Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Joey Sankey, the former three-time All-American attackman at North Carolina and 2015 MLL Rookie of the Year with the Charlotte Hounds, has testicular cancer.
Sankey shared the news on Instagram on Thursday along with an upbeat photo of him receiving chemotherapy treatment at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. “I am lucky that testicular cancer is a very curable disease, and I will beat this and move on,” Sankey wrote.
Sankey, a three-time MLL All-Star, amassed 124 points in three seasons with the Hounds from 2015-2017. He was sidelined this summer after undergoing two knee surgeries. Sankey is organizing a 5K race at Penn Charter (Pa.), his alma mater where he’s an assistant boys’ lacrosse coach, on Nov. 3. The proceeds will benefit the Movember Foundation.
2. Best of Lacrosse voting continued Thursday with Kristen Gaudian (James Madison), Katie Hoeg (North Carolina), Julia Lisella (Colorado) and Paige Petty (Virginia Tech) being named finalists for Best Women’s Breakthrough.
3. Ryan Conrad played 11 minutes too many before blowing out his knee, thus denying him a medical redshirt and likely making this his last season with Virginia. Urgency is the word.
4. Jared Bernhardt will wear the No. 1 jersey for Maryland. The two-time All-American junior attackman inherits the number from Tewaaraton Award finalist Connor Kelly, who succeeded 2017 Tewaaraton winner Matt Rambo in the honor.
5. Major League Lacrosse has launched a rebranding initiative that will include a new logo for the 2019 season. Also in MLL news, Lax Sports Network and Chesapeake Bayhawks coach and general manager Dave Cottle clarified some elements of the 51-percent salary cap increase.