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Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:

1. The Beast is back.

Greg Gurenlian, the 2015 Major League Lacrosse MVP, is coming out of retirement to join the nascent Premier Lacrosse League. Gurenlian, who retired from MLL after the 2017 season to spend more time with his family and focus exclusively on training for the 2018 U.S. national team, was motivated by the PLL’s touring model and the opportunity to help usher in a new era of pro lacrosse.

2. US Lacrosse filled out the coaching and support staffs for the U.S. senior and under-19 men’s national teams — with some familiar names in the fold.

The coaching staff of the gold medal-winning 2018 U.S. men’s team will remain largely intact. Defensive coordinator Joe Amplo (Marquette) and offensive coordinator Seth Tierney (Hofstra) will reunite with head coach John Danowski (Duke), with Charley Toomey (Loyola) on board as the third assistant.

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On the U19 side, Pat Myers (Lafayette) will rejoin his brother and U.S. U19 head coach Nick Myers (Ohio State) on the sideline after helping Team USA win a gold medal at the 2016 world championship in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Stan Ross (Oxbridge Academy) and Andrew Stimmel (Yale) are the other assistant coaches. Tony Resch (La Salle College High School), a veteran coach who has won two gold medals as a U.S. senior team assistant in 2010 and 2018 and led the 2015 U.S. indoor team as head coach, is the assistant manager.

3. Loyola’s Pat Spencer and Boston College’s Sam Apuzzo have earned preseason player of the year honors.

Spencer, a two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist and three-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, has legitimate aspirations to play Division I basketball after his college lacrosse career ends. But for now, he’s laser-focused on his current role with the Greyhounds. “The end goal that’s driving me now is winning a national championship,” he said.

Apuzzo, the reigning Tewaaraton Award winner who has led BC to consecutive NCAA finals, has enjoyed school record-setting seasons the last two years — a torrid stretch during which she has averaged 3.5 goals, 5.2 points and 4.9 draw controls per game. “It’s like this switch is flipped and we’re the hunted,” she said. “So now we have a certain swagger.”

WHAT WE’RE READING

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

See you at LaxCon.

 

Team USA’s Jake Bernhardt took STX on a tour of campus and athletic facilities at Vermont, where he’s an assistant coach. That waterfront, though.

 

WHAT’S ON TAP

  • A feature on Matt Vinc changing colors in the Knighthawks-Bandits rivalry.

  • From the January edition, a look back at the atmosphere that made for all the feels at the IWLCA Presidents Cup.

  • A week out from the US Lacrosse Convention in Philadelphia, a preview of can’t-miss speakers, exhibits and presentations.

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