Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Johns Hopkins and Navy released their men’s lacrosse schedules on Tuesday, and for the first time since 1949, the two schools will not play. The two schools stated the demands of conference scheduling prevented them from finding a suitable date this year, but they would be looking to resume the series. The schools had traditionally played in mid-to-late April, but since Hopkins joined the Big Ten in 2015, the game moved up to March 7 in 2015 and Feb. 9 in 2016.
Navy has added Syracuse to the schedule, the first time the schools have played a regular season game since 1989, and their first meeting since the 2004 NCAA championship game won by Syracuse. The Midshipmen also announced they will play at neutral site game at US Lacrosse against Penn on March 6.
2. Pro lacrosse is coming to Southern California next year and the new National Lacrosse League franchise will be known as the Seals. The team unveiled the name and its new logo on Tuesday afternoon.
The Philadelphia franchise also revealed the the top three names for its nickname: The Philadelphia Fire, Philadelphia Founders and a return to the past with the Philadelphia Wings. Fan voting runs through November 13.
3. There was no surprise as two-time Major League Lacrosse MVP Tom Schreiber was voted as the No. 1 player in the league by his peers as Lax Sports Network wrapped up its reveal of the league’s top 25 players. Schreiber led Ohio to its first league title after joining the teaming the midseason following his stellar rookie season in helping Toronto reach the National Lacrosse League playoffs.
The top five players in the MLL per the player votes are all Team USA members. Jordan Wolf (Rochester) was No. 2, Tucker Durkin (Florida) was No. 3, Paul Rabil (New York) was No. 4 and Rob Pannell (New York) was No. 5.
4. Our #BestofLax voting continued yesterday with our Best Women’s Performance and the finalists were Olivia Hompe (England/Princeton), Kenzie Kent (Boston College), Alyssa Murray (USA) and Paige Soenksen (Colorado).
5. The road to the US Lacrosse Nationals began last weekend with the first official qualifier taking place — the NXT Harvest Cup in Downingtown, Pa. The US Lacrosse Nationals will be held next August in Frederica, Del., featuring boys and girls teams at the 12U, 13U and 14U age groupings.