Big weekend ahead for Duke. It’s likely that five Duke alums will suit up for Team USA against the MLL all-stars tonight, as Will Haus is under consideration to replace the injured Steve DiNapoli. If he makes it, he will join Matt Danowski, Ned Crotty, Jordan Wolf, and Myles Jones on the plane to the world championships next week. The game is on ESPNNews at 7 p.m. Eastern. Then on Saturday, five incoming Duke freshmen are scheduled to play in the Under Armour All-American game, at 8 p.m. Eastern on ESPNU.
Siena hired Albany offensive coordinator Liam Gleason as its new head coach. I believe that leaves Colgate as the only vacancy, with administrative uncertainty at Holy Cross and Air Force.
St. Bonaventure, one of the two new D1 men’s programs starting up in 2019, found a conference. The Bonnies will play in the MAAC, which looks like the best possible fit. No word yet on any conference affiliation for Utah.
Will post something about TV coverage of the world championships when I figure it out. Expect lots of early games, as Netanya, Israel is seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time. It’ll be easier in 2022, when the event returns to Coquitlam, B.C., just east of Vancouver. There are rumors that there will be some sort of qualifying process for 2022, and I think that makes sense. More than 32 teams makes for an unwieldy event.
I’m sure that’s how Those People Across the River saw it when Ned Harkness signed on to start the hockey program at Union. But it’s a career move that doesn’t require uprooting the family. There’s something to be said for that.
Btw ... Josh Dionne is on line two for you.
Link to ESPN press release on its coverage of the world championships.
https://espnmediazone.com/us/press-r...championships/
Will Haus will be on the plane later this week. Way to go, will.
https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/usa-in...ter-for-israel
The folks at collegecrosse.com submitted a FOIA request to FSU, and the yield was interesting, to say the least. Facilities and Title IX compliance are obstacles that will need to be overcome, but there appears to be strong interest, in the C-suite and among deep-pocketed alums, in the Noles adding both men’s and women’s lax.
One of the most interesting tidbits was the cost estimate for women’s lax: $6 million to get started and $1.35 million recurring.
Coach Danowski received a well-deserved extension through 2023.
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...DB_OEM_ID=4200
Met Coach in bookstore before he won titles here. He was willing to chat for awhile. Fantastic guy. He also autographed a stick for me when I dropped in on him while my son was at Coach K's camp. He's a very down-to-earth fellow. Fantastic coach. Better man.
Congrats, coach!
I've had a few lengthy chats with him at Duke football games, and what stands out about the man is that there isn't one bit of coachspeak in what he has to say...if you ask him a question, he gives it some thought and gives it a very direct and interesting answer...thoughtful, smart, personable...and his teams have a tendency to improve every year as the season goes on. What's not to like?
After one game on Wednesday, pool play at the World Championship starts in earnest today in Netanya, Israel. The US faces the Iroquois today at 1:30 Eastern on ESPN2.
In addition to the five Duke alums on the US team, Josh Offitt ‘13 is playing for Israel and rising junior J.T. Giles-Harris will suit up for Puerto Rico.
Who won?
USA 17-9
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...120.1524062245
"This is the best of all possible worlds."
Dr. Pangloss - Candide
USA 17 - Iroquois 9
Danowski and Wolf each had 2 goals.
eta - I took too long typing this post or missed seeing the link above.
It took the US a half to get settled, but once they did they handled the Iroquois with relative ease; the second half was 12-2. Trevor Baptiste went 17-19 on faceoffs for the US. Rob Pannell had seven points.
Solid outings for all the Duke guys on Thursday. Poor Will Haus found himself guarding Lyle Thompson with a short stick for a good chunk of the night, but he did as well as you could hope, and added a goal in transition. Matt Danowski and Jordan Wolf had two goals each, and Josh Offitt put up two goals in Israel’s 11-3 win over Jamaica.
The US has today off, and resumes pool play against Australia at 7:30 a.m. Eastern on Saturday.
Paul, question: are there different competitive tiers in this championship, i.e. it's hard to imagine Jamaica playing the US or Canada for example...are there lesser divisions?