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

1. Four-time defending champion Canada defeated the U.S. 16-6 in the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship opener for both teams Thursday night at Langley Events Centre in Langley, British Columbia. Mark Matthews, Shayne Jackson and Robert Church combined for 19 points in  the victory. Canada has never lost in WILC competition.

Thursday’s round-robin scores (division):

Australia 20, Costa Rica 1 (Orange)
Slovakia 24, Scotland 14 (Green)
Finland 20, Austria 5 (Orange)
Serbia 8, Switzerland 6 (Yellow)
Iroquois 17, Israel 6 (Blue)
Czech Republic 29, Mexico 6 (Green)
Canada 16, United States 6 (Blue)
Netherlands 11, Ireland 8 (Yellow)

2. Matt Rambo was named the Premier Lacrosse League MVP during the league’s award ceremony Thursday night. Rambo, whose Whipsnakes will compete in the PLL championship game Saturday in Philadelphia, leads the league in points (42) and assists (23).

PLL award winners:

Rookie of the Year: Tim Troutner (Redwoods)
Defensive Player of Year: Jarrod Neumann (Chaos)
LSM of the Year: Michael Ehrhardt (Whipsnakes)
SSDM of the Year: Dominique Alexander (Archers)
Faceoff Man of the Year: Trevor Baptiste (Atlas)
Goalie of the Year: Blaze Riorden (Chaos)
Attackman of the Year: Matt Rambo (Whipsnakes)
Sportsmanship Award: Connor Farrell (Chrome)
Teammate of the Year: Mark Glicini (Chaos)
Midfielder of the Year: Tom Schreiber (Archers)
Leadership Award: Kyle Harrison (Redwoods)
Humanitarian Award: Scott Ratliff (Archers)
Coach of the Year: Andy Towers (Chaos)
MVP: Matt Rambo (Whipsnakes)

3. Former Lehigh and MLL players Roman and Cameron Lao-Gosney are pursuing careers in the film industry. The brothers worked together on a series featuring Tom Schrieber and on the Wolf Athletics commercial shown during PLL games.

4. Dallas Rattlers rookies Craig Chick and Sean Sconone are MLL MVP nominees after leading an 0-6 team to a second-half surge and the precipice of the playoffs.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• Syracuse alums in the pros—they’re everywhere.

• The story behind Redwoods’ post-game “Warden of the Woods” tradition.

• The Kentucky High School Athletic Association is considering adding state championships for lacrosse.

• Greg Gurenlian’s decision to come out of retirement to play in the Premier Lacrosse League will come full circle with his Redwoods competing in Saturday’s championship game in his native Philadelphia.

• Chesapeake Bayhawks midfielder Matt Abbott sees the same qualities in this team as those that won MLL championships in 2010, 2012 and 2013.

• The U.S. indoor team wants to show the world how far it has progressed over the last four years.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Turning that switch, with some words of encouragement from Captain America himself.

Extremely bummed to miss out on this. Couldn’t be more excited for the team & staff. LFG boys! https://t.co/aeOebEs4r8

— Tom Schreiber (@TomSchreiber26) September 19, 2019

Inspiring speech from Chaos midfielder Mark Glicini on winning the Jimmy Regan Award as the PLL’s Teammate of the Year.

Powerful speech by @mark_glic on why winning the Jimmy Regan award means so much to him.

Chills. pic.twitter.com/dYxF2cWk5T

— Premier Lacrosse League (@PremierLacrosse) September 20, 2019

WHAT’S ON TAP

• Jack Goods’ PLL championship preview.

• Day two of the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, with all games streamed free on Lax Sports Network. The U.S. plays Israel at 7:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. ET).

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