Kian and her CW Post Lacrosse Team ...

My niece and her teammates from CW Post of Long Island are attempting to win their second consecutive NCAA Div. II Women's Lacrosse Championship. Here is a round-up of the national semifinal win:

HOUSTON (May 15, 2008) – The C.W. Post women’s lacrosse team advanced to the NCAA Championship title game for the second straight year with a 9-4 win over Adelphi University in the semifinals Thursday afternoon at Memorial Park.

The Pioneers improve to 17-1 overall and will play West Chester University on Saturday, May 17 at 1 p.m. The win stops a 16-game win streak for the Panthers as they end their season with a 16-1 overall record.

C.W. Post and Adelphi last met in postseason play in 2006 in the NCAA semifinals in Chicago, where the Panthers edged out a 9-8 win.

Junior attacker Jaclyn Napoli (West Islip, N.Y.) led the Pioneers offensively with four goals while senior goalkeeper Lauren Scipione (East Meadow, N.Y.) made a season-high 15 saves in goal to preserve the win.

The Panthers scored first when Michelle Ceraso scored on a shot from the right side at 23:54.

The Pioneers answered back with two goals, the first from Napoli at 14:14 on a shot from the left post on a cross pass from junior attacker Katie Hogan (Farmingdale, N.Y.). The second came from senior attacker Jenna Miller (Silver Spring, Md.) at 11:23 on a 3-yard shot from junior midfielder Samantha Lyons (Farmingdale, N.Y.) to go ahead, 2-1.

Adelphi tied the game when Kaitlyn Carter shot one in from the right side to tie the game at 10:57.

Napoli scored her second goal of the game on a sling shot from the left post on a pass from Miller at 9:21. The Panthers again answered back when Emily Simpson scored from the right perimeter with an assist from Rachel Ray at 6:32.

The teams played to a 3-3 draw until the Pioneers added two more goals from Napoli and sophomore midfielder Brianne Jackolski (Shirley, N.Y.) to give themselves a cushioned lead with 5:12 left in the half.

In the second half, C.W. Post scored three continuous goals from Hogan, Napoli and senior midfielder Elaine Williams (East Islip, N.Y.) to boost its lead in the game to 8-3 with 20:19 remaining in regulation.

Adelphi score its final goal of the game when Carter scored from the left side with 7:26 left to play.

Sophomore midfielder Staci Passafiume (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) scored the game’s final goal at 3:35 with an 8-foot shot from Hogan.

C.W. Post outshot Adelphi, 30-25, and held a 17-15 ground ball advantage.

Passafiume and Hogan each tallied two assists while five Pioneers each scored single goals.

Carter had two goals while Ceraso and Simpson each had one for Adelphi. Caitlin Fitzpatrick made 10 stops in goal, including seven in the second half for the Panthers.

The Pioneers advanced to the title game in 2007 after a win over Stonehill College and went on to defeat West Chester, 15-7, to claim their second national in program history.

NLL Update ...

In previous posts, I chronicled the fate of the National Lacrosse League which cancelled its season because of the lack of a collective bargaining agreement with its players, then proceeded to strike a deal and attempt a resurrection of the season nine days after tolling the sounds of sudden death.

A quick update: Both the Boston and Arizona based teams have opted to suspend operatons for the upcoming season with hopes to re-join in 2008. The Sports Biz Daily reported today that Arizona team exec Doug Moss cited a possible savings of $5 mil in taking the step to sit-out 2007.

Players from the Boston and Arizona teams will be made available in a dispersal draft to be held tonight.

The league issued a new schedule reflecting the two idle franchises.

NLL hanging by a thread...

This news is flying under the radar of the sports world but deserves a note or two:

NLL season hanging on a thread
October 16, 2007
The National Lacrosse League's board of governors will hold a 10 a.m. conference call this morning to decide whether or not to cancel the 2008 season after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement last night with its players.

A Canadian Press story reported NLL commissioner Jim Jennings pulled the plug on the 2008 indoor box campaign after the league's midnight deadline to reach deal passed without both sides resuming talks. However, no official action has yet been taken, said Toronto Rock president Brad Watters.

"We haven't announced we've cancelled the season yet (so) I think that is a little premature at this point," Watters said this morning. "But at the same time, it doesn't look good. There will more clarity (later today)."

The sides broke off talks Sunday after a weekend bargaining session in New York and no further meetings were scheduled. However, Professional Lacrosse Players Association executive director Dave Succamore said Sunday he was optimistic a deal would be reached.

"We're not asking for the world, that's for sure; we're just asking for a fair deal," Succamore said.

The main stumbling blocks in talks have been salaries, defining revenue streams and the length of the CBA. The last deal, which was a three-year pact, expired July 31.

story by Mary Ormsby

LAX ...

On a cool Sunday afternoon in New England, I went outside in the yard to have a catch with my daughter. We did not bring baseball mitts and a ball.

We brought Lacrossse Sticks.

Make that STX.

It was great. We talked and we played. We tossed a lacrosse ball back and forth for about 30 minutes. A few passes went astray and bounced into the street in the front yard.

I thought about the sport of lacrosse and that 'having a catch' or 'playing catch' in the year 2007 was a bit different from the definition of the phrase in say, 1967.

Lacrosse has always been a sport for the East coast. Long Island is certainly a hotbed for the game. In fact, I truly believe that the recent downfall of Long Island basketball is due to the fact that the better athletes are picking up lacrosse sticks. Baseball is even worse off. I read over the weekend that Little League baseball has 400,000 fewer participants this year than in 1999.

Some of the kids are playing Ripken baseball, but many are playing other sports, like basketball and lacrosse.

Girls lacrosse is a ticket to a college scholarship, as so many of the major universities are gearing up, funding and fielding bigtime lacrosse programs. I know first hand, as I have a niece who played on the NCAA Div II champions this spring and a daughter who has a brand new lacrosse stick. She enjoyed teaching her Dad the nuances of the game on a summer Sunday afternoon in New England.