California High School Lacrosse: La Costa Canyon Boys Lacrosse Defeats Torrey Pines 8-7 On May 26 To Win 2012 CIF-San Diego Championship (Video)


The Torrey Pines falcons led by Cornell bound Sean Doyle and Maryland bound Lucas Gradinger look for redemption against the La Costa Canyon Maveriks. The Maveriks under the leadership of head coach Jesse Foss have taken down the Falcons twice this season with the last meeting ending in triple overtime.

2012 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships: Loyola Men’s Lacrosse Tops Notre Dame 7-5 To Advance To Finals Against Maryland On May 28 (Video)


Eric Lusby scored five goals, and Jack Runkelmade a career-high 15 saves for Loyola University Maryland, and the No. 1 seeded Greyhounds defeated the Unviersity of Notre Dame, 7-5, on Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Lacrosse Semifinals.

The win moved the Greyhounds (17-1 overall) to a date in Monday’s NCAA Championship Game where it will play the winner of Duke University and the University of Maryland. Monday will be Loyola’s second all-time NCAA Championship Game appearance, joining the 1990 team as Greyhound squads to make the title match. Monday’s game will be broadcast on ESPN.

“We’re excited about the opportunity,” Head Coach Charley Toomeysaid. “We’ll go back to work tonight. We just kept going week-to-week (this season) with (good) work ethic, with that same philosophy that we’re going to take care of each other.”

Lusby scored twice in the first quarter, once in the second and then tallied both Loyola goals in the third period. He also assisted on a Davis Butts goal in the second to finish with six points. He raised his season total to 50 goals, tying himself for second on Loyola’s single-season goals scored record, one behind teammate Mike Sawyer.

Sawyer and Lusby became the first pair of Loyola teammates to score 50 goals in a season.

Injuries In Lacrosse: US Lacrosse CEO Steve Stenerson Calls For Rules And Penalties To Halt Violent Collisions In Men’s Lacrosse


“Lacrosse was never intended to be football with sticks, yet violent collisions of similar force regularly occur on the lacrosse field due to bigger, stronger, faster players…coaches who encourage big hits…and officials who either don’t feel empowered or refuse to enforce current rules,”

High-speed collisions in men’s lacrosse have put players and the sport’s reputation at risk, US Lacrosse CEO Steve Stenersen wrote in a blog on uslacrosse.org this week.

“Lacrosse was never intended to be football with sticks, yet violent collisions of similar force regularly occur on the lacrosse field due to bigger, stronger, faster players…coaches who encourage big hits…and officials who either don’t feel empowered or refuse to enforce current rules,” Stenersen wrote.

The blog was posted Sunday at 8:22 p.m., shortly after an ugly episode in the NCAA quarterfinals which resulted in Notre Dame attackman Ryan Foley being carted off the field on a stretcher following what appeared to be an illegal hit to the head delivered by Virginia defenseman Scott McWilliams. Foley scored on the play to put the Irish up 9-8 in the fourth quarter of an eventual 12-10 victory in Chester, Pa. No penalty was assessed.

Foley, who issued a thumbs-up and waved to the crowd as he was wheeled off the field, flew back to South Bend with the rest of Notre Dame’s players. The team said Sunday night that he was “doing fine.”

Stenersen has been the chief executive of US Lacrosse, the sport’s national governing body, since its 1998 inception. He also proposed several rule changes to combat the trend of violent collisions in the men’s game. The full blog post appears below.

The Time Has Come to Remove Violent Collision from Men’s Lacrosse

“The issue of high speed collision in boys’ and men’s lacrosse is an immediate concern with respect to rule evolution and enforcement. Lacrosse was never intended to be football with sticks, yet violent collisions of similar force regularly occur on the lacrosse field due to bigger, stronger, faster players…coaches who encourage big hits…and officials who either don’t feel empowered or refuse to enforce current rules.

“I’d like to see rule changes proposed that severely penalize hits to unprotected/defenseless players. For instance, in a loose ball situation, I believe we should consider eliminating the opportunity for a player who has no intention of playing the ball from running full speed into another player who is playing the ball. This may be viewed as blasphemous to some who relish the violent component of the game, but even the NFL has embraced similar rules because of growing concerns about player safety.

“The minimum penalties associated with existing rules focused on player safety simply aren’t sufficient to change player behavior; allowing an official the latitude to call a 1, 2 or 3-minute penalty for a rule violation involving player safety rarely results in a 2 or 3-minute penalty. I’d like to see the minimum penalty for unnecessary roughness, illegal body checks, and contact to an opponent’s head increased from 1 minute to 2 minutes, and expulsion should be an acceptable call for each of these infractions if they’re viewed as sufficiently violent. I’m not sure why some coaches don’t seem to appreciate that a 1-minute penalty is not a fair punishment for an infraction that results in the loss of a player to injury…nor is it a sufficient deterrent to the violent behavior in the first place.

