Professional PLL
06:00 PM
Jul 19
Phi
Den
Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. John Gorman and Dan Cocchi, two highly regarded defensive coordinators, are on the move — a domino effect of Kevin Unterstein leaving Hofstra for North Carolina last week.
Gorman, who spent the last two seasons at Rutgers, was tabbed to replace Unterstein at Hofstra — having previously spent four years on head coach Seth Tierney’s staff in Hempstead.
Cocchi, a fixture at Towson since Shawn Nadelen took over as the head coach there in 2012, is set to take the spot vacated by Gorman, according to a report by Inside Lacrosse. Scarlet Knights head coach Brian Brecht’s staff has undergone a complete makeover this summer, with Jim Mitchell leaving to become the head coach at Bellarmine and Brecht also bringing on former Air Force head coach Eric Seremet.
2. Megan Whittle is moving into the coaching ranks. Whittle, who graduated from Maryland as the Terps’ all-time leader with 298 career goals, will join the coaching staff at Dartmouth for the upcoming season.
The Big Green enjoyed a resurgence in head coach Danielle Spencer’s second season, going 11-5 and making the Ivy League tournament for the first time since 2013. They finished the campaign ranked No. 23 in the IWLCA Division I coaches poll.
3. Johnny Powless has been traded again. The 25-year-old forward, who appeared in 17 games split between the Georgia Swarm and New England Black Wolves this season, will play for his fifth NLL team in 2019 after being shipped to the Toronto Rock in a three-way deal that also included the Calgary Roughnecks. New England received a pair of draft picks from Calgary in exchange for Powless, whom the Roughnecks then sent to Toronto for forward Dan Taylor.
Powless, who entered the NLL as an 18-year-old phenom with the Rochester Knighthawks in 2011-12, has amassed 349 points in seven seasons. He was a part of three NLL championship teams (2012-14) in Rochester and also won a ring with the Georgia Swarm (2017), who acquired him from the Vancouver Stealth.
4. Cam Holding, who led Michigan State to the MCLA Division I championship in the spring, has stepped down from his post with the Spartans to concentrate full time on his playing career. Holding was a fourth-round selection of the San Diego Seals in the NLL expansion draft.
5. Kelly Amonte Hiller called Sunday’s selection of 36 players to the U.S. U19 women’s training team “the moment that the work starts.”
Amonte Hiller has taken the helm of a program looking to bounce back after a shocking silver medal showing in the 2015 FIL U19 Women’s World Championship. The team will hold training camps in October and January, followed by a series of training weekends leading up to the world championship next August in Peterborough, Ontario.
6. The MLL championship game Saturday in Charleston, S.C., will pit the Denver Outlaws against the Dallas Rattlers, who advanced with semifinal victories over the Chesapeake Bayhawks and New York Lizards, respectively. Phil Shore’s MLL notebook breaks down the semifinals, including a Player of the Week nod for the Outlaws’ do-everything midfielder Zach Currier.