Dialed In: Your Lacrosse Fix for Wednesday, May 10

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

1. Defense wins championships — and drafts. There were more defensemen taken than any other position in the Premier Lacrosse League College Draft on Tuesday. The first three selections and nine of the 32 total draft picks were long poles.

Cornell’s Gavin Adler became the first defensemen selected first overall since Ryan Mollet went No. 1 in the inaugural Major League Lacrosse draft in 2001. The Atlas got Adler at No. 1 and Maryland’s Brett Makar at No. 3. In between, the Redwoods selected Delaware’s Owen Grant.

The other defensemen drafted were Georgetown’s Will Bowen (Chaos), John Hopkins’ Alex Mazzone (Waterdogs), Notre Dame’s Chris Fake (Waterdogs), High Point’s Grant Amman (Cannons), Loyola’s Cam Wyers (Archers) and Albany’s Elijah Gash (Whipsnakes).

2. Eleven current college women’s lacrosse players are going pro after the Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse College Draft on Tuesday.

Syracuse’s Meaghan Tyrrell was the No. 1 overall pick, followed by Katie Detwiler (Loyola), Jenn Medjid (Boston College), Abby Bosco (Maryland), Hailey Rhatigan (Northwestern), Jillian Wilson (Loyola), Megan Carney (Syracuse), Marge Donovan (Maryland), Mairead Durkin (James Madison), Sarah Reznick (Florida) and Charlie Rudy (Colorado).

3. We announced All-Americans for Division I men’s and women’s lacrosse Tuesday.

Virginia led all teams with 10 selections on the men’s side, while Cornell’s Gavin Adler, Villanova’s Matt Campbell and Penn’s Sam Handley were repeat first-team honorees.

ACC champion Boston College had nine All-Americans on the women’s side, the most of any team.

4. Defending champion and top-seeded Boston College Club survived a scare in the first round of the WCLA National Championship in Virginia Beach. Ultimately, six of the top eight seeds advanced Tuesday, the most notable upset being 12th-seeded Virginia Club’s 13-9 win over fifth-seeded Utah.

5. The top seed in the Division II bracket of the MCLA National Championships is out.

Ninth-seeded Dayton stunned Rhode Island 14-6 in the quarterfinals Tuesday in Round Rock, Texas. Dayton plays 13th-seeded Air Force Academy — which ousted fourth-seeded Montana in the first round and UNC-Charlotte in the quarterfinals — in the semifinals Thursday. St. Thomas meets Cal State San Marcos also advanced to the final four.

In the Division I bracket, three of the top four seeds remain in play. Top-seeded Virginia Tech and fourth-seeded Chapman defeated Utah Valley and Chapman, respectively, to set up one semifinal. In the other half of the bracket, third-seeded Liberty eked past Georgia. The Flames will meet seventh-seeded Concordia, which upset second-seeded Georgia Tech.

WHAT WE’RE READING

• High school rankings reports, including the Nike/USA Lacrosse National Top 25s (boys and girls) and Nike/USA Lacrosse Regional Top 10s (boys and girls)

• About a long overdue and especially satisfying first NCAA tournament appearance for the Bentley men’s lacrosse team.

• Another gem from Princeton senior writer and historian Jerry Price, a story about the litany of injuries through which the Tigers have persevered and the leadership roles Sam English and Tyler Sandoval have embraced while sidelined.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

UMass men’s lacrosse faceoff specialist aka Drip King’s latest release. I don’t know why but I can’t look away when this guy puts out videos.

WHAT’S ON TAP

• It’s tourney time, baby. The NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse tournament gets underway with a play-in game as MAAC champion Marist visits CAA champion Delaware.

• Also today, first-round games in the NCAA Division II and III men’s lacrosse tournaments

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