Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Cue the Premier Lacrosse League victory lap.
Both the Chaos and the league itself spent Monday basking in the glow of a successful showing in the PLL championship game Sunday.
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Nelson Rice wrote about the outsized role an underrated defense played in getting the Chaos over the hump.
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Social media analytics company Zoomph reported that the PLL final between the Chaos and Whipsnakes generated 9.6 million impressions on Twitter and Instagram.
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PLL co-founder Paul Rabil, who was on “The Today Show” on Friday to discuss his retirement as a player, dove deeper into why now and what’s next in a podcast with Inside Lacrosse publisher Terry Foy.
2. In National Lacrosse League news, the expansion Panther City Lacrosse Club acquired Randy Staats from the Georgia Swarm and New York Riptide defender Andrew Suitor announced his retirement.
Staats was the NLL’s fifth-highest scorer in 2019-20 and ranked second in the league with 48 assists. The righty forward out of Syracuse set a career high with 98 points the previous season. He was the 2016 NLL Rookie of the Year.
Suitor played for 10 seasons and was the 2012 NLL Transition Player of the Year. He finished his 10-year career with 813 loose balls, 159 caused turnovers and 121 points.
3. Robert Morris hired Craig McDonald as head coach of its men’s lacrosse program. McDonald, who spent the last seven seasons on Greg Cannella’s staff at UMass, replaces Andrew McMinn, who left for Utah. It took just three weeks for RMU to fill the position.
WHAT WE’RE READING
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About the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Class of 2020, which will be enshrined Oct. 2.
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What’s inside the September/October edition of USA Lacrosse Magazine.
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Lacrosse All Stars’ best moments of the PLL season.
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A story on RIT’s Jimmy Spillane, who’s getting a second shot at a final season after spending 2021 as a graduate assistant.
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About USA Lacrosse’s Sports Medicine Symposium, a virtual event Oct. 13-14 presented in partnership with MedStar Health.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Chaos attackman Mac O’Keefe showing us how he rips underhand rockets, then pulling off that very maneuver in the PLL championship game.
— Joe Keegan (@joekeegs) September 20, 2021
The front row reactions to this @MacOKeefe3 snipe are perfect pic.twitter.com/5cSjn6k2eg
WHAT’S ON TAP
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The first post in our “Fall Ball Focus” series, a check-in with Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse.
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A recap of the Nation United Summit and Playday held at USA Lacrosse over the weekend.