[
THE SCOOP] lifestyles
continued from page 23 “I just didn’t know what to say or
think at that point,” Sturgis said. The CAA cited a bylaw created in
2000 in the wake of the departures of Richmond, East Carolina and American from the conference. “Upon the notice of withdrawal, the institution’s teams become ineligible to compete for Association team championships,” the bylaw states. The CAA has imposed similar punishments on Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth, Georgia State and George Mason in other sports. “It was an unfortunate decision, but
I don’t know if it was unfair,” Tambroni said. “It’s written in the bylaws of the CAA manual that the presidents in the league can do this.” Nearly all of Penn State’s other
sports compete in the Big Ten, which will field its first lacrosse conference next season with the additions of Maryland, Rutgers and Johns Hopkins. Tambroni said he thought one or two
CAA schools were pushing the idea of the ban to the rest of the conference, but that he does not blame them for the punishment. “We all do what we think is in the best interest of our team,” he said. “For me to think that another coach would do something that would be in the best interest of Penn State men’s lacrosse would be absurd.” The lack of an automatic bid and
national competitiveness for eight NCAA at-large bids forced the Nittany Lions into do-or-die, early-season non- conference tilts with powers Loyola, Notre Dame, Denver and Albany. Penn State started out 3-1 but dropped four of its next five. By the end of March, its postseason hopes were essentially dashed. “I’m not sure we managed it that well,” Tambroni said. LM
>>LUCKY NUMBER
With a 13-10 win over the Toronto Rock on March 30, the Edmonton Rush won their 13th-straight game to break the NLL single-season record for consecutive wins and improve to a 13-0 start at press time. After the win, Rush players raised their sticks toward the section where
coach Derek Keenan’s wife sat. Wendy Keenan is battling pancreatic cancer. “Coach Keenan, I can’t say enough about the guy, what he preaches in the dressing room and everything that he’s going through right now,” Edmonton forward Jarrett Davis said. “He’s really the leader of this team. All our success is because of him.’’
24 LACROSSE MAGAZINE May 2014 >>
The Seton Hill women’s lacrosse team dedicated the 2014 season to former coach Kristie Quigley, who was killed in a team bus accident in March 2013.
Seton Hill’s ‘Normal Season’
At first glance, if you
ignored the three-foot high wall of snow boxing in the field, it looked like any other game. Players bounced sticks off
the turf at Villanova, where 10 months earlier, North Carolina won its first NCAA championship. Freshmen waved to their parents in the stands. Sticks, and backup sticks, were checked and re-checked, while teammates played catch and laughed. Fans in Tastykake windbreakers and Eagles beanies lined up to show their support for the home team, defending CACC champion Holy Family, who had moved the game to the Main Line from their campus in Northeast Philadelphia because of the weather. The visitors, the Seton Hill
women’s lacrosse team, raced out to an early lead and their fans cheered, the applause muffled by gloves and scarves.
It took further inspection
to see this wasn’t just any regular season game. The crimson-and-gold
ribbon affixed to the back of the goalie’s helmet. The player on the SHU sideline wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt that read: “Coach Quigley, Forever a Griffin.” The jersey underneath that warmup, adorned with the black patch reading “KQ” and “JQ.” Then a look at the roster, and the revelation that more than half of the team is listed as redshirts because its season tragically was cut short by the bus accident that took the life of their coach, Kristie Quigley, and her unborn son in March 2013. It was Seton Hill’s first
road game since the accident. Courtney Tamasitis Grove played with Quigley at Duquense, coached Seton Hill from 2008 to 2011 and recruited the upperclassmen. She returned to help.
“It absolutely can be a
normal season,” Grove said. “It started with that first practice in the gym. We got our sticks out just like everyone else.” The Griffins defeated Holy
Family 15-8 to improve to 2-0 and were 7-3 as the calendar flipped to April. They were 2-3 in the mighty PSAC, a league that regularly sends teams to the NCAA tournament. They dedicated the season to Quigley. “It just means we think about her every time we’re out here,” Grove said. “I know she’s on my mind every day.”
The Griffins set out from their Pittsburgh-area campus on a Friday night. The bus went east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. They watched “Pitch Perfect” for the thousandth time. The bus passed the spot of the accident. They rolled by it like it was anywhere else. — Mark Macyk
— Neil Stevens A Publication of US Lacrosse
©BRIAN KUNST; ©DALE MACMILLAN
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92