In case anyone was wondering where we’ve been, we are taking a short hiatus and we plan to resume our normal posting again soon. In other words, we’re very busy and needed a little break!
In the meantime, we’ll update the blog periodically (read: sporadically). We just wanted to let everyone know that we’re still around, and we’re just taking a short pause in posting our normal flow of lacrosse updates.
To get your lacrosse fill each day, be sure to visit our friends, who are all much better at keeping their sites fresh with content every day:
Fresh from its Casting Tour at the NCAA Lacrosse Final Four in Baltimore, the feature film Crooked Arrows will be holding auditions for lacrosse athletes in Hempstead, Long Island, Norwalk, CT, and Summit, NJ from Friday-Sunday, June 10-12.
Reebok, will once again sponsor the event, which drew over 400 lacrosse players at the Final Four Casting Tour. Producers J. Todd Harris and Mitchell Peck will be looking for lacrosse players and actors to be featured in the movie being shot this summer in the Boston area. Details are on each city’s casting event are below.
The producers announced the signing of Superman Returns star Brandon Routh to play the film’s leading role. The movie, written by Virginia native Todd Baird, tells the story of a Native American high school team’s unlikely ascent to the Prep League championship game. Veteran Hollywood director Steve Rash (The Buddy Holly Story, Can’t Buy Me Love, Bring It On 3 and 4) will helm the picture set for nationwide theatrical release during the spring of 2012 at the peak of lacrosse season.
The lacrosse drills will be run by Sports Studio’s Coach Mark Ellis. Ellis is best known for casting the athletes and choreographing the action in Miracle, Invincible, The Longest Yard, and Game Plan, among other sports movies classics. Continue reading →
BRIGHTON, Mass. – Major League Lacrosse, the premier professional outdoor lacrosse league, announced Monday its weekly award winners for the week ending June 5, 2011, according to MLL Commissioner David Gross. Boston Cannons midfielder Paul Rabil was honored as the League’s Offensive Player of the Week while Denver Outlaws goalkeeper Jesse Schwartzman earned his second straight Defensive Player of the Week selection.
In addition, Outlaws attackman Billy Bitter was honored as the Cascade Rookie of the Week.
Rabil scored a season-high five goals and added two assists as the Boston Cannons handed the defending MLL champion Chesapeake Bayhawks their first loss of the season, a 17-13 setback on Saturday night at Harvard Stadium. He scored three of his five goals in the second half as the Cannons held off the Bayhawks to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Rabil, who has played in two of the Cannons’ first three games this season, ranks second on the team with six goals and 11 points. He scored a goal with three assists in the Cannons’ one-point loss against Denver on May 21.
Meanwhile, Schwartzman led the Outlaws to their third straight win, an 11-10 victory over the Long Island Lizards on Friday night at Shuart Stadium. He made a season-high 18 saves, including eight in the first quarter, while allowing just nine goals as the Outlaws remained the only unbeaten team in the MLL this season.
Steele Stanwick was one of the best team players in college lacrosse this season. But was he the best player? Many would argue Rob Pannell was the best in the league, and we’d tend to agree. Regardless, Stanwick earned the award, and it’s great to see him and Virginia getting rewarded for persevering over the last two seasons in the face of numerous obstacles. And perhaps best of all, Steele was only a junior, so we get to see him play again next season! Congrats to Steele Stanwick (who has one of the best names in lacrosse).
Past Tewaaraton Award Recipients
Year
Player
School
Position
2001
Doug Shanahan
Hofstra University
Midfield
2002
Mike Powell
Syracuse University
Attack
2003
Chris Rotelli
University of Virginia
Midfield
2004
Mike Powell
Syracuse University
Attack
2005
Kyle Harrison
Johns Hopkins University
Midfield
2006
Matt Ward
University of Virginia
Attack
2007
Matt Danowski
Duke University
Attack
2008
Mike Leveille
Syracuse University
Attack
2009
Max Seibald
Cornell University
Midfield
2010
Ned Crotty
Duke University
Attack
2011
Steele Stanwick
University of Virginia
Attack
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Virginia junior attackman Steele Stanwick has become the third Cavalier to win the coveted Tewaaraton Trophy, awarded to the top male collegiate lacrosse player, announced by the Greater Washington Alliance on Thursday night inside Washington D.C.’s Warner Theatre.
“This award means a great deal to me,” said Stanwick. “This is something I have been dreaming about since I was young. I am really humbled by the honor and I wouldn’t be here without my teammates.”
Stanwick (Baltimore, Md.) joins Chris Rotelli (2003) and Matt Ward (2006) as Virginia Cavaliers who have won college lacrosse’s top honor. All three of UVa’s Tewaaraton Trophy winners earned the award in a season they led the Cavaliers to a NCAA title.
