Soldier named Major League Lacrosse Rookie of the Year
September 2nd, 2011 | Army Lacrosse | Posted by Jon Anderson
Hamilton Nationals attackman Jeremy Boltus works the ball against the Boston Cannons at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on August 28 in Annapolis, Md. The Cannons defeated the Nationals 10-9. (Photo by Larry French/Getty Images)
Talk about your first-assignment dream job.
Freshly minted 2nd Lt. Jeremy Boltus was a last-round pick by the Hamilton Nationals in the Major League Lacrosse draft shortly after graduating from West Point in May. Boltus not only made the squad, he helped lead the Nationals to the league’s championship game Aug. 28 while getting named the league’s Rookie of the Year. The award was based on votes by the head coaches and general managers of all six teams in Major League Lacrosse.
Meanwhile, academy officials have carved out a job at West Point as an intern in the school’s athletic department helping train the next crop of lacrosse players this year.
“It’s been an amazing feeling trying to make the most of this opportunity,” said Boltus, who said he’s in discussions with several teams to play in the pro indoor league through the winter. Both leagues only practice and play games on the weekends, so Boltus is hoping he may be able to rejoin the Nationals next year even though he’ll be starting artillery officer training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
“Of course it will be up to my unit and the training schedule, but I’m hoping that my success this year will help with that.”
Boltus graduated as one of Army’s all-time best in men’s lacrosse with 214 career points and 124 career assists, going on to earn two game MVP awards in his first pro season playing for the Nationals.
Looney, Manion now side-by-side at Arlington National Cemetery (updated with 2nd video)
October 5th, 2010 | Lacrosse Marine Corps Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Lt. Brendan Looney, a Navy SEAL and former standout lacrosse player at the Naval Academy, was buried yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery next his best friend, Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion. Looney, 29, was one of nine service members killed in helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Sept. 21.
Looney and Manion were roommates at the Naval Academy, where they were members of the class of 2004. Like Looney, Manion was an athlete at the academy, where he wrestled. In 2007, Manion was killed by a sniper in Iraq.
Manion was laid to rest in Pennsylvania. But upon hearing the news of Looney’s death, each family realized that Manion should be moved to Arlington. On Friday, he was reburied at Arlington. Yesterday, Looney was was laid to rest next to him.
“First Lieutenant Travis Manion, USMC, Lieutenant Brendan Looney, United States Navy. Warriors for freedom, brothers forever,” Manion’s father, Tom, told the mourners.
CBS News covered the ceremony and spoke to the families of each service member. Give yourself a couple minutes and watch this. It will be the most moving thing you see today. Update: NBC’s coverage of Looney’s funeral has been added below the CBS video.
Former Navy lacrosse player killed in Afghanistan helo crash (updated)
September 22nd, 2010 | Lacrosse Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Brendan Looney died Sept. 21 in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan along with three other sailors and five soldiers. (Naval Academy photo)
A former Naval Academy lacrosse player was one of the nine U.S. troops killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash Tuesday in Afghanistan.
Lt. Brendan Looney, a Navy SEAL and a 2004 Naval Academy graduate, was one of four sailors killed. The Defense Department officially announced Wednesday evening that Looney, Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician (Collection) (SW/FMF) David Blake McLendon, Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Adam Smith and Special Warfare Operator 3rd Class Denis Miranda were killed in the crash. Five Fort Campbell, Ky.-based soldiers were also killed.
A native of Owings, Md., Looney was a graduate of DeMatha Catholic High School. Originally an intelligence officer, Looney was redesignated for Special Warfare in 2006 and promoted to lieutenant in 2008, according to Navy records.
Looney, 29, was the oldest of three brothers who played lacrosse at Navy. Steve and Billy Looney graduated from the academy in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
According to a Washington Post article about the family, Brendan Looney was originally recruited to Navy to play football, and took up organized lacrosse for the first time in 2002 after leaving the football team. In 2004, the three brothers were able to play together on the same team for the first time.
“This year has been so fun, because it’s great to see my brothers play so well,” Brendan Looney told the Washington Post in 2004. “It’s great to see Billy score goals and see all that Steve does on the field. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
Looney is also survived by younger sisters Bridget, Erin and Kelly, as well as parents Kevin and Maureen Looney, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Army lax player named Freshman of the Year by InsideLacrosse.com
June 11th, 2010 | Army Lacrosse | Posted by Phil Creed
Garrett Thul finished the 2010 season with 41 goals and nine assists.
