Summer Lax News and Notes 2024

I was looking around at some lax sites and saw that Kevin Cassese left the head coaching job last year at Lehigh, where he had been for 16 years and seemed to be doing fine, to become the top assistant at UVA. As far as I know Tiffany isn't going anywhere for a while so this doesn't seem to be a "coach-in-waiting" type situation at UVA. What is the story on that? I know it is very old news now.
 
CrazyNotCrazie said:
I was looking around at some lax sites and saw that Kevin Cassese left the head coaching job last year at Lehigh, where he had been for 16 years and seemed to be doing fine, to become the top assistant at UVA. As far as I know Tiffany isn't going anywhere for a while so this doesn't seem to be a "coach-in-waiting" type situation at UVA. What is the story on that? I know it is very old news now.
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Tiffany and Cassese worked together previously (Stony Brook, perhaps?) and have known one another for a long time. Cassese has admired UVA program for a long time, and nearly went there. Also, Sean Kirwan, who was Tiffany's OC last year, had long been rumored for a head coaching position, and took the Dartmouth job last year.

Tiffany no doubt had Kevin on speed dial, and closed the deal. I also believe that Kevin had taken Lehigh to about as far as he could--which was significant. Dave Urick, the former Georgetown coach, recently said of Lehigh "if it's not in the middle of nowhere, then you can see it from here". It's a bit of a challenge to recruit there (academics aside)
 
Additions from portal at attack

In addition to Eric Malever from Maryland (who was discussed in last season's thread), Duke has picked up two more graduate students from the portal for the attack positions-- Luke Grayum from Richmond who scored 37 goals this year and 27 in 2023 and Graham Blake who scored 29 goals for Harvard this year.

I don't remember Grayum from the Richmond game this year, but I see that he scored one of the three Richmond goals that game. One of the other Richmond attacks--Dalton Young--was an honorable mention All American and a Tewaarton finalist and signed as a free agent with Denver of the PLL, so perhaps Grayum has some upside that goes beyond his stats for the last two years.

The link below from Inside Lacrosse lists the portal acitivity for all of the D-1 programs.

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/di-men-s-transfer-portal-tracker-2024/63595
 
Three current or soon-to-be Duke players are among 77 invited to the initial tryouts for the USA team that will compete in next year’s U-20 world championship.

Congrats to Patrick Jameison, Benn Johnston, and incoming freshman M Luke Warrington (Culver Academy).

Somewhat surprising to see Nicolas Melendez omitted.
 
Oops, make that six: I missed incoming freshmen LSM Gavin Cooper (Haverford School), M Steve Finnell (Garden City), and D Brendan Fulham (St. Sebastian).
 
burnspbesq said:
Three current or soon-to-be Duke players are among 77 invited to the initial tryouts for the USA team that will compete in next year’s U-20 world championship.

Congrats to Patrick Jameison, Benn Johnston, and incoming freshman M Luke Warrington (Culver Academy).

Somewhat surprising to see Nicolas Melendez omitted.
Click to expand...
burnspbesq said:
Three current or soon-to-be Duke players are among 77 invited to the initial tryouts for the USA team that will compete in next year’s U-20 world championship.

Congrats to Patrick Jameison, Benn Johnston, and incoming freshman M Luke Warrington (Culver Academy).

Somewhat surprising to see Nicolas Melendez omitted.
Click to expand...

burnspbesq said:
Oops, make that six: I missed incoming freshmen LSM Gavin Cooper (Haverford School), M Steve Finnell (Garden City), and D Brendan Fulham (St. Sebastian).
Click to expand...
5 out of the 6 made the initial 42 man U20 Training Camp roster: Finnell, Fulham, Jameison, Johnston, and Warrington.

www.usalacrosse.com

Training Squad Named for 2025 U.S. Men's U20 Team

After a three-day tryout, head coach Shawn Nadelen named 42 players ahead of the team's August training camp.
www.usalacrosse.com www.usalacrosse.com
 
Congrats to Duke sophomore midfielder Caitlin Barrett on making the USA team that will compete in next month’s U-20 world championship.
 
Awaiting confirmation, but it appears that Kevin Unterstein, UNC's DC will be joining Duke next year. He's replacing Alex Ready who became an asst at High Point.

Kevin Unterstein.....I get Castle Wolfenstein vibes.
 
Two of the cornerstones of Duke’s 2025 recruiting class were named HS A-As by USALacrosse. Congrats to Michael Drago (West Essex) and Brady Scioletti (Don Bosco Prep).
 
burnspbesq said:
Two of the cornerstones of Duke’s 2025 recruiting class were named HS A-As by USALacrosse. Congrats to Michael Drago (West Essex) and Brady Scioletti (Don Bosco Prep).
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Love that we are mining the North Jersey talent pool. I believe that my alma mater played West Essex in lax even though we were in different conferences for most sports.
 
CrazyNotCrazie said:
Love that we are mining the North Jersey talent pool. I believe that my alma mater played West Essex in lax even though we were in different conferences for most sports.
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Two of our three losses this year were to Bosco, and those hurt even more because they have several Ridgewood kids on their roster (the other loss was to Westfield in the state semis).
 
Brennan isn’t the only recent grad making noise in the PLL. Tyler Carpenter is being talked about as the steal of the draft, and his name is even popping up in some way-too-early speculation about the 2027 world championship roster.
 
Still a bit odd we have heard nothing about Coach's contract which was set to expire last year...maybe he's just doing year to year. Wonder what he's telling recruits, who must ask....anyway, he still looks good and energized.
 
devilirium said:
Awaiting confirmation, but it appears that Kevin Unterstein, UNC's DC will be joining Duke next year. He's replacing Alex Ready who became an asst at High Point.

Kevin Unterstein.....I get Castle Wolfenstein vibes.
Click to expand...
Now confirmed. Maybe I’m grasping at straws, but to Roy’s point, this feels like succession planning.
 
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