1. U.S. women announce Fall Classic roster — and it marks the dawning of a new era.
All-time greats Kayla Treanor, Taylor Cummings and Alice Mercer announced their retirements from the national team this year. But there will be plenty of stars to watch when the U.S. women take on defending Division I champion North Carolina Saturday, Oct. 15 at noon.
The game will have a decidedly North Carolina feel. Nine of the 17 players on the U.S. roster are current or former Tar Heels, and Jenny Levy, who is also the UNC head coach, will coach the Americans. Ally Mastroianni, Marie McCool, Emma Trenchard and Caylee Waters all won a gold medal this summer. Newcomers Jamie Ortega and Taylor Moreno, members of UNC’s title-winning team, will also square off against their alma maters, as will Olivia Dirks, a senior midfielder at UNC.
Charlotte North and Belle Smith, members of the 2022 NCAA Division I runners-up Boston College, will also suit up for the U.S. North, the NCAA Division I leader in career goals, played for the national team over the summer, and Smith earned silver in Sixes. Tewaaraton winner, Boston College and world champion alumnae Sam Apuzzo is also on the roster.
Fall Classic will also include a USA men’s showcase on Friday, Oct. 14 and a pair of games between members of the men’s national team and Maryland on Saturday, Oct. 15. Tickets and more information are available here.
2. Maryland-Cornell Fall Ball game scores big in Pennsylvania.
If the Fall Classic isn’t enough reason to get excited about October lacrosse, consider this: A Fall Ball game between defending NCAA champion Maryland and runner-up Cornell sold out on Sunday. Maryland unofficially topped Cornell 13-5, but the real story was the crowd.
“This is a huge event for our community,” Springfield coach Tom Lemieux told Justin Feil of the sellout 2,500-person crowd. Feil has more in a report from Springfield.
3. The HEADStrong Colleluori Classic continues to bring the community together for something bigger than the game.
Nick Colleluori was a freshman on Hofstra’s men’s lacrosse team when he received a life-altering diagnosis of Diffuse Large B-Cell non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a blood cancer affecting the lymphatic system. He passed away in 2006, but his memory is carried on through the annual HEADStrong Colleluori Classic. This year’s participants were in grade school when Colleluori died, but Jackie Gatti, a graduate student midfielder for the Pride, feels like she’s gotten to know him during her career in Hempstead.
“It's not necessarily about the scoreboard, but we’re doing it because we can and Nick Colleluori and so many others that fought cancer, they were relentless,” Gatti said in an interview with Dylan Butler.
WHAT WE’RE READING
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Beth Stone has been a leader in lacrosse for three decades. On Saturday, she will be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. She discussed her career with Paul Ohanian.
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John Pirro will be posthumously inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Saturday. His former coach at Roanoke (Va.) talked about his legacy.
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Vanderbilt’s Cailin Bracken, whose Letter to College Sports made it all the way to “Good Morning America,” discussed her journey and a path forward in a feature by the Vanderbilt Athletics department.
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The IWLCA announced Kerri Whitaker, the associate head coach at Penn, as the recipient of its Service Award. Mike Scerbo, Duquesne’s associate athletic director, will receive the President’s Cup.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
At long last, Charlotte North and Taylor Moreno will be on the same team this weekend at Fall Classic. We’re not complaining, but we are reliving this epic moment from the AU season between a couple of players who are part of the next generation of American greats.
Of course it was @charlotteocho8.
— U.S. Women's National Team (@USAWLax) August 6, 2022
She got that clutch gene. pic.twitter.com/Wi3cvTmU1F
WHAT’S ON TAP
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A fall check-in with Army.
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More profiles on the USA Lacrosse Hall of Fame induction class, including Levy, who struck gold twice in 2022.