Army freshman Garrett Thul is getting some major recognition for his outstanding rookie campaign. Thul was named Freshman of the Year by InsideLacrosse.com, the first Black Knight to ever receive that honor.
To quote our vice president, this is a big f#@!*%& deal. Thul, who already earned Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors, beat out a bunch of highly recruited studs from Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Syracuse, Cornell and other traditional lax powerhouses.
An attackman, Thul led Army with 41 goals and was second on the team with 50 points. He helped propel Army to the Patriot League championship and a monster upset of defending champion Syracuse in NCAA tournament.
As a team, Army was unbeaten in the Patriot League for the first time ever and finished ranked ninth in the Nike Division I Top 20 poll. The Blakc Knights probably had their best season since 1984, and the win over Syracuse will go down as one of the all-time upsets in NCAA tournament history. More importantly, they beat Navy twice, which is all the really matters.
Army’s dream season ends with a thud against Cornell
May 24th, 2010 | Army Lacrosse | Posted by Mike Hoffman
Army failed to earn a trip to lacrosse's Final Four in Baltimore, Md.
Not much was expected from this Army lacrosse team, especially after its deflating loss to Air Force to end a four-game losing streak early this season. A run to the Patriot League Championship and an upset over No. 2 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome in the first round of the NCAA Tournament didn’t seem possible.
The fairy tale run came to an end, though, at Stony Brook’s Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium after Army fell to Cornell 14-5.
Cornell scored the first four goals to establish a lead they never relinquished and continually squashed any momentum Army could muster in front of a pro-Army crowd. Army took the Big Red to overtime earlier this season, but junior attackman Jeremy Boltus said he and his teammates didn’t play their best game Sunday.
“It definitely wasn’t our best performance. We got down, but that’s nothing new to us,” he said. “We rushed things and didn’t play within ourselves. We didn’t do our best to keep in the game. We took the first shot instead of the best shot and ran into a hot goaltender. Give Cornell credit — their defense played well, and they got out in transition and converted.”
Army trailed Cornell 8-3 at halftime and notched the first goal of the second half. However, the Big Red answered right back and eventually scored six unanswered goals to run away from the Black Knights.
“When we got to 8-4, they made it 9-4,” said Army coach Joe Alberici. “Any time that we were able to get one, they answered right back, and that’s a credit to them.”
Alberici returns a young squad next year including freshman attackman Garrett Thul who scored once against Cornell. Thul, though, finished the season with 41 goals and nice assists, making him the program’s most proficient freshman goal scorer. Boltus also returns along with goalie Tom Palesky, who made 11 saves in the loss to Cornell.
Army’s season ends in disappointment, but it has to go down as its most successful since a Final Four appearance in 1984 and raises expectations for next year.
Lacrosse world still in shock over Army’s upset
May 18th, 2010 | Army Lacrosse | Posted by Mike Hoffman
It has been three days since the Black Knights turned the lacrosse world upside down and people are still trying to make sense of Army’s collosal upset over Syracuse. How was this possible? Following the tragedy in Charlottesville, Va., Syracuse, which had been ranked No.1 earlier this year, had to be considered by many as the favorite.
The Orange have played dominant lacrosse all year, including a convincing victory over the Black Knights earlier this year when senior attackman Chris Daniello and junior attackman Stephen Keogh each tallied four goals. It was the second of four straight losses for Army, whose captains said it led to some soul searching within the team and eventually to their revival.
Army’s upset makes PTI. Almost.
May 17th, 2010 | Army Lacrosse | Posted by Phil Creed
Tonight I was watching the 6:30 rerun of Pardon The Interruption on ESPN2 when I noticed “Army/’Cuse” at the bottom of the rundown. Holy hell, I thought. That’s pretty damn impressive. I mean, the service academies hardly ever make PTI. The Army lacrosse team’s NCAA tourney win over Syracuse must be an even bigger deal than I thought.
So the “Jack/Whiff” (don’t ask) and “1st Pitch” segment end, and PTI goes to commercial. I wondered what Mike Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser would say about Army 9-8 overtime victory. Would Kornheiser clown on Syracuse for choking away a 5-1 lead? Would Wilbon salute the toughness of the less-talented Cadets?
