Top 25 Upstate Lacrosse Stories of 2010: 10 - 6
Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 12:15AM
2010 finally saw a marked increase in concern over head injuries and the sometimes hidden but always serious effects of concussions from the NFL all the way down to youth sports. We see these stories almost every day as we prepare the daily edition of JustLacrosse. Work continues on better equipment, but baseline testing before injuries occur, and testing by an independent medical professional before athletes are allowed back on the playing field is now common practice in high school, college and in pro sports.
Sometimes debate rages between qualified observers as the best policy to combat concussion injuries, as we recently saw concerning whether or not to require helmets for girl's lacrosse in New York. Parents and coaches of athletes in all sports must make themselves familiar with both the symptoms of concussions and their long-term effects. One thing is certain, increased awarness of the long-term effects of head injuries will create a safer environment for athletes of all ages.
Google News results for "sport concussions"
The story of Taylor Matt is a lacrosse story, but it transcends sports. First diagnosed with leukemia when she was eleven, initial treatments of chemotherapy drove the desease into remission, allowing Taylor to flourish on the lacrosse field for both Cazenovia High School and the Ethix Lacrosse Club. But heading towards the start of her senior year at Cazenovia, Taylor's cancer returned. Because she is 1/4 Native American, finding the best treatment, a blood marrow donor, is a difficult task.
The Native American community, her fellow students, friends and family in Cazenovia, and the Upstate community in general came together to get Taylor's story out and to encourage as many people as possible to help with the search by joining the bone marrow registry as possible donors, not only for Taylor, but for all of the other people around the country hoping to find a match.
As 2010 came to a close, the search for a compatable donor continues, but Taylor's leukemia has once again gone into remission. Taylor is currently living in Buffalo with plans to enroll at Erie Community College for the Spring semester.
Plea from Joanne Shenandoah from the Spring of 2010:
Central NY stories that made a difference in 2010
In February we learned that after a three year review with input from students, alumni, and outside consultants, the Board of Trustees of Le Moyne College endorsed the president's recommendation to maintain their sports program at the Division II level. Consideration had been given for moving all their sports programs to compete at Division I as the baseball and women's lacrosse teams had been for some time.
The prospect of having the men's lacrosse team, for years a dominant force at Division II, compete at the D-I level was intriguing. But it seems that will not happen. The women's lacrosse team has been accepted into the D-II NE-10 Conference for the 2011 season.
It would be easy to simply insert talk about the biggest upset of the 2010 NCAA Men's playoffs here and go on to #6. But one game does not a season make. That victory was built from a season of confidence-building events for the team from West Point.
A hint that 2010 would be a special season came at the end of January when, for the very first time ever, a junior was named as one captain of the team. Coach Alberici said Tully's Bill Henderson earned the title for both his play on the field, and his character as a person.
A victory over Navy at the Day of Rivals at Ravens Stadium and in front of a national ESPNU audience, the top seed in the Patriot League Tournament, and a title game victory over Navy were building blocks to their first-round, double-overtime upset of defending champion Syracuse in the Dome on May 16th.
Army shows strength in Cuse upset
Lacrosse world still in shock over Army's upset
Army's Boltus and Lynch haunt the hometown with their last-second, goal-scoring heroics
Is Army's win over Syracuse the biggest NCAA Tournament upset ever?
In our 2009 Top Story countdown, the NJCAA Men's and Women's National Championships made the top ten as both versions of the Onondaga Community College lacrosse teams brought the hardware back to Onondaga Hill. The men went undefeated, while the women won it all in their very first year of existence.
Both titles returned to Upstate New York in 2010, though the trophies won't be on display side by side. On a cold, and at times snowy Mother's Day in Herkimer, the women of Monroe CC got some payback for their loss in the 2009 championship by getting the game-winning goal on a free position shot with one second left to down the Lazers 8-7.
MCC had gone 18-3 in 2010, and two of those losses came at the hands of OCC - one during the regular season, and in the finals of the Region III Championship. For the Lady Lazers, up until the championship game, they had topped their opponents 290-67.
On the Men's side, while the Lazers lost two games during the regular season, a season that saw OCC outscore their opponents 362-77, those loses were avenged during the National Championship tournament with victories over Nassau CC and CCBC-Essex. It was the Lazer's fourth championship in five years.
In depth Championship Game reports from Donnie Webb: Women's Game | Men's Game
Tomorrow, the Top 5 stories of 2010
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