The Brattons are at it again… After getting the boot from the Virginia lacrosse team (following a team vote), the brothers apparently have burned yet another bridge in the lacrosse community.
Lacrosse Magazine is reporting that Shamel and Rhamel Bratton have signed on with LXM, and in doing so have forgone their MLL eligibility. Shamel was drafted fourth overall in the first round by the Boston Cannons. Cannon’s head coach Bill Daye called the situation “unfortunate” after hearing the news about Shamel’s bold move. Needless to say, he can’t be happy that he wasted a first round pick on Shamel.
Rhamel was drafted in the third round by the Long Island Lizards. Lizards’ coach Jim Mule had this to say about the situation:
“We’re disappointed from that standpoint, but he made a decision. I don’t understand or agree with it, but that’s the way it goes.”
Another NCAA men’s lacrosse championship is in the books. 2011 marked the ninth consecutive year that the championship was played in an NFL stadium. Since making the move to the big venues, it appeared that attendance was justifying it. With the booming growth of lacrosse across the country, you would think the attendance at games would also be on the rise. However, this past Memorial Day weekend, we saw attendance for the championship drop back to levels it was at almost decade ago.
NCAA Lacrosse Championship Attendance is Trending Down
In 2007 Baltimore broke the record for NCAA lacrosse attendance. Things were looking up, and Gillette Stadium got into the mix and booked the 2008 and 2009 championship weekend. Attendence in New England was equally impressive, with two back-to-back Syracuse championships brining in close to a quarter million fans over the ’08-’09 period.
If lacrosse is growing, then why isn’t the attendance?
There are a few theories out there trying to account for the reasons why attendance is down. When considering 2011′s big drop, here are a few potential contributing factors:
The CNY Factor: There were no Central New York teams in the finals for the first time in recent memory (including the DIII finals, which are played on Saturday in between the D1 games). CNY is known for hardcore lax fans that always make the journey to support their teams, and more often than not there are multiple Syracuse-area teams in the finals (Syracuse, Cornell, Cortland, LeMoyne, etc…).
New Time Slot: This year was the second time the NCAA played the championship game at 3:30pm, rather than the traditional 1pm. Holiday travelers don’t like getting a late start when dealing with Memorial Day traffic in the northeast. The game was moved to 3:30pm to appease the EPSN gods, who wanted better ratings for their TV coverage.
TV Coverage: Now that ESPN is covering lacrosse all season long, fans may be getting accustomed to watching games in HD at home. In years past, the only way to get a glimpse of great lacrosse was to journey out to the stadium.
Ticket Prices: Bigger venues mean higher ticket prices. For the casual fan that doesn’t have a dog in the race, can we expect them to shell out up to $85 ticket to bring the whole family to the game?
Location: Since returning to Baltimore, attendance has dropped off, leaving some wondering if Baltimore is still the lacrosse capital it once was. Is it time for the finals to be moved to New York or New Jersey?
In addition to the above factors, people are also questioning the low scoring games and whether or not lacrosse is losing it’s luster. The “fastest game on two feet” was reduced to a slow-paced methodical chess match this season. Teams that played man-to-man and run-and-gun are now playing zone on defense, and using stall tactics on offense. The traditional high scoring teams put up single digits all year long. Was 2011 a step backwards for lacrosse? Will they institute a shot clock in 2012? Let’s hope so.
TOWSON, Md.– A highly-decorated and respected collegiate and professional player and current Associate Head Coach at Towson University, Shawn Nadelen has been tabbed to take over the Tiger men’s lacrosse program, Director of Athletics Mike Waddell and Interim President Marcia G. Welsh announced Sunday.
“Shawn’s championship experience at the collegiate, professional and international levels as both a player and a coach make him the ideal leader for Towson Lacrosse,” Waddell says. “When you look in his eyes, there is the intensity of a CHAMPION and a resolve which will bring the most out of our student-athletes on and off the field. He is the perfect choice to continue the coaching legacies of Carl Runk and Tony Seaman.”
“While at Towson, Shawn has solidified himself as part of the collegiate lacrosse landscape here in Baltimore and across the county as this sport continues to expand from coast to coast,” Waddell added. “As someone who is still active as an athlete, Shawn has great name recognition with the lacrosse community. We look forward to keeping him and his wife, Mary, a professor at Towson, here as key members of our Tiger family.”
Nadelen just completed his seventh season at Towson and his second at the team’s associate head coach and defensive coordinator. Since Nadelen arrived at Towson in 2004, he has sparked a defensive resurgence in which the Tigers have allowed an average of nine or fewer goals four times and finished among the nation’s top 20 defenses twice, including this year when the Tigers allowed 8.23 goals per game. Continue reading →
In case anyone was wondering where we’ve been, we are taking a short hiatus and we plan to resume our normal posting again soon. In other words, we’re very busy and needed a little break!
