DUCKS NAME ANDREW CLOUGH & JOHN WRIGHT CO-HEAD COACHES

For Immediate Release
Thursday, June 12, 2008
www.oregonlacrosse.org

DUCKS NAME ANDREW CLOUGH & JOHN WRIGHT CO-HEAD COACHES

Eugene, Or. - Andrew Clough and John Wright have been named co-head coaches of the University of Oregon men's lacrosse team, it was announced today by team officials. After taking the reins as interim coaches for the remainder of the 2008 regular season and post-season, the duo interviewed with administrators and returning players and were offered the position shortly afterward. After getting a taste this spring of what to expect, the team is confident in the positive energy and knowledge of the game that Clough and Wright will bring to the table. There is no doubt that they are fully capable of maintaining and improving the quality of the program at large in the coming years.

Clough, a native of McLean, Virginia, was a former midfielder for the University of Oregon, and has served as an assistant for the team during the fall 2007 season. Clough was a starter for the Ducks for two full seasons and was among the team leaders in goals and assists until his senior season was cut short by a knee injury. All three of the seasons that Coach Clough was a member of the Ducks were capped by PNCLL championships and national tournament invitations.

"It was my good fortune to have outstanding teammates and great coaching during my career at Oregon, and I will do everything I can to keep things moving in a positive direction for the program," said Clough.

John Wright comes to the University of Oregon from a defensive coordinator position at Churchill High School in the Eugene area. He graduated from the U of O in 2006 with degrees in psychology and political science. In 2007, he helped Churchill to its first final four playoff appearance, and was an assistant to Oregon coach of the year Jack Stoddart. Prior to moving to Oregon, John was the founder and head coach of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where he led his team to a conference championship in its first year, 2002.

"I'm honored that my alma mater has taken note of my accomplishments after leaving the team as a player, and I am excited about the opportunity to help lead these men to glory," said Coach Wright of the opportunity to lead the Ducks in the coming years.

In addition to naming Clough and Wright to the head coaching positions, the Ducks announced that senior Jon Matusiefsky will be named head club coordinator for the 2008-2009 season, taking over for graduating senior Jeff Brunelle.

MLL PDX TEAM CLEANS UP IN MLL DRAFT

From Lumberjax release:
A sneak peek into the future of field lacrosse, as well as a preview of MLL PDX 2008 participant New Jersey Pride, was offered Wednesday, May 28th as the Pride acquired a total of 10 new players in the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft. With four of the first 10 picks, New Jersey began its restructure by selecting Duke All-American attackman Matt Danowski with the Second Overall Selection.

Danowski is the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history with 353 points. He scored 36 goals and added 48 assists this season for the Blue Devils as a fifth year senior.

Before the First Round was over, the Pride would also acquire Johns Hopkins midfielder Stephen Peyser, Maryland defenseman Joe Cinosky and Albany midfielder Jordan Levine.

Stephen will join his brothers, Greg and Michael, who also play for the Pride. Peyser led the NCAA with 113 ground balls collected in 2008 as he earned All-American honors. A 2008 All-American, Cinosky scored one goal, added one assist and collected 46 ground balls for the Terrapins in 2008. Levine was third in scoring for Albany with 13 goals and 20 assists as he also earned All-American accolades.

In the final three rounds, the Pride also acquired Duke All-American defenseman Tony McDevitt, Hofstra midfielder Kevin Unterstein, Syracuse midfielder Dan Brennan, Princeton All-American goalie Alex Hewit, Salisbury attackman Matthew Hickman and Navy All-American attackman Nick Mirabito.

The Pride and Philadelphia Barrage meet in their respective regular season finales on Saturday, August 9th at Hillsboro Stadium as part of MLL PDX. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased over the phone by calling (503)797-9739 or online at www.MLLPDX.com.

LUMBERJAX ASSISTANT COACHES?

We honestly hadn't heard anything about this and don't really know what's up here, but it seemed worth posting...

Posted on LACROSSE - Inside the Game: 31 May 2008 05:44 PM CDT

After reading on another web site about the “firing” of the two Assistant Coaches of the Champion’s Cup Finalist Portland Lumberjax, I thought something was not right. A team that just came within two goals of winning the Champions Cup firing Coaches?

So rather than assume the coaches were actually fired, and seeing as no source from the Lumberjax was quoted, I decided to do something novel, and ask someone within the oranization. I spoke with the Head Coach and General Manager Derek Keenan, who offered the following response:

“Jeff McComb and Jeremy Tallevi were not fired by the Portland Lumberjax organization or by me. Being fired usually means you are under contract and their contracts have expired. They are both outstanding coaches. They are extremely bright lacrosse minds and are diligent workers. If they were not top notch coaches I would not have kept them with me for 4 years. This was strictly a business decision by the organization. It was no longer financially viable to fly coaches in from Ontario and that is the only reason. I would go to war with those 2 guys any day of the week!”