Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. College Lacrosse Bracketology is back. The Syracuse Orangemen, riding five straight one-goal wins, are the top seed in the projected bracket, but the team that sits outside of the field might be the bigger story for now.
Patrick Stevens walks us through his projected NCAA tournament field if the season ended today.
Using LaxPower’s RPI replica as a tool, he breaks down the field into automatic qualifiers and at-large teams. Here’s a hint: A certain team from Chapel Hill might not make the cut.
2. Virginia and Yale cruised to victories on Tuesday night. Ben Reeves scored twice and dished off four assists, and teammate Jackson Morrill scored four timres, to lead Yale past to a 23-7 win over St. John's. Joe French scored four goals for Virginia to help the Cavaliers blow out Cleveland State 20-7. They played without Zed Williams, who was attending his father's funeral.
Here's what else went down in the men's game:
And in women's action:
3. Johns Hopkins coach Janine Tucker filed a protest with the Big Ten Conference, making the case that Northwestern's game-tying goal on Thursday night came after the clock had expired, according to the Baltimore Sun.
It's an unprecedented step for Tucker, who has never protested a game in over two decades of coaching at Johns Hopkins. However, replays from the Big Ten Network show that the ball was in Sheila Nesselbrush's after the clock hit 0.0, thus negating the goal that sent the game to overtime, where the Blue Jays lost 10-9.
4. We have a new No. 1 atop the Nike/US Lacrosse High School Boys’ Top 25. Landon (Md.) is off to a 6-0 start with wins over Brunswick (Conn.) and McCallie (Tenn.) and thanks to a McDonogh (Md.) loss to Culver (Ind.), it moves into the top spot.
Culver, after taking down the former No.1 team, launched from No. 14 to No. 4 in this week’s rankings.
For the women’s Top 25, the top teams avoided the upset bug. McDonogh (Md.), Garden City (N.J.) and St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes (Va.) held firm, while Agnes Irwin (Pa.) and Loyola (Ill.) were the big movers of the week.
Check out the boys and girls regional players of the week.
5. The US Lacrosse Coach Development Program, since its released its first online courses in 2004, has been ahead of its time.
As part of April’s Coaching Edition of the magazine, we walk you through the steps that the CDP is taking to continue advancing and innovating.
Some of the game’s biggest names share their experiences with the program and how they think it has value for all coaches, no matter the experience.