Courier News Lacrosse Preview

The Courier News recently profiled a few teams from Central Jersey including: Bernards, Bridgewater, Del Val, Hillsborough, Hunterdon Central, Immaculata, Montgomery, North Hunterdon, Pingry, Ridge, Rutgers Prep, Somerville, Voorhees (Hunterdon), Watchung Hills, and Westfield.

Click here for the full story.

NJ Boys Varsity Lacrosse Schedule for 4/2/08

Date & Time	Home	Away
4/2/2008 Wed 3:00 PM	Watchung Hills	Hillsborough
4/2/2008 Wed 3:45 PM	Colts Neck	Freehold Twp.
4/2/2008 Wed 3:45 PM	Hun School	Hill School
4/2/2008 Wed 3:45 PM	Clearview	Seneca
4/2/2008 Wed 3:45 PM	Brick Memorial	Jackson Liberty
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	St. Joes (Hammonto...	St. Augustine
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Pope John (Sparta)	Jefferson
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Morris Knolls	New Providence
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Lower Cape May	Ocean City
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Hopewell Valley	Montgomery
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Notre Dame	Peddie
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Manasquan	St. Rose (Belmar)
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Red Bank Catholic	Red Bank Regional
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Mendham	Morristown
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Voorhees	Bernards
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Robbinsville	Neptune
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Columbia	Montclair
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Kingsway	Eastern
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	Ewing	Lawrence High
4/2/2008 Wed 4:00 PM	St. Peters (JC)	St. Joes (Staten I...
4/2/2008 Wed 4:15 PM	Wayne Hills	Demarest
4/2/2008 Wed 4:15 PM	Old Tappan	Northern Highlands
4/2/2008 Wed 4:15 PM	Christian Brothers	Shawnee
4/2/2008 Wed 4:30 PM	Bridgewater	Ridge
4/2/2008 Wed 4:30 PM	Pascack Valley	Indian Hills
4/2/2008 Wed 5:30 PM	Hunterdon Central	Immaculata

Budziszewski Leads Drew Rangers to Third Straight Win

Rob Budziszewski scored another six goals as Drew men’s lacrosse won its third straight game with a 14-4 win over Catholic. Budziszewski has scored 15 goals in the Rangers three wins and the Ranger defense has allowed just 18 goals in that stretch. Greg Reading added four goals for the Rangers. Michael Celentano and Brad Mendelson combined for 18 saves in goal for the Rangers.

Drew gets back into action on Wednesday night when it hosts Montclair State.

For the full story and box score courtesy of Alexander Langlois & Drew Lacrosse Click Here

NJ Boys Varsity Lacrosse Schedule for 4/1/08

Opening day for public schools features these 44 varsity games:

Date & Time	Home	Away
4/1/2008 Tue 3:45 PM	Rancocas Valley	Paul VI
4/1/2008 Tue 3:45 PM	Marlboro	Ocean Township
4/1/2008 Tue 3:45 PM	New Egypt	Northern Burlingto...
4/1/2008 Tue 3:45 PM	Edison	J-P Stevens
4/1/2008 Tue 3:45 PM	Wall	St. John Vianney
4/1/2008 Tue 3:45 PM	Moorestown Friends	Egg Harbor
4/1/2008 Tue 3:45 PM	Toms River East	Howell
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Somerville	North Warren
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Holy Cross	Cherry Hill West
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Newark Academy	Montclair Kimberle...
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Mount Olive	Verona
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Vernon	Delaware Valley (P...
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Morris Catholic	Boonton
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Pennington	Hightstown
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Morristown-Beard	Montville
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Cranford	Johnson Regional
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Mountain Lakes	Bergen Catholic
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Manasquan	Toms River North
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Randolph	Chatham
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Clearview	Washington Twp.
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Clifton	Bergen Tech
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Delbarton	Summit
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Nutley	Blair
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Monroe	Old Bridge
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	South Brunswick	North Brunswick
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Seneca	Bishop Eustace
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Barnegat	Robbinsville
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Allentown	West Windsor North
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Shawnee	Cherry Hill East
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Kingsway	Middle Township
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Governor Livingsto...	Roxbury
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Paramus Catholic	St. Josephs (Montv...
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	West Orange	Wayne Valley
4/1/2008 Tue 4:00 PM	Voorhees	West Morris
4/1/2008 Tue 4:15 PM	St. Josephs (Metuc...	Pingry
4/1/2008 Tue 4:15 PM	Delaware Valley	New Providence
4/1/2008 Tue 4:30 PM	Kinnelon	Sparta
4/1/2008 Tue 4:30 PM	Westfield	Don Bosco
4/1/2008 Tue 5:00 PM	Hanover Park	Morris Hills
4/1/2008 Tue 5:00 PM	Ramapo	Fair Lawn
4/1/2008 Tue 5:15 PM	Moorestown	Penn Charter
4/1/2008 Tue 7:00 PM	Indian Hills	Dwight-Englewood
4/1/2008 Tue 7:00 PM	East Brunswick	Rutgers Prep
4/1/2008 Tue 7:00 PM	Millburn	Livingston