“One final thought…US Lacrosse recently reduced the distance from a loose ball within which legal body contact can be made from 5 yards to 3 yards as part of our national youth rules. The intent was to reduce the momentum and resulting intensity of collision between players that could lead to injury. Because adult players can accelerate at a much faster rate and carry frames that easily weigh twice as much as U15 players, this rule is completely transferrable to the high school and college levels, as well.

“Coaches, officials and fans who support violent collision as an essential part of the game don’t fully appreciate the potential for serious injury, particularly with respect to the long term effects of concussion, for both the player being hit and the player who initiates contact. Player safety, not tradition, must be the primary focus of proactive efforts to evolve the rules of the game. If we don’t accept this important responsibility, the game’s violent reputation will surely impede its continued growth.”

For more:  http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DI/2011-12/news/052512_us_lacrosse_ceo_says_violent_collisions_must_stop

MCLA Men’s Lacrosse: 2012 MCLA All-America Teams Announced


NCAA Lacrosse: Denver Men’s Lacrosse Sr. Attacker Mark Matthews And Jr. Midfielder Chase Carraro Named 2nd Team All-Americans By USILA


University of Denver men’s lacrosse senior Mark Matthews (Oshawa, Ontario) and junior Chase Carraro (Louisville, Ky.) were named Second Team All-American by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) today. Sophomore Jeremy Noble (Orangeville, Ontario) was named a Third Team All-American, while junior Cameron Flint (Georgetown, Ontario) received honorable mention by the USILA. The four NCAA Division I All-America honorees tie with last season for the most in Denver’s single season history. The team was voted on prior to the NCAA Tournament.

2012 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championships: Inside Look At Northwestern Women’s Lacrosse Win Over Duke And Semifinal Matchup Against Maryland On May 25 (Video)


The Wildcats have advanced to the 2012 Final Four in Stony Brook, New York! See how the team prepares for the biggest road trip of the season and be sure to watch the Final Four on ESPN3.com Friday night at 8/7pm CT!

2012 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships: Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse Faces Loyola In Semifinals On May 26 At Gillette Stadium


2012 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships: Video Highlights Of Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse 12-10 Win Over Virginia On May 20


For the third time in program history the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team will be playing on Championship Weekend. No. 4 Notre Dame topped No. 5 and defending national champion Virginia 12-10 on Sunday afternoon in the NCAA quarterfinals at PPL Park.

Notre Dame (13-2) will face top-seeded Loyola (16-1) at 2:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The contest will be aired on ESPN2/ESPN3. Notre Dame was the 2010 NCAA finalist and a semifinalist in 2001.

2012 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships: Video Highlights Of Loyola Men’s Lacrosse 10-9 Win Over Denver On May 19


Eric Lusby scored five goals and had a career-high seven points, and J.P. Daltonwon 17-of-22 faceoffs, as the top-seeded Loyola University Maryland men’s lacrosse team defeated the University of Denver, 10-9, on Saturday afternoon to advance to next weekend’s NCAA Semifinals for the first time since 1998.

Lusby’s five goals tied his career-best, and he added two assists. Dalton dominated at the faceoff `X’, winning 77.2-percent of restarts against a team that had won 67.8-percent against the Greyhounds in two previous meetings this season.

The Greyhounds (16-1) will play the winner of No. 4 seed Notre Dame and No. 5 seed Virginia on Saturday, May 26, in the NCAA Semifinals at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.

Lacrosse Movies: “Crooked Arrows”, Directed By Steve Rash, Opens Nationwide On June 1


A mixed-blood Native American, Joe Logan, eager to modernize his reservation, must first prove himself to his father, the traditionalist Tribal Chairman, by rediscovering his spirit. He is tasked with coaching the reservation’s high school lacrosse team which competes against the better equipped and better trained players of the elite Prep School League. Joe inspires the Native American boys and teaches them the true meaning of tribal pride. Ignited by their heritage and believing in their new-found potential, coach and team climb an uphill battle to the state championship finals against their privileged prep school rivals…will they win? Crooked Arrows is an original, uplifting sports movie in the tradition of such classics as Mighty Ducks, Bad News Bears, Hoosiers, and Bend It Like Beckham–set in the fresh, contemporary worlds of Native American reservations, prep schools, and lacrosse…