Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. On Saturday, Harlem Jets Lacrosse held it’s inaugural Juneteenth Youth Lacrosse Expo.
USA Lacrosse proudly supported the event with Sankofa clinics for those in attendance. We’ll have a recap later today of the expo from Tari Kandemiri, aka Official Lax Girl. Also check out the @HarlemJetsLax twitter feed for some more sights and sounds from the day.
Shoutout to the @USA_Lacrosse Sankofa fam and @HarlemJetsLax fam for such an awesome day!! Lots of new players learned a ton today, and we all had a good time pic.twitter.com/Cf8IJvg9Nz
— Tari | Official Lax Girl™️ (@officiallaxgirl) June 19, 2021
@USA_Lacrosse, “What did you learn today?”, “Don’t Give Up”. One thing we can promise is that @HarlemJetsLax & @USA_Lacrosse, “will not give up” until NYC boys & girls lacrosse grows into one of the best and largest population of players in the country. #girlpower pic.twitter.com/7ulQwPpbQS
— About U Outreach (@AboutUOutreach) June 19, 2021
Today I had the opportunity to work with a young girl that was deaf, during the @HarlemJetsLax Sanfoka clinic. Very humbling experience which allowed me to use my very limited ASL education to communicate with her. Result? She was putting the ball in the back of the net.
— Patrick Timothee (@Patlittt) June 20, 2021
2. The ownership group of the NLL’s newest franchise in Las Vegas is believed to include Wayne Gretzky, Dustin Johnson, and Drew Brees along with principal owner Joe Tsai, according to a report from Sportsnet NHL host Jeff Marek. The team plans to make a “VERY big announcement” at 4 p.m. EST today.
3. The Limestone University Athletics department announced over the weekend that it was shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death of redshirt-freshman attackman Frank Smith of Bayville, New York.
Smith played one season for the Saints’ men’s lacrosse team after transferring from Bryant University. He was an All-South Atlantic Conference Honorable Mention and a South Atlantic Conference AstroTurf Player of the Week selection during the 2021 season after leading the team with 52 points on 31 goals and 21 assists.
4. Joey Spallina’s sixth goal of the game came with 12 seconds left and clinched the Long Island championship for Mount Sinai over Manhasset this weekend.
Gary Gait, the new Syracuse head coach, was in the stands to watch the dominant performance by Spallina, the top recruit in the Class of 2022 and a Syracuse verbal commit.
A huge goal in a huge game! Mt Sinai’s @JoeySpallina22 delivers the Long Island Championship winning goal with under 20 seconds left to break a 13-13 tie in a thriller against Manhasset. Game of the year! @News12LI @tyxanders @CuseMLAX @USALacrosseMag pic.twitter.com/PEi4rMfPXj
— News12SportsRush (@SportsRushN12) June 20, 2021
WHAT WE’RE READING
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Paul Ohanian on the storied career of Landon lifer and 2020 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee Rob Bordley.
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Like the team he’s joining, Dave Pietramala said he had something to prove at Syracuse during his introductory press conference since being tabbed by Gary Gait as the Orange’s defensive coordinator last week.
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From the May/June edition of USA Lacrosse Magazine, Matt Hamilton wrote about the Marquette men’s lacrosse team’s partnership with the Milwaukee Eagles Wheelchair team.
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Edward Lee of the Baltimore Sun checks in with Redwoods midfielder Kyle Harrison as his retirement tour includes a homecoming this weekend at Homewood Field.
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WBNG 12 News talked with Pfeiffer attackman Jared Nelson, who this spring became the all-time leading point scorer in NCAA men’s lacrosse history. Check out our feature on Nelson from late April.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
In partnership with Blaxers Blog, Wes Jackson from Brooklyn Crescents Lacrosse sat down with Pamella Jenkins, Mark Ellis and Richard Carrington to discuss the importance of Juneteenth to the lacrosse community and the fight for diversity, equity and inclusion within the sport and larger world.
The USA Lacrosse Southwest NTDP Regional Tryout also offered the opportunity to test out the Sixes format. Ben Beacham from Encinitas (Ca.) made good use of the extra space.
WHAT’S ON TAP
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A recap of the inaugural Juneteenth Youth Lacrosse Expo from USA Lacrosse Sankofa Clinician Tari Kandemiri, aka Official Lax Girl.