Please come back to this schedule and post scores in the comments section below so we can discuss the big upsets and surprises. You can also share this schedule with your friends using the tools listed below.

Courier Post - Preseason Top 10

Here is the "Top 10" list from the Courier Post for its readership area, which is mostly South Jersey.

1. Moorestown
2. Shawnee
3. Eastern
4. St. Augustine
5. Cherokee
6. Lenape
7. Clearview
8. Washington Township
9. West Deptford
10. Cherry Hill West

Agree? Disagree? Use the comments section below to let us know.

Click here for the full story at the Courier Post Online.

NJ Boys Varsity Lacrosse Schedule for 3/31/08

Date & Time	Home	Away
3/31/2008 Mon 3:45 PM	Brick Memorial	Brick Township
3/31/2008 Mon 4:00 PM	Glen Rock	Pequannock

Rutgers Beats St John's 9-6 for 2nd Straight ECAC Win

Full story : Click Here

Box Score: Click Here

Next game: Manhattan comes to Yurcak Field on 4/1/08 at 7:00pm

Centenary Tops Marywood 8-5

Here is the score for the men’s lacrosse game that took place on Saturday March 29, 2008.

Centenary College – 8
Marywood College – 5

The boxscore will be coming later. (Laxtown: We'll add it here when we get it.)

Nate Small, senior, of Centenary had 3 goals and 1 assist.

Courtesy of Justin DeFeo at Centenary.

Princeton Beats Yale 11-8

Box Score and Play-by-Play : Click here.

Video Highlights : Click Here.

Up next: Princeton travels to Syracuse to take on the Orangemen next Saturday at 3:30pm.

Saturday's Scrimmage Scene

How did your team look in the scrimmages today? Anybody impress? Any surprises?
Share your scores and thoughts by using the "Comments" link below.

In the one regular season game we saw today, Rutgers Prep beat Pennington .... we think the final was 9-7. Overall a pretty sloppy game, which is to be expected for the first game of the year. Neither team had an impressive team offense, but each had one or two players who stood out (#37 for Pennington and #15 for Rutgers Prep).

What game(s) did you see today?

Group IV Poll Results & Video Player

The results are in from our first poll of the season which asked, "Who will be the 2008 Group IV Champs?"

Hunterdon Central 46%
Montclair 31%
Bridgewater 8%
Columbia 7%
Hillsborough 3%
Cherokee 2%

Agree? Disagree? Use the comments section below to tell us what you think and defend your team. Also, use the sharing functions (e-mail, Facebook, Digg It, etc.) to recruit your teammates and fans to help show your team some preseason love.

The next poll will be up shortly, so stop by the site to cast your vote! (Hint: Group III)

While you are at the site, check out the video player we installed at the very bottom of the page. PressPass TV has provided some cool interviews with players from the Pride and Titans. The videos will be updated throughout the season, so be sure to scroll down the page every now and then to see what's new.

