[
THE SCOOP] lifestyles continued from page 11
Wills, the former Dartmouth goalie and two-time U.S. World Cup gold medalist, wants to become the first woman to play in Major League Lacrosse. The New York Lizards claimed Wills from the player pool Dec. 16, five days after she went unselected in the MLL supplemental draft. MLL teams can carry up to 40 players into April training camp, after which they will name 25-player active rosters and practice squads for the 2014 season. What may have started as a marketing
ploy — team owner Andrew Murstein, also the president of Medallion Financial Group and owner of Richard Petty Motorsports, referenced NASCAR’s Danica Patrick and emphasized his company’s investment in women and minority businesses in the announcement of signing Wills — has yielded a real opportunity for Wills to make history. “It’s a legit tryout. I can go and prove
myself. I can get away from this being a publicity stunt,” Wills said. “I’m looking forward to showing what I can do.” It’s no surprise Joe Spallina, the
Lizards’ audacious coach and general manager, would take a flier on Wills. He’s also the women’s coach at Stony Brook and previously won three NCAA Division II championships at Adelphi.“I’ve never been shy to shake it up,” he said. After winning the 2011 NCAA title at
Adelphi, Spallina joked that then-Panthers goalie Frankie Caridi should get a tryout with the Lizards. Caridi and others would later follow him to Stony Brook. In Wills, Spallina would have the preeminent goalie in the women’s game potentially to back up two- time MLL All-Star and Team USA hopeful Drew Adams. He’s not joking this time. “I wanted it to be an athletic
thing. I didn’t want it to be a boy- girl thing. I didn’t want it to be a propaganda thing,” Spallina said. “Devon has accomplished all she can in the women’s game. She just wants an opportunity to compete. Who I am I to deny her?” Spallina said Murstein approached him last April and asked if a woman could ever play in the MLL. If there’s one position where it would work, Spallina thought, it would be goalie. Wills does not expect special treatment in training camp. “If I’m good enough, I’m good enough,” she said. “If I’m not, I’m not.” LM
12 LACROSSE MAGAZINE February 2014 >>
Senior defenseman Matt Dusek and the Drexel men’s lacrosse team just missed the cut in LM’s preseason top 20. See the best of the rest at
LaxMagazine.com/LMranks.
#LMRANKS: COUNTING DOWN TO 2014 SEASON
There’s enough college preview stuff in this edition (pages 28-85) to stay busy, but for even more — on teams, players and storylines to watch in 2014 — head to
LaxMagazine.com/LMranks for bonus content, including:
- Expanded looks at the Division I men’s and women’s top 20 teams, along with the “Best of the Rest” on teams
that just missed the cut, like the Drexel men, who are in the running to win the CAA with Penn State ineligible.
- Rankings analysis, telling numbers and early-season games to watch.
- More on the Division III men’s and women’s top 20 teams, and the best from the Division II men and women.
>> Where’s Ginny Now?
Ginny Capicchioni, who broke the gender barrier in pro lacrosse in 2003, remains involved with the game today as a player, official and entrepreneur. She led the European Lacrosse League in save percentage this fall as the starting goalie for Pietro Filipi, a men’s box team in Radotin, Czech Republic. In December, she launched Goal Guardian National, a championship- style goalie combine that uses a patent- pending system to rate the
productivity of goalies based on Moneyball-like metrics. Capicchioni pinpointed three
differences that make the men’s game different from the women’s from a goalie’s perspective: shot velocity, stick capacity and traffic in front of the goal. Pockets allow shooters to hold and release the ball at different speeds and angles, shooters can follow through into their defenders and there are no shooting space provisions. “Devon Wills is a great goalie,” Capicchioni said. “One of the reasons why she has had so much success in the women’s game is her ability to anticipate scoring situations two and three steps ahead of time. To be successful in the men’s game, she will need to be able to do the same.”
— M.D. A Publication of US Lacrosse
- The top five men’s and women’s junior college teams and preseason players of the year.
- Breakdowns of the MCLA and WCLA top 20s and preseason players of the year.
Use the hashtag #LMranks to discuss and share Lacrosse Magazine’s preseason countdown.
©KEVIN TUCKER (MD); ©US INDOOR LACROSSE (GC)
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