Professional PLL
06:00 PM
Jul 19
Phi
Den
Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. The NCAA men’s and women’s lacrosse championship sites were announced through 2026.
Most notably, the men’s and women’s final fours will both be held at Gillette Stadium in 2025 and 2026. It will be the first time since 2017 that the two Division I championships will be held in the same venue.
On the men’s side, the NCAA announced a return to NFL venues after the championship will head to Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. in 2021-22.
Here’s the full list:
2023: Philadelphia, Pa.
2024: Philadelphia, Pa.
2025: Foxborough, Mass.
2026: Foxborough, Mass.
As for the women’s championship, the final four will head to Cary, N.C. — often the site of NCAA soccer’s final four — in 2023 and 2024. Then, the championships will head back to Gillette Stadium for the first time since 2017.
The full list of sites:
2023: Cary, N.C.
2024: Cary, N.C.
2025: Foxborough, Mass.
2026: Foxborough, Mass.
Check out the full write-ups including future NCAA quarterfinal locations.
2. Former Harvard LSM Noah Knopf shared his coming-out story with US Lacrosse Magazine, in partnership with OutSports.
Knopf wrote in a first-person piece about the November day when he shared with his teammates that he is Gay. He also touched on homophobia within the game of lacrosse and how he hopes to enact change in this sport.
Click here to check out his inspiring piece.
The lacrosse community voiced its support for Knopf throughout the day.
This article should be required reading for coaches, players, & parents from youth lax thru PLL/MLL.
— Gerry Byrne (@ByrneCrimson) October 14, 2020
I hope Noah’s honesty & courage can educate our sport & empower other athletes to follow his lead & feel comfortable to live their lives proudly & without judgement. https://t.co/5OoxrWf9zO
Everyone deserves to feel loved by the sport they love. https://t.co/mwhmlfPRov
— Jessica Berman (@JessicaBerman1) October 15, 2020
Bring tissues along for this read
— Coach DBRO (@yo_dbro) October 14, 2020
"And I’ve got a lot of hope for lacrosse in the future. I hope we can make this a sport where Black Lives Matter. I hope we can honor and respect Native Americans, who invented this game. I hope we can end our culture of homophobia."
https://t.co/1J15FjKqQq
I played lacrosse for 10 years growing up and I loved it, but I think there was only one, *maybe* two years that I actually felt comfortable and at ease in that environment. I went to a couple club lax practices my freshman year at Harvard, but couldn’t get over that discomfort. https://t.co/UctileH3Vt
— Ryan Hanley (@rhanley83) October 14, 2020
3. Cassandra Kitchen is proud of her Peruvian heritage and the steps that led her to lacrosse.
Kitchen, whose mother emigrated to the U.S. in 1989 from Peru, plays for Skywalkers Lacrosse Club in Maryland and dreams to one day represent either her home country or the country of her heritage.
WHAT WE’RE READING
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Lenoir-Rhyne graduate assistant Ashley Voccia writes in IWLCA’s “Behind the Whistle” about how the COVID-19 pandemic helped her find her why.
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Connor Whipp was named Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse Director of Operations.
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Loyola men’s coach Charlie Toomey was named to the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame alongside seven other inductees.
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Inside Lacrosse’s Kyle Devitte examines the needs of Waterdogs LC.
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More from the Baltimore Sun on Towson and Navy hosting NCAA men's quarterfinals in 2023-25.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Kate Sites using her speed at Maryland women’s lacrosse practice.
Kate Sites: QUICK to goal #FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/ly5tTeqpT7
— Maryland Women's Lacrosse (@MarylandWLax) October 14, 2020
Checking in on Carl Runk and Towson men's lacrosse circa 1981.
In March 1981, @Towson_MLAX coach Carl Runk talks about his team’s chances pic.twitter.com/YMVjzgSv8G
— Steve Holroyd (@laxmavn) October 15, 2020
WHAT’S ON TAP
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Nelson Rice checks in with the Pietramala twins after they committed to North Carolina.