Welcome to LaxTown and Thanks!

Thank you!

Because of New Jersey Lacrosse fans like yourself, in our first few days running this blog we've already had hundreds of site visitors and blog subscribers. So, thanks for checking us out!

As we've mentioned before, our focus will be on the boys/mens game in New Jersey and we welcome your contributions. If you have events, camps, news, or other items of interest please let us know. Also, we welcome your comments on the posts.... there is a function at the bottom of each post to add your two cents. See a cool matchup in a schedule? Comment on it. Have a game recap from a high school game? Send it to us. Have some cool photos you want to share? We'd love to see 'em!

We can't promise to post everything, but we'll seriously consider whatever you send us. And since this site is a hobby and run in "our spare time" (who really has that during lacrosse season?), every little bit of help we get is huge.

Something else you can do.... spread the word. Like what you see here? Tell a friend! There are numerous options at the end of each post to help you share it with a friend via Facebook, Del.icio.us, Stumble, e-mail etc. The more active participants we have here, the better the experience will be for everyone.

So that's it from here. With the official high school season starting this weekend (Rutgers Prep @ Pennington), things will start getting crazy. If you can help keep us in the loop, we can help keep everyone else in the loop. Thanks in advance for your help and enjoy the rest of the season!

Dave - dave (at) laxtown (d0t) com
LaxTown - Where lacrosse lives.

Oh yeah, one other thing. The ads you see around the site help us offset the cost of running and hosting this thing. If you see some ads that interest you, click on 'em and see what our sponsors have to offer. Thanks!

RU vs. St. Johns 3/29/08 1:00pm Yurcak Field

Who: St. John's (0-7) vs. Rutgers (2-4)
Where: Yurcak Field
When : Saturday, March 29 @ 1:00pm

Nutrition and Athletic Performance

Definition: There is a connection between food consumption and athletic performance.

Function: Perhaps only a top athlete would notice the subtle improvements in performance that dietary changes can provide. There is a large body of evidence showing a relationship between food consumption and athletic performance. A poor diet will almost certainly have a negative effect on the performance of even the most casual athlete. A good diet with adequate calories, vitamins, minerals, and protein will help provide the energy required to finish a race or simply enjoy a recreational sport or activity.

Recommendations: The diet recommended for an athlete differs little from the diet suggested for any healthy individual. The Food Guide Pyramid is an excellent guide. However, the amount of each food group needed will depend on the type of sport, the amount of training and the time in relation to activity or exercise. Calorie needs vary with the size, age, sex and physical activity performed by the individual so the number of servings a person requires will vary.

CARBOHYDRATES
Complex carbohydrates are a diet staple. They are found in foods such as pasta, bagels, whole grain breads and rice. They provide energy, fiber, vitamins, and minerals and are low in fat. Carbohydrate loading (a concerted diet/training regimen) will increase the body's energy stores of carbohydrate (called glycogen). Carbohydrate loading has been shown to improve performance in endurance-type activities lasting more than 1 hour.
The classical method of carbohydrate loading has been abandoned and replaced by a modified method which is safer and equally effective at increasing muscle glycogen. The most important factor influencing glycogen stores is to consume 50 - 60% of calories from carbohydrates on a daily basis.
Simple sugars such as soft drinks, jams and jellies, and candy provide few nutrients but a lot of calories. They may actually decrease performance when consumed directly before an athletic event as they may cause hypoglycemia.

PROTEIN
Protein's most important functions in the body are to support growth and to repair body tissues. Many people feel athletes need a high-protein diet to support muscle growth despite the fact that researchers have repeatedly proved this false.

It is also a myth that a high-protein diet will promote muscle growth. Only strength training and exercise will promote changes in muscle. Athletes, even body builders, require only small increases over normal needs in order to support muscle growth. Athletes easily meet this increased need by simply consuming more total calories (eating more food).
Americans already eat almost twice as much protein as they need, so protein needs for muscle development are being met before strength training begins. Excess protein is used as energy and can be stored as body fat.
Amino acid supplements and excessively high intakes of protein are not recommended. They can increase calcium loss and put an added burden on the kidneys, which must remove the excess nitrogen protein provides.

