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

1. Pro women’s lacrosse is back tonight.

A new era of the women’s pro game get under way today with start of Athletes Unlimited lacrosse. The teams are set after the initial four captains — Katie O’Donnell (Team Purple), Megan Douty (Team Blue), Angie Benson (Team Orange) and Kylie Ohlmiller (Team Gold) — drafted their squads earlier this week. The top four players, based on the league’s scoring system that combines team and individual performance, will become captains each week and draft their teams from scratch for the following week’s games.

“We’re a player-driven organization,” AU CEO Patricof told USA Lacrosse Magazine Digital Content Editor Kenny DeJohn in a feature from the most recent issue of the magazine. “Just learning how valuable and powerful that can be has reinforced how much emphasis we continue to place on putting the decisions in the hands of the players.

“Our commitment at Athletes Unlimited is that these world-class players deserve world-class environments to play in.”

If you won’t be able to get out to Boyds, Md., you can still catch all the action, since AU secured broadcast and streaming partnerships with CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports, Facebook and YouTube.

Check out the full broadcast schedule here.

2. After a 39-year tenure, Stan Cockerton announced his retirement as the Ontario Lacrosse Association Executive Director. A four-time All American at North Carolina State and a 2014 inductee into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Cockerton was featured on the cover of Lacrosse Magazine in April 1979.

USA Lacrosse Magazine Editor-in-Chief Matt DaSilva spoke with Cockerton last spring for “The Vault” — a series in which we revisit past cover subjects to see where they are now and what that moment in time meant to them.

Full release here.

3. Loyola’s Elli Kluegel was named the Patriot League Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

A biology major and innovation and entrepreneurship minor, Kluegel is the only Loyola senior to achieve a 4.0 cumulative GPA to go along with Second Team All-Patriot League honors after starting all 15 games and finishing with 38 points on 32 goals and six assists.

4. The San Diego Seals agreed to terms with their two first-round 2020 draftees Tre Leclaire (fourth overall) and Mac O’Keefe (15th overall).

Both players signed two-year deals. It was a full circle moment for O’Keefe, who set the NCAA men’s lacrosse goals record this spring in his final season at Penn State, because his father, Brian, played in the NLL for the New York Saints.

WHAT WE’RE READING

  • Anna Kaplan, Terrell Seabrooks and Conner Curran were highlighted as difference makers in lacrosse in the July/August edition USA Lacrosse Magazine.

  • IL Women’s Halley Griggs on what fans can expect during the first weekend of the Athletes Unlimited inaugural women’s lacrosse season.

  • The Diamondback on how Maryland is capitalizing on the talent coming out of the burgeoning lacrosse scene in Atlanta.

  • Yahoo! Sports talked with AU No. 1 draft pick Taylor Cummings about her outlook heading into the season.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

A first look at the new Premier Lacrosse League mobile game, Top Shelf.

Put some respect on Grant Ament’s name.

WHAT’S ON TAP

  • The Athletes Unlimited action kicks off at 5 p.m. in Boyds, Md., when Team Benson faces Team Ohlmiller. The second game of the night features Team Douty vs. Team O’Donnell and starts at 7:30 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

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