Features/News Archives

GMH Philadelphia Lacrosse Club tops Quaker LC

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/11
    Jim Bruder and Brian Tingle scored two goals apiece to lead GMH Philadelphia Lacrosse Club to a 10-8 victory over Quaker Lacrosse Club Sunday in the American Lacrosse League (ALL) Philadelphia Division championship game at Eastern University.
    GMH jumped out fast in the 2nd quarter and took an 8-4 lead into halftime. Quaker rebounded and cut the lead to 9-6 after three quarters and drew within 9-8 with two quick goals to open the fourth quarter.
    But GMH scored once more and held on for the victory despite four goals from Steve Brundage and three from Jeff Pfeffer
    GMH Philadelphia LC now travels to the ALL Blue Conference semifinals Saturday (1:30 p.m.) against the New Jersey division winner, Bulls LC, at Stevens Tech in Hoboken, N.J. GMH
    The other semifinal game will feature New York AC, winner of the NY division, and the Boston Crabs, winners of the NE division at 4 pm. Saturday’s winners will play Sunday at 1:30 p.m. for the ALL Blue Conference Final.
    Sunday’s winner will travel to Baltimore June 21st for the ALL Championship. MAB Paints Philadelphia LC (now GMH Philadelphia) lost the ALL Blue Conference title game, 10-8, to NYAC. NYAC went on to win the 2007 ALL Championship.
    BOX SCORE: GMH Philadelphia: Goals- Bruder (2), Tingle (2), Eremus (1), Friel (1), German (1), Morsell (1), Smith (1), Young (1). Saves: Murray (6) & Gregg (5) Quaker: Goals: Brundage (4), Pfeffer (3), O’Brien (1). Saves: Tabasso (10).

Date set for 2nd Annual Nick Colleluori Classic
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/8
    The 2nd Annual Nick Colleluori Classic to raise money for blood cancer research will be held on Oct. 11 at Ridley High School.
    The tourney, run by the HEADstrong Foundation, will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with an admission of $10. Teams that are tentatively scheduled to participate in the tournament include Bellarmine, Bucknell, Cabrini, Haverford, Hofstra, Lehigh, Loyola, Maryland, Penn, Penn State, Princeton, St. Joseph's, and Widener.
    The HEADstrong Foundation was founded in memory of former Hofstra lacrosse player Nick "Head" Colleluori, a 2004 graduate of Ridley High School. Nick, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the fall of 2005, lost his battle to cancer at the age of 21 on Nov. 28, 2006, after a 14-month battle.
    Last year’s event drew over 3,000 people and helped raise over $75,000 towards blood cancer research. The rain date for this event is Oct. 12.

ALL finals are Sunday at Eastern University

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/6
    The American Lacrosse League Philadelphia Division championship game will be held Sunday when top-seeded GMH Philadelphia LC meets second-seeded Quaker LC at Eastern University at 2 p.m.
    GMH advanced last weekend by toppling fourth-seeded Black Banana, 13-4. Quaker won its semifinal game over Dunn, 19-5. GMC Philadelphia defeated Quaker LC, 7-5, when the teams met early in the year.
    The winner of Sunday’s game will advance to ALL Blue Conference Semifinals in Hoboken, N.J. on June 14/15.

Phillylacrosse.com editor Goldberg receives two awards for lacrosse coverage in Philadelphia

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/5
    Phillylacrosse.com editor Chris Goldberg was given two journalism awards by local organizations Tuesday night for coverage of lacrosse in Southeastern Pennsylvania this season.
    Goldberg, who launched Phillylacrosse.com in January, received the Wakefield Award for women’s and girls’ coverage and the “General Jack” Linehan Award for men’s and boys’ coverage.
    The yearly awards are given jointly by the Philadelphia Lacrosse Association (PLA) and the Pennsylvania Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association.
    Goldberg received the Wakefield Award Tuesday night between the District One girls’ championship games at Marple Newtown. Presenting the awards were Nancy McGoldrick, of the Pennsylvania Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association; and Brooke Fritz, the assistant coach at Radnor and a member of the Philadelphia Lacrosse Association Board of Directors.
    The The Linehan Award was accepted by Phillylacrosse.com staff writer Ben Skalina at halftime of the Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association title game at Garnet Valley.
    Carole Wakefield was a longtime journalist for Lacrosse Magazine, former board member of the PLA, and an avid girls’ high school lacrosse enthusiast. Jack Linehan was a founder and long term board member of the PLA and an avid boys’ high school lacrosse enthusiast.

