Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Madison Doucette is comfortable in her identity.
Doucette, the U.S. U19 gold medalist goalie and current Northwestern underclassman, penned a first-person account of her coming-out process. She also spoke about how, even though she may identify as gay, it’s not her defining characteristic. Read more from Doucette here.
2. Robert Morris women’s lacrosse is headed to the MAC.
The school announced the move on Tuesday, following the news that the school was departing the Northeast Conference for the Horizon League, which does not sponsor lacrosse. Robert Morris will join the conference that will make its debut with six teams in 2021.
3. The lacrosse community remembers former St. Lawrence coach Don Leet, who died on Monday.
Leet was a three-sport athlete at Adelphi who began his career as a football coach at St. Lawrence in 1968, eventually serving as head men’s lacrosse coach from 1970-1997. In those 28 seasons, his teams won 253 games and made eight NCAA tournament appearances.
4. Backyard lacrosse anyone?
The Premier Lacrosse League unveiled a new collection on Tuesday in honor of the legendary computer game “Backyard Baseball.” Fans can now buy clothing with team and star player-inspired cartoons.
Here are some of the cartoons in action.
Hang on lemme bring someone in here. @trevorbaptiste9 pic.twitter.com/QhP2wf0LP1
— Paul Rabil (@PaulRabil) June 24, 2020
5. Changes ahead for the CAA tournament.
The conference announced Tuesday that it will allow every school to participate in the CAA Tournament in the 2020-21 season. Six men’s teams (Fairfield, Delaware, Drexel, Hofstra, Towson, UMass) and seven women’s teams (James Madison, Towson, Hofstra, Elon, Delaware, William & Mary, Drexel) will now have a chance at a CAA title. Read more on the news that affects men's and women's lacrosse.
WHAT WE’RE READING
-
In Sports Illustrated’s “Ten Ways Sports Will be Different,” Jon Wertheim and Stephanie Apstein predict a grim picture for the future of non-revenue college sports.
-
Jim Stagnitta, currently the coach of Whipsnakes LC, will join on as head coach at the Hun School in New Jersey. He will soon have coached at the high school, junior college, college (DI and DIII), MLL and PLL levels.
-
Pitt freshman Emily Coughlin reflects on the process of building a women’s lacrosse program.
-
The three PLL rookies most poised to make a splash in the Championship Series.
-
Duke coach Kerstin Kimel and 2005 Tewaaraton Award winner Katie Chrest Erbe reflect on that historic season.
-
Major League Lacrosse announced a new deal with Signature Lacrosse for its official game ball.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
U.S. national team stars Michelle Tumolo and Greg Gurenlian talk about why some gay athletes find it hard to be comfortable in themselves while playing team sports.
Why are there still relatively few openly LGBTQ+ athletes?@Mtumolo35 and @gregbeast32 discuss what allies can do to create an inviting environment that will allow athletes to be open with their identity. pic.twitter.com/1UaZmFRlK9
— US Lacrosse (@USLacrosse) June 23, 2020
This week, the mag is going digital. Get hyped.
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) June 23, 2020
Our July/August digital edition drops to @uslacrosse members on June 25.
Not a member? Now’s a pretty good time to sign up. pic.twitter.com/5Y3S1MgyCa
WHAT’S ON TAP
-
We're dropping the July/August cover tomorrow.
-
More on the PLL rosters from Nelson Rice.