Well … no. I guess the fellas ran short on time, because when PTI came back on, “Army/’Cuse” was no longer on the rundown.
Oh well. The discussion of whether Kobe Bryant was the Greatest Laker Ever was riveting. No way it could have waited until another day.
Go Suns.
Update: A reader has politely informed me that the Army-Syracuse game was mentioned during the “Happy Happy” segment on the original 5:30 broadcast of PTI (see comments below).
This Army-Syracuse upset is a pretty big deal
May 17th, 2010 | Army Lacrosse | Posted by Phil Creed
I’m no lacrosse expert, but it’s difficult to exaggerate how big Army’s 9-8 overtime victory over two-time defending NCAA champion Syracuse on Sunday was. In the lax world, Syracuse just doesn’t lose first-round NCAA games.
Take a look at what those who know better are saying about Army’s huge upset:
Strange things can (and do) happen in the world of sports, which is why we watch (Syracuse.com)
Syracuse, N.Y. — That was a bit like watching the salmon eat the bear, wasn’t it? Or, watching the sun rise in the west. Or, watching the trees sprout buds in the fall.
When the stars are misaligned (nytimes.com)
If you were rating the weekend by the number of times you looked at the sports news and said, “No way!” it was a truly remarkable weekend. At every turn there was a forehead-slapper. Mariano Rivera, the Old Faithful of baseball relievers, gave up a grand slam, which happens slightly less often than Halley’s Comet. Syracuse, which seems to win every N.C.A.A. title in lacrosse (but actually doesn’t), lost in the first round to Army. Roger Federer, who by tennis law must be referred to in reverent, hushed tones reserved for immortals, whiffed on a ball to lose match point to Rafael Nadal.
Putting Army’s upset into context (or, yep, it’s pretty big) (D1SCOURSE)
It would probably rate as No. 1 if it happened later in the tournament. As it stands, this will have to suffice as lacrosse’s answer to Arizona-Santa Clara, South Carolina-Coppin State, Iowa State-Hampton and, yes, Syracuse-Richmond. The Black Knights were 0-3 against the tournament field, and the Orange had long made a late spring trip to the Carrier Dome an unwinnable situation. But even after Syracuse built a 5-1 lead, Army didn’t wilt.
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday: Army 9, Syracuse 8 2OT (nunesmagician.com)
We are the Yankees. We are Manchester United. We’ve always been good but these days we’re downright great.
It never even occurred to me that we’d lose this weekend. Hell, it never even occurred to me that we wouldn’t be in the Final Four in two weeks.
This last one may be my favorite. Any time a blog post incorporates video of the Hindenburg disaster, it’s quality stuff.
For highlights and more analysis of Army’s win, check out this video from ESPN:
Navy women’s lax makes first NCAA trip
May 10th, 2010 | After Action Lacrosse Navy | Posted by Sean Smyth
The Navy women’s lacrosse team will open the NCAA tournament Saturday at noon at third-seeded North Carolina. It’s the first time Navy, which drew the 14th seed, has qualified for NCAA play.
Navy finished the season with a 17-3 record; North Carolina was 15-2.
The winner of Navy-North Carolina plays either Towson or Virginia in the quarterfinals one week later.
Army tops Navy a second time to win conference title
May 3rd, 2010 | Lacrosse | Posted by Mike Hoffman
Army celebrates its first Patriot League Lacrosse Championship Sunday.
Third time was the charm for Army as the Black Knights earned their first-ever Patriot League title beating Navy 11-8 Sunday. The Midshipmen had denied its longtime rival when the two met the last two times Army advanced to the championship game in 2005 and 2006.
Any thoughts of this Army lacrosse team hoisting a league championship trophy in May seemed like a distant possibility back in March. The cadets started the season 1-4 punctuated by an overtime loss to Air Force on March 13. Army coach Joe Alberici said his team had every chance to start pointing fingers during their four game losing streak.
Instead they stuck together and won nine of their last ten and earned an invite to the NCAA Championship tournament for the first time since 2005. Senior captain Alex Gephart said those losses in March made Sunday’s win all the more sweet.
“It’s pretty wild to think of when you think of where we came from,” Gephart said. “We are still that same team that dropped those close games to opponents that we, in the locker room, thought we should have won. That drives us. It’s days like today where we have an opportunity to right all of our wrongs and make up for the past.” Read the rest of this entry »