Goldberg was cited for providing comprehensive coverage of scholastic and collegiate lacrosse and for including weekly recognition to top scholar-athletes.
Goldberg wishes to thank Skalina and fellow staff writers Willie McGonigle and Bridget Algeo as well as Dave Donovan and Gen Grossmann from partner Lacrosse Evolution for their contributions to the Web site.

Haverford High graduate and Princeton coach Sailer named to National Lacrosse Hall of Fame

Phillylacrosse.com, posted 5/27
    Princeton University women’s coach Chris Sailer (Haverford High) heads the list of eight people who will be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2008.
    The US Lacrosse Board of Directors announced the honorees last weekend.
    This year's class will be inducted in a ceremony on Nov. 10 at The Grand Lodge in Hunt Valley, Md. The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame is a component of US Lacrosse.

    The 2008 class also consists of Roberta Brennan, Lynn Craun, Pat Dillon, Tom Marechek, Dom Starsia, George Tracy, and Dick Watts.
    Sailer has been one of the nation's top coaches since taking over the Princeton University program in 1986. A three-time IWLCA Division I Coach of the Year, she has led Princeton to 17 NCAA tournament appearances, nine Ivy League titles and national championships in 1994, 2002 and 2003.
    Her 282 career victories rank second among active coaches. Prior to beginning her coaching career, she was a two-time All-Ivy League selection at Harvard and served as a team captain.
    Sailer has been inducted into the Haverford High School, Harvard Varsity Club, and the US Lacrosse New England and Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania halls of fame.
    Sailer came to Princeton from Penn, where she served as assistant coach for both field hockey and lacrosse.
    The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, established in 1957, has more than 325 inductees. It is located with the Lacrosse Museum at US Lacrosse Headquarters in Baltimore.

ALL Final Four will be held June 1 at Eastern

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/22

The Philadelphia Division of the American Lacrosse League (ALL) will hold its semifinals June 1 at Eastern University in Radnor Townshp.

Game One will be held at 2 p.m. and features top-seeded GMH Philadelphia LC (7-0) vs. fourth-seeded Black Banana LC (4-3).

Game Two at 4 p.m. will feature second-seeded Quaker LC (6-1) vs. third-seeded Dunn LC (5-2).

Winners will advance to the Division Final on June 8 at 2 p.m. at Eastern. The winner of the Philadelphia Division will advance to the ALL Blue Conference Championship at Stevens Tech, Hoboken, N.J. on June 14 & 15.

The ALL Championship will be held on June 21 at The St. Paul’s School in Baltimore, Md., between the Blue Conference Champion and the Grey Conference Champion.

ALL announces playoff dates for Philly Division

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/2
    The Philadelphia Division of the American Lacrosse League (ALL) has announced its playoff dates and sites.
    Teams and seedings will be announced at the conclusion on the season on May 18th.
    The ALL Philadelphia Division Final Four will hold a doubleheader on Sunday, June 1 at Bayard Rustin High School in West Chester. Games start at 12 pm and 2 p.m.

The ALL Philadelphia Championship will be on Sunday, June 8 at Rustin at 1 p.m. The winner will represent the Philadelphia Division in the ALL Blue Conference Finals the following weekend in Hoboken, N.J.
The ALL Championship will be in Baltimore on June 21. There are many Philadelphia men's club teams now part of the ALL following the 2007 merger of the United States Club Lacrosse Association into the ALL.

