Rock-It Pocket Signed as Exclusive Stick Supplier

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh Men’s Lacrosse team has partnered with Rock-It Pocket for the upcoming season. Rock-It Pocket will be the exclusive supplier of sticks and shafts for the Panthers. “Rock-It Pocket is a major player not just in the MCLA, but the entire lacrosse world. We feel very fortunate that they will be helping us make the transition to legal sticks in 2010,” said Director of Operations Peter Tumbas. Visit Rock-It Pocket’s website at http://www.rock-itpocket.com.The Panthers hit the field Monday September 7th to begin fall ball.

Pitt Coaching Staff

PITTSBURGH, Pa – The Pittsburgh Panthers Lacrosse team is pleased to announce the hiring of three coaches for the 2009-2010 season.

Sean Buzzard has been named the head coach and will be assisted by Sean O’Brien and Ryan Trude. Buzzard become involved with lacrosse during his Active duty Air Force career, playing on Republic of Panama military/government squad with academy grads and embassy personnel who had played at Gettysburg, UVA, etc. He began coaching after he transitioned back to Pittsburgh and became a full time member of the PA Air National Guard. He progressed from youth coach, to JV, then eventually to Varsity Head Coach with the North Hills (Pittsburgh) Boys program. North Hills was 39-30 with Buzzard as Head Coach. He was named WPSLA coach of the year in 2006 when the team went 16-5. He also spent the 2007 season as an assistant with Carnegie Mellon University Mens program. Buzzard is also a certified personal trainer specializing in field and court performance training. He has presented on sport performance training at several conventions, including the 2008 US Lacrosse Convention. His services are utilized by many camps and combines, including the Midwest 99 recruiting combine and the 2008 NLL entry draft combine. Buzzard completed his MS in Instructional Leadership at Robert Morris University in 2007, and currently resides in Pittsburgh with his wife and 2 sons. “One of our primary goals this offseason going into the coaching search was to change the culture of the program. I think we found the perfect person in Coach Buzzard to help us do just that,” said team President Rob Musgrave. Buzzard will be charged with running the defense.

Sean O’Brien hails from Mountain Lakes, New Jersey were he won two state championships as a Laker. He attended Denison University finishing his career as a three time All American attackman and was named a captain his senior year. Following graduation, O’Brien was an assistant coach at Denison for one year under Michael Caravana. After returning to New Jersey O’Brien has volunteered at all levels of the Mountain Lakes lacrosse program. “Any time you can bring in someone who was an All American at the NCAA level you’re going to be upgrading your staff, but when that person also brings NCAA coaching experience, you’re thrilled,” said Musgrave. O’Brien has been named the top assistant coach and offensive coordinator of a unit that returns nine of the top ten scorers from last year.

Ryan Trude is a Western Pennsylvania product graduating from Mount Lebanon high school where he helped the team to three WPIAL championships and three second place finishes in the state final. After graduating from Mount Lebanon in 2003, he attended the College of Wooster. In 2004, Trude was apart of the second midfield line, aiding the team to the school’s first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. He then transferred to Colorado State and was a member of the 2006 National Championship Rams squad. Following graduation he remained in Colorado coaching at the high school level at Windsor and Fort Collins. In the fall of 2008, he was a volunteer coach with Colorado State. Trude is now working on his M.B.A at Point Park University. “Coach Trude has won at ever level as a player and as a coach. But it is his background as a member of Colorado State that most excites as us. He will be a valuable asset as we attempt to imitate an elite MCLA program on and off the field,” said Musgrave. Trude will be in charge of the man up and man down units.

The Panthers will begin fall ball Monday September 6th concluding on October 31st with a play day. Fans can follow the team at http://www.pittpantherslacrosse.com and on the player run blog http://412.laxallstars.com.

The Summer of Woo Nears Conclusion

It’s September 1st. Where did the summer go? What did you do this summer to prepare for fall ball?

If you’re anything like one our of top returning d-poles, you packed on 15 pounds and are ready to wreck MCLA attackman. Can’t wait for practice less than two weeks away.

He's ready to return

On Sunday we held our annual lacrosse sign up at the activities fair which is a meat market of freshmen picking and choosing their extracurricular organizations. Nothing screams legitimate group quite like the over weight white girl dancing with the Black Women’s Dance Workshop. (Their table was located across from our table. It was a long afternoon).

We received over 65 sign ups including freshmen, transfers, and players who hadn’t played last year.

Tomorrow we will host our first team meeting to discuss the fall and spring schedule, what happened this summer, expectations and the ever dreaded player dues. Every year a million kids sign up for lacrosse, half show up to the first meeting, half show up to the first fall practice, and half end up playing the entire spring season. (In science terms I believe that is commonly referred to as a half life).

Our hope for this season is a roster of 45. We will have a better idea how close we are to that goal after tomorrow night.

More rostered players means lower player dues and more importantly constant pressure to perform at practice, quite simply position battles.

The bottomline is that the program Pitt has been for the last 12 years is dead.

The cost of redemption is steep. But, we are moving in the right direction.

Stay tuned for more.

Quarterfinals, 50 Cent not welcome

Yealy rediscovers his ruthless scoring touch with 4+ and the Wolverines shake out their travel legs. I don’t see the pressure of them going undefeated creep into their heads until the finals. Michigan rights the ship wins by 8. First Round LOCK

Mithun has to score and create opportunities for his teammates for Duluth to win this game because the Buffs are trying to be world beaters and are far more talented right now than BC. Duluth alumni have made the trip invading hostile Denver. Duluth by 2.

Is this real life? Why are these two teams playing each other in the quarterfinals? They should be meeting in the final 4. Capitals Penguins all over. It’s a shame one of these teams has to go home so early. Sticking with my guns. SFU by 3.

BYU’s offensive unit is too talented too disciplined for Florida State’s defense which gave up an ungodly 46 goals  in 3 games at the end of the season. Coorey Noonan’s career ends with nothing to show for it, much like Dan Marino, a Pittsburgh native. BYU by 6.

I donate this tune to the teams that lose tonight