Professional PLL
06:00 PM
Jul 19
Phi
Den
Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Vanderbilt has promoted Beth Hewitt to head coach, replacing Cathy Swezey.
Hewitt had served as one of Swezey’s assistant coaches the last four seasons, working primarily with the defense. The school announced in June that Swezey’s contract would not be renewed. She coached Vanderbilt to a 163-180 record in 22 seasons, twice leading the Commodores to American Lacrosse Conference championships and NCAA tournament appearances.
Hewitt mentored Vanderbilt’s defense to finish 12th nationally with 11 caused turnovers per game. She previously was the head coach at Le Moyne for five years, compiling a 71-19 record. Under Hewitt, the Dolphins won two Northeast-10 Conference championships, qualified for three NCAA tournaments, and reached the national title game twice. Prior to that, she served as an assistant at Oregon for three years, helping to get the Ducks’ program off the ground.
Hewitt graduated from North Carolina in 2005 following an All-American and All-ACC career as a midfielder. She led the Tar Heels in scoring twice and helped the Tar Heels win one league championship.
Elsewhere on the coaching circuit, North Carolina hired 2018 U.S. gold medalist midfielder Kevin Unterstein as a men’s lacrosse assistant. Unterstein plays for the New York Lizards and served the last eight seasons as an assistant at Hofstra.
Longtime collegiate coach Judd Lattimore, the head man at Holy Cross the last four seasons, has landed at nearby Boston University as a volunteer assistant.
Inside Lacrosse cited multiple, unidentified sources in a report that Bucknell will hire Ryan Danehy as an assistant coach. He served as a volunteer assistant at Penn the last two seasons.
RPI hired former Dartmouth assistant Scott Hackett-Dalgliesh as head coach.
2. Is it only a matter of time for a shot clock in collegiate men’s lacrosse?
The NCAA men’s lacrosse rules committee meetings this week included ample discussion of the institution of a shot clock. Sans an official announcement yet, which may come as early as today, informed speculation seems to indicate it’s only a matter of time — as in the duration of each timed possession, when the clock may begin, or begin again following a shot backed up by the offense.
3. Thirteen members of the world champion U.S. men’s team remain in the running for a second summer championship as the Major League Lacrosse semifinals get underway this weekend.
The group includes Denver’s Drew Snider, who watched several of his Canadian Outlaw teammates pull the double-dip in 2014 and said, simply, “I wanted that.”
He’ll have the chance to get one step closer when Denver travels to Chesapeake for a 5:30 p.m. ET Saturday matchup. Dallas will host New York at 8 p.m. ET in the other semifinal. Both games will be streamed live on Lax Sports Network.
4. U.S. women’s team coach Jenny Levy has announced training camps this fall as the process of evaluating players for the 2021 World Cup team begins.
Camps will be held in October, November and December. The first of which is set for Oct. 5-7 as part of the Team USA Fall Classic at Tierney Field in Sparks, Md.
5. With Florida on the move from the Big East to the American Athletic Conference, how will women’s teams in those leagues adjust?
Filling out schedules with appropriate out-of-conference games represents a challenge, according to coaches Ricky Fried at Georgetown and Liza Kelly at Denver.