Evanfest is postponed due to poor weather
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/4
    The second annual Evanfest youth boys' lacrosse fundraiser event to honor the memory of Evan Brady at Malvern Prep Saturday has been postponed due to inclement weather.
    Bill Brady, Evan's father and the event chairman, said he is hoping to hold the event next weekend at Malvern. More details on the exact date will be provided in the next few days.
    The event was created to raise money for families that have a child with a life-threatening illness. Twenty-five Under-13 and Under-15 boys' teams from the Delaware Valley are slated to play games at Malvern in a festival that honors the drive and determination of Brady - a Malvern Prep graduate who died at age 19 on Sept. 11. 2005, due to osteogenic sarcoma, a childhood bone cancer.
    For more information on the event, see story below or go to www.evanfest,com

Lacrosse participation continues to grow

Phillylacrosse.com, posted 3/17
    Lacrosse participation increased 12.8 percent in 2007, up from 11.7 percent in 2006, according to research by US Lacrosse for its annual participation report.
    There were 480,627 lacrosse players that were members of organized teams across the country in 2007, from the youth level all the way on up through the professional ranks. High school participation saw the largest percentage of increase in participation over the past year, at 18.6 percent with 201,250 total players in 2007. The youth participation, however, continues to make up the largest part of the lacrosse community with 241,581 players in 2007.
    Since 2001, the first year the US Lacrosse Participation Survey was published, the number of active players has grown 89.3 percent from 253,931 active players to 480,627 players in 2007. At the scholastic level, the combined numbers of boys and girls has risen from 100,925 to 201,250
    “It’s obviously very important to understand how and where the sport is growing so we can evaluate the success of our development initiatives and more effectively market the sport,” said Steve Stenersen, President and CEO of US Lacrosse. “Over the past decade, US Lacrosse has invested millions of dollars in human and programmatic resources to support the sport’s continued national expansion, and we’re pleased to see these positive results.”
    The US Lacrosse Participation Survey is produced annually by US Lacrosse. The survey is used to monitor participation at different levels of the sport across the country. The primary source of data for this report are surveys completed by the 58 US Lacrosse regional chapters that were active in 2007. Data is also used from the US Lacrosse database, National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Federation of State High School Associations, Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association and laxpower.com.
    The survey counts only participation on organized teams and does not include leisure time play of lacrosse. (CONTINUE)

Wilus cherishes election to La Salle Hall

By Bridget Algeo
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/19
    When North Penn girls’ lacrosse coach Jami Wilus is asked of her collegiate experience and whether or not she would do it all over again, she answers without hesitation.
    Absolutely!
    In fact, when she officially visited La Salle University in 1998, she immediately fell in love with the school and its family atmosphere.
    With good reason, the Explorer campus fell in love with Wilus, too. In her four-year stint there, she excelled in three sports and helped launch a budding lacrosse program.
    Wilus graduated in 2002 after an outstanding collegiate career that saw her set school records for goals (230) and points (308) and earn the Atlantic-10 Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2001 while finishing as the 10th most prolific scorer in all of Division I.
    Earlier this month, LaSalle welcomed Jami back to her alma mater by inducting her as the school’s first lacrosse player into its Sports Hall of Athletes.
    Wilus, now in her sixth year at the helm of a successful North Penn program, cherishes the time the spent at La Salle.
    “I feel blessed to be a graduate of LaSalle and have such fond memories as an Explorer,” said the 1998 North Penn grad.
    It is her parents, however, who Wilus credits for her many accomplishments. Some of those honors at La Salle included leading the national in scoring in 2001, earning three varsity letters (also in field hockey and basketball) as a freshman, earning seven all-conference honors in lacrosse and hockey, and making all-Regional in lacrosse in 2001 and 2002.(CONTINUE)

Philadelphia hosts lacrosse National Convention

By Chris Goldberg, Posted 1/13

Phillylacrosse.com

Lacrosse continues to be the fastest growing sport in the country.
Last weekend, more than 5,000 people got another chance to witness the sport’s amazing growth as Philadelphia hosted the US Lacrosse National Convention for the fifth straight year.

