1. The Premier Lacrosse League All-Star Game promises to be a star-studded and entertaining event Sunday in Los Angeles — even more so than the previous six stops in the touring circuit’s inaugural season.

In addition to the game (5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports), the ensuing PLL Skills Competition (7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Gold) will feature NFL and Syracuse lacrosse legend Jim Brown as the special guest judge and “Sport Science” host John Brenkus as the emcee.

The PLL All-Star Game will experiment with two rules, foregoing faceoffs after goals in the second and third quarters in favor of having the goalie put the ball in play and hockey-style ball drops, respectively.

The PLL Skills Competition will include fastest player, freestyle, goalie, accuracy and fastest shot contests.

2. The US Lacrosse Nationals open today at United Sports in Downingtown, Pa.

This year’s event features nearly 50 teams, representing 18 states, competing in boys’ and girls’ divisions at the 14U and 13U age groupings. The championship games of all four divisions will be streamed live on Lax Sports Network.

3. The Women’s Professional Lacrosse League’s regular season concludes this weekend on Long Island with a doubleheader Saturday, the results of which are academic.

The playoffs are already set following last Friday’s games at Loyola, after the league scrambled to make up games that were postponed the previous week due to storms in West Chester, Pa. Several former Greyhounds dazzled in their return to Ridley Athletic Complex.

4. Buffalo Bandits goalie Matt Vinc won his seventh National Lacrosse League Goaltender of the Year Award on Thursday. No other play has earned the honor more than twice.

It marked the second straight day Buffalo was represented in the NLL postseason awards rollout. Co-coaches Rich Kilgore and John Tavares shared the Les Bartley Award, the league announced Wednesday.

5. NCAA championship-winning coaches Cathy Reese, Pat McCabe and Kate Livesay were named IWLCA National Coaches of the Year in their respective divisions Thursday.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• The New York Times with the latest pass on the PLL’s ascendancy and Paul Rabil’s vision for the sport.

• Why wrestlers make for good faceoff men.

• How Katie Haus reads a defender.

• The Trent Stetler Play Day encourages Philadelphia’s youth lacrosse community to talk about mental health.

• Tom Flatley and Aggie Stegmuller were announced as recipients of the US Lacrosse Lifetime Achievement Award.

• Dan MacRae, captain of the Calgary Roughnecks’ NLL championship team, has landed in New York as a centerpiece of the expansion Riptide.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

The apple doesn’t fall far from the Hall of Fame tree.

Younger son doing his best Matt Gibson imitation @StringKing pic.twitter.com/YICQYlPqBx

— Mark Millon (@markmillon) July 19, 2019

John Brenkus is all in on the PLL, here breaking down the science of dodging, including the nearly half-ton force of impact generated by a Myles Jones bull dodge.

We broke down the science of the...

Split Dodge.
Split Roll.
and the BULL DODGE.

Soul and Science Episode #1: Creating Space@MylesJones_15 @Simple__Jake @johnbrenkus_ pic.twitter.com/9Vnn1ldVZJ

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) July 17, 2019

WHAT’S ON TAP

• More pro lacrosse contents entering a big weekend that also includes two Major League Lacrosse games Saturday — Atlanta at Boston and New York at Chesapeake.

• A former NASA engineer envisions lacrosse taking off in Tampa.

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