacar, the Pac-12 tournament MVP, made 14 saves in the Cardinal’s victory over host Colorado in the conference championship game.

5. The National Lacrosse League playoffs are set and the league unveiled Monday a new championship trophy — RIP, Champion’s Cup — to reflect the NLL’s new brand direction.

The defending NLL champion Georgia Swarm’s late-season surge propelled them to a first-place finish in the East, which came down to the final week to determine playoff berths. Rochester (10-8) will host New England (9-9) in the East Division semifinal. The winner will play Georgia  (11-7), which received a first-round bye, in the division final. Both are single-elimination games.

In the West, the No. 1 overall seed Saskatchewan (14-4) gets the bye, while Colorado (11-7) and Calgary (8-10) clash in the division semifinal for the right to visit the Rush in the division final. Saskatchewan finished the season a perfect 10-0 against the West.

WHAT WE’RE READING

  • A research abstract presented at the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine has indicated that the rates of concussions and musculoskeletal injuries may have increased with the mandate of protective headgear in girls’ lacrosse in Florida.

  • Fire up the coaching carousel. College Crosse reports on vacancies at Bellarmine, which fired head coach Kevin Burns and offensive coordinator Billy Tully, Michigan, which dismissed offensive coordinator Conor Ford, and Marist, which let go offensive coordinator Mike Gongas. All of these changes were made in the middle of the season. There could also be a changing of the guard at Air Force and Holy Cross, College Crosse speculates.

  • The McDonogh (Md.) girls’ lacrosse winning streak of 195 games has included some close calls.

  • A lacrosse story in the South China Morning Post, which reports that the sport has a “realistic” chance at being included in the 2028 Olympics, according to Fiona Clark, executive director of the Asia-Pacific Lacrosse Union.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Gatorade baths never get old.

Ohio Machine and U.S. national team attackman Marcus Holman attributes his MLL-record 11-goal game to being in the “flow state.”

Two stellar highlights from the Patriot League championship game between Lehigh and Loyola.

WHAT’S ON TAP

  • Three Division I games on the slate. On the men’s side, Virginia looks to avoid a massive misstep in its regular season finale against VMI. On the women’s side, BU visits Colgate and Holy Cross visits Lehigh in Patriot League quarterfinals.

  • In Division III men’s lacrosse action, No. 16 Christopher Newport plays at No. 7 Salisbury in the CAC tournament.

  • Here on uslaxmagazine.com, look for the latest bracketology from Patrick Stevens as well as the Nike/US Lacrosse high school national and regional rankings.

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