    Coaches, players and officials from around, the globe descended upon the Convention Center to participate in a three-day event that kicked off Friday with a keynote speech from former U.S. Olympic gold medalist Mike Eruzione.
The main purpose of the event, which is run by the nation’s governing board, U.S. Lacrosse, is to provide education, training and networking for coaches and officials as well as players at all levels.
    “This is the largest educational opportunity for coaches and officials,” said Colleen Aungst, Public Relations Coordinator of US Lacrosse. “Every year the sport grows and we have more and more sessions and we bring in more speakers and vendors.”
Data from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) indicates that lacrosse has the fastest growth rate of any high school sport over the last ten years.
    Since 2001, the number of athletes participating in lacrosse in the United States has increased by 68 percent. In 2001, participants at all levels of play numbered 253,931. In 2006, that figure had risen to 426,022.
    Specifically, the number of youths aged 15 and under, participating in lacrosse rose, dramatically, from 40,000 in 1999 to 220,000 in 2006.(CONTINUE)
Philly lacrosse 2007: The Year in Review

By Chris Goldberg, Posted 1/13

Phillylacrosse.com

    The 2007 season was a memorable one for lacrosse in Philadelphia and its suburbs.
    At the scholastic level,Downingtown East stunned the boys’ scene by winning the Eastern Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association (EPSLA) championship and the Keystone State crown in only its fourth year of existence.
    The Cougars, under Coach Tom Slate, shocked top-seeded Haverford School, 8-7, in the EPSLA semifinals, and then slayed powerful La Salle, 8-4 for the title. Downingtown East (21-3 record) capped its glorious run by toppling Mount Lebanon, 5-3, for the state crown and its 13th straight win.
    The Cougars, who finished as the 10th ranked team by Lacrosse magazine and 11th in the STX\Inside Lacrosse poll, featured All-American defenders Coleman Till and Dillon Sheehy goalie Trevor French and attacker Justin Blye. La Salle (26-2) finished 17th in the STX\Inside Lacrosse poll while Haverford School (19-5) finished 19th in the STX\Inside Lacrosse poll and 20th in Lacrosse magazine’s Top 25 Poll. Malvern Prep (17-5) finished 24th in the STX\Inside Lacrosse poll. (CONTINUE)

Dunn heads inductees in Hall of Fame

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/13

West Chester University legend Gertrude Dunn and former Temple University great Gail Cummings-Danson were inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame at a ceremony Nov. 10 at The Grand Lodge in Hunt Valley, Md.
Dunn and Cummings-Danson were two of 10 members who were part of the 50th class of inductees.

    Also inducted was Susan K. Kidder of East Stroudsburg University, a former coach at Norristown High and Ursinus College.
    Dunn, an outstanding all-around athlete who is also a member of the West Chester Athletics Hall of Fame, was inducted posthumously. Dunn played on the U.S. national team from 1957 to 1963 and was a member of the U.S. team that toured Great Britain and Ireland in 1957. She also served as an umpire for 20 years in the Philadelphia Women’s Lacrosse Association.
    Away from lacrosse, Dunn played shortstop in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, made famous by the 1992 movie, “A League of Their Own.” She was the rookie of the year in the league in 1952. She was also inducted into the National Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988.
    Dunn participated in both field hockey and lacrosse while at West Chester in the late 1950s. She died in 2004 when the plane she was piloting crashed in Avondale, Chester County.
    Cummings-Danson scored a NCAA record 289 goals during her career at Temple, including 88 in 1988 when she led the Owls to a perfect 19-0 record and the NCAA championship. She was a three-time All-American, earning first team honors in 1987 and 1988.

    Cummings-Danson played for the Canadian national team from 1982 to 1989 and then helped the U.S. win the World Cup in 1993. Currently, the athletic director at Skidmore College, she previously coached lacrosse at Connecticut College, Temple and Albany. She has been inducted into the Temple University Hall of Fame and the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
    Kidder, a member of the first U.S. World Cup team, played four years at East Stroudsburg University and was named the school's outstanding senior female athlete in 1969. She made the U.S. team for the first time in 1970 and helped the 1982 squad win its first World Cup.
    Kidder was the head coach at Norristown from 1972-81 and also served as an assistant coach for Ursinus College's 1983 Division III national championship team. Kidder has been inducted into the East Stroudsburg University Athletic Hall of Fame and the US Lacrosse Philadelphia Chapter Hall of Fame.

Covering scholastic, college and pro lacrosse in the Philadelphia area