Professional PLL
06:00 PM
Jul 19
Phi
Den
Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. The Tewaaraton Foundation announced second-round additions Thursday, including eight men’s and six women’s players. High Point saw the most nods, with men’s freshman attackman Asher Nolting and women’s senior midfielder Erica Perrotta being added.
“We congratulate this talented group for their outstanding performances,” said Jeffrey Harvey, Chairman of The Tewaaraton Award. “These players have proved they deserve to be in the conversation for lacrosse’s top award and we wish them the very best the remainder of the season.”
2. The High Point women’s lacrosse team is bothered when everyone calls its win over Duke on Monday an upset.
“Was it that big of an upset?” said senior midfielder Erica Perrotta. “We were ranked 20 and they were ranked 19 [in the Inside Lacrosse poll]. It bothers us. We’re just as good as them. It’s just people have never heard of High Point beating teams like this, so they think it’s a huge upset.”
The Big South may not get a lot of respect, but the Panthers are slowly starting to earn some with two wins over ranked teams this season – first then-No. 20 Notre Dame on March 14, 13-7, and then No. 14 Duke, 16-12. They earned their first win over a ranked opponent in 2012 against Navy and got their second against Towson in the first round of the 2017 NCAA tournament.
3. Rutgers’ Jules Heningburg, a product of Maplewood, N.J., as the fifth of six children, is confident as a Tewaaraton candidate. He has 57 points for the 8-3 Scarlet Knights that will play at defending national champion Maryland in a nationally televised game Sunday.
“If you ask him, it’s no surprise he’s found himself in this position,” writes US Lacrosse Magazine’s Matt Hamilton.
“With the opportunity on the offensive end with the pieces around me, it’s allowed me to flourish,” Heningburg said. “I believe in myself and my teammates believe in me. If I play my game and I do what I know I can do, I think I’m one of the best players, if not the best player in the country.”
4. Syracuse coach John Desko gave fans a good laugh with some of his answers in US Lacrosse Magazine’s Give & Go interview presented by Training Lace, which was featured in the April edition of the magazine. Here’s a sampling:
What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?
“I’ve done a lot of stupid things — that’s a tough question.”
What are your pregame rituals?
“I used to have superstitions. Then we had the Gaits on our team and I realized that it didn’t matter what superstitions I had — we were going to win anyway.”
5. Pat Merrill’s journey to becoming the San Diego Seals’ GM-coach started with a move to Orangeville, Ontario, with his family when he was 11 years old.
“I’d never heard of lacrosse,” Merrill recalled. “It was hockey in the winter and soccer and baseball in the summer, but all my hockey buddies were playing box lacrosse, so I signed up. The first summer, I played all three sports.”
Fast forward 28 years and Merrill will now commute to Seals games for the 2018-2019 season. More chapters remain to be written.
“It’s going to be a challenging and busy time,” he said. “I’m really excited about it all.”
6. Rutgers women defeated Michigan, 9-8 in overtime, in the lone Division I game Thursday.
Paige Paratore scored the game-tying goal with 9:10 to play, and then scored the game-winner for the Scarlet Knights with under two minutes left on the clock. She finished with a team-high four goals and four draw controls.