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

1. Austin Staats delivered as many hoped he would for the expansion San Diego Seals, leading them to their first win Saturday and leading off this week’s National Lacrosse League notebook.

Staats, the first overall pick in the NLL draft, scored five goals and assisted four others to lead the Seals to a 17-12 win at Colorado. Also, Calgary righted its shift with a win over Vancouver, Saskatchewan and and Robert Church agreed to contract terms, and goalie Matt Vinc may be taking the fall for some early defensive troubles in Buffalo.

2. Kyle Hartzell faced plenty of loose-ball situations as a defenseman on the world champion 2018 U.S. men’s team.

Under pressure, he needed to be able to get the ball to his teammates to start transition play. Hartzell talked about the art of the shovel pass in a how-to article.

3. And here’s a limited sample of tweets from the lacrosse community’s celebration of Christmas:

My Moms gives me an annual Christmas ornament
This is this yrs#lacrosse
The Greatest Game in the World pic.twitter.com/uvw8m4cChS

— lax4ever (@rwilson_wilson) December 26, 2018

I wonder what this NHGLAXER got for Christmas from granny??? pic.twitter.com/BhignoDwZV

— NH Girls Lacrosse (@NHGLAX) December 26, 2018

One happy 8 year old on Christmas morning when his Aunt comes up big with a @PaulRabil @jhumenslacrosse lacrosse jersey! @L3Hess pic.twitter.com/fr4wRrsp3S

— Porter (@portergolf) December 26, 2018

Merry Christmas from our families to yours. May we always remember the reason for the season! pic.twitter.com/N5oFOOg1oh

— BoscoLacrosse (@BoscoLacrosse) December 26, 2018

When uncle Bub goes Christmas shopping... you get lacrosse sticks at 1 1/2 years old... future @PburgBoysLax player... look at that stick work pic.twitter.com/6ONWo5chIU

— Christina Reisinger (@cdreisinger97) December 26, 2018

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and have a safe and happy New Years! #RockPride pic.twitter.com/t0SX0FHjX7

— Rocks Lacrosse (@coffmanlacrosse) December 26, 2018

Merry Christmas from Nevada Women's lacrosse! pic.twitter.com/hrEFKsufdB

— Nevada Women's Lacrosse (@LacrosseNevada) December 26, 2018

WHAT WE’RE READING

• College Crosse previewed the 2019 Detroit Mercy, Duke, Mercer, North Carolina and Siena men’s schedules over the last several days.

• The Daily Memphian had more on the benefits of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s recent decision to sanction high school lacrosse.

• WBFO-FM 88.7 in Buffalo reported on the Iroquois Nationals’ status as it pertains to the International Olympic Committee’s provisional recognition of the Federation of International Lacrosse.

• The Mercer Island Reporter spotlighted members of the local lacrosse club for their volunteer service during the holiday season.

• The Daily Gazette (N.Y.) reported on an interesting, numbers-fueled merger of two high school lacrosse programs.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

The International World Games Association has announced the nominees for its athlete of the year award in 2018, and the FIL world champion U.S. men’s team is one of them. You can vote at theworldgames.org starting on New Year’s Day.

WHAT’S ON TAP

• Watch for some content from the January edition of US Lacrosse Magazine to roll out online today.

• Subscribe today to our weekly email newsletter and stay connected to each week’s top lacrosse stories. The newsletter goes out every Thursday.

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