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

1. The Saskatchewan Rush clinched their third National Lacrosse League championship in four years, pulling away from the Rochester Knighthawks for a 15-10 victory Saturday in the decisive Game 3 in front of a packed house of 13,645 fans at SaskTel Centre.
 

Jeff Shattler, acquired from Calgary after 11 seasons with the Roughnecks, was named the NLL Cup MVP. He scored four goals Saturday, a week after amassing seven points in Rochester.
 

2. Paul Rabil is the new Major League Lacrosse scoring king. Rabil, a midfielder for the New York Lizards playing in his 11th MLL season, surpassed John Grant Jr. with his 542nd career point, which came on a first-quarter goal during the New York Lizards’ 20-18 loss to the Florida Launch on Saturday.

 

Several current and former teammates took to Twitter to congratulate Rabil, who finished the night with five goals and an assist.

 

3. The Charlotte Hounds and Chesapeake Bayhawks kept pace with the Dallas Rattlers with road victories Saturday. The Hounds got a hat trick from long pole Michael Ehrhardt in a 19-13 win over the Atlanta Blaze, while the Josh Byrne (four goals, three assists) and Niko Amato (19 saves) led the Bayhawks to a 15-12 win over the Ohio Machine in a game delayed more than two hours due to weather. Charlotte, Chesapeake and Dallas are tied for first place in the loss column in MLL with two losses apiece.

4. High school state championships were decided in Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York, among other places, with some surprising results:

  • Manheim Township (Pa.) became the first school from outside of the Philadelphia area to win the PIAA Class AAA boys’ lacrosse championship, defeating La Salle (Pa.) 6-4 in the final Saturday.

  • In an incredible New York Class B boys’ lacrosse final, three-time defending state champion Victor (N.Y.), ranked No. 5 in the Nike/US Lacrosse National Top 25, scored twice in the final minute to tie Garden City (N.Y.), only to fall when James Basile finished a fast break off a faceoff with the game-winning goal with 1.2 seconds left to give the Rams a 7-6 win.

  • Ridgefield (Conn.) upset No. 2 nationally ranked Darien (Conn.) 9-8 in the Connecticut Class L boys’ lacrosse final to claim its first state title since 2011. The Tigers, coached by Hall of Fame player Roy Colsey, snapped the Blue Wave’s 76-game winning streak and ended their four-year reign as state champions.

  • The No. 4 nationally ranked Darien (Conn.) girls also went down, falling to eventual champion New Canaan (Conn.) 12-11 in the Class L semifinals. The Blue Wave were five-time defending state champions and had won 107 straight games against Connecticut teams. The Rams went on to defeat Ridgefield (Conn.) in the championship game.

  • Brother Rice (Mich.) had won every Michigan state boys’ lacrosse championship since the MHSAA adopted the sport in 2005. Until Saturday. Detroit Catholic Central (Mich.) finally dethroned the Warriors with an 11-10 win in the Division 1 championship game.

5. The Women’s Professional Lacrosse League’s inaugural season continued with games Saturday. Alyssa Leonard scored eight goals to lead the Baltimore Brave to a 15-6 win over the New England Command. The Upstate Pride defeated the Philadelphia Fire 15-10.

WHAT WE’RE READING

  • With the upcoming NLL expansion draft, Rush players ruminated on this title run likely representing their last time playing together as a team.

  • The Virginia Class 6 boys’ lacrosse state championship game ended controversially and with coaches getting into a heated argument over the request for a stick check that nullified a late goal by Robinson (Va.) and became a rallying point for Oakton (Va.) en route to a victory.

  • A Beaverton (Ore.) boys’ lacrosse player whose heart stopped after getting hit with a ball in the chest during a May 23 practice was saved by his teammate and an automatic external defibrillator (AED) onsite at Westview High School.

  • US Lacrosse Magazine’s Patrick Stevens tabs defending NCAA champion Yale and finalist Duke 1-2 in way-early 2019 rankings for Division I men’s lacrosse. Cornell and Virginia are both ranked in the top five.

  • Boston College, an NCAA finalist the last two seasons, is No. 1 in US Lacrosse Magazine’s Jeremy Fallis’ way-early 2019 rankings for Division I women’s lacrosse.

  • How lacrosse is gaining a footing in the Carolina mountains.

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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

The ever-humble Mike Messere, a National Lacrosse Hall of Famer and the all-time winningest coach in high school lacrosse history, reflected briefly on the sustainability of the sport at West Genesee (N.Y.) after coaching in his last game—a loss to No. 6 nationally ranked Ward Melville (N.Y.) in the New York Class A boys’ lacrosse state championship game Saturday.

Paul Rabil, MLL scoring king. Paul Rabil, WWE superstar?

WHAT’S ON TAP

  • From frigid 5 a.m. practices with his Bryn Athn men’s lacrosse team to intense Team USA training sessions, our video crew went all-access with all-everything defenseman Tucker Durkin. The video drops today at youtube.com/uslacrosse.

  • Neil Stevens chimes in with more news, notes and quotes from the Saskatchewan Rush’s NLL title-clinching win over the Rochester Knighthawks.

  • Phil Shore breaks down the week that was in MLL, including trades and rookies making an immediate impact on a few teams.

  • Gary Lambrecht invokes several names of Yale’s recent past — of edgy players who laid the foundation for the Bulldogs ascent to the NCAA championship

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