WATER AND FLUID
Water is the most important, yet over-looked, nutrient by athletes. Water and fluids are essential to maintaining good hydration and body temperature. Sweat losses to keep the body cool can exceed several liters in a 1-hour period.
Adolescents and adults should replace any lost body weight lost during a exercise with equal amounts of fluids. A good indication that you have fully rehydrated is to check to see if your urine is clear. Cool water is the best choice.

Some suggestions for maintaining adequate hydration are:
Drink plenty of water, juice, and milk.
Avoid caffeine -containing beverages. Caffeine is a diuretic and promotes fluid loss.
Drink plenty of fluid before, during, and after exercise.
Offer children water frequently during sports activities. They do not respond to thirst as readily as adults.

ACHIEVING DESIRED WEIGHTS FOR COMPETITIVE PURPOSES
Changing body weight to improve performance must be done safely and effectively or it may do more harm than good. Maintaining an unrealistically low body weight, rapid weight loss, and unnaturally suppressing weight gain can have negative health effects so it is important to set realistic body weight goals.

Young athletes attempting to lose weight will benefit from a consultation with a Registered Dietitian. Eating disorders and poor dietary habits may result from experimentation with diets. The Food Guide Pyramid is an excellent resource to ensure adequate food intake to meet vitamin and mineral needs while safely achieving body composition goals.
Make sure that you speak with a health care professional to discuss a diet appropriate for your sport, age, gender, and amount of training.

Courtesy of MerckSource and ADAM

Rules in Focus : Out of Bounds

The 2008 NFHS Boys Lacrosse Rule book has provided some clarity around how to award possession on a shot of bounds.

Section 6, Article 3, Subsection C states, "When a loose ball goes out of bounds as a result of a shot or deflected shot at the goal, it shall be awarded to the team that had an inbounds player's body nearest to the ball when it became an out-of-bounds ball, at the point where it was declared out of bounds. If two inbound players of opposite teams are equidistant from the ball when it goes out of bounds, play shall resume according to the alternate-possession rule. In determining which player is nearest, the ball is considered out of bounds when it crosses the plane of the endline or sideline. Note: For the purpose of this rule, the stick is not considered part of a players body."

This is still a common misperception that the ball is awarded to the person closest to the endline. The ball is actually awarded to the person inbounds closest to the ball where and when it went out. So if you had an attackman in the alley one foot from the endline and a shot goes out of bounds over the goalie's head, the goalie is 15 yards away from the ball and the attackman is 20 yards away. The ball should be awarded to the goalie.

Drew Throttles Moravian 24-8

So far, so good for the men’s lacrosse team in Landmark Conference play as Drew defeated Moravian 24-8 in its LC debut. Rob Budziszewski and Mike Sayers (left) each tallied five while Jon Bucknam added three goals and four assists for the Rangers. 14 Rangers registered at least one point in the match as Drew outshined their hosts in every aspect of the game. Drew (2-4) will continue its Landmark campaign by hosting Catholic at Ranger Stadium on Saturday.

Complete story and box score here: Drew Rangers

Eastern Tops Centenary 8-4

(3/27/08) Centenary men’s lacrosse team traveled down to Wayne, PA to take on Eastern University yesterday. The Cyclones defeated 8-4 in their first PAC match-up of the season. This loss takes the men to 0-6 and 0-1 in the conference.

Eastern got out to an early lead over the Cyclones off of a pair of goals by Michael Ryan. Centenary’s Kurt Shann (Kenvil/Roxbury) cut the Eagles lead in half minutes before the break and three minutes into the second period, teammate Jason Reig (Long Valley/West Morris) evened the score at 2-2. Just minutes later the men were in the hole again when Ryan netted another goal for the Eagles. Another goal followed for Eastern as Centenary fell behind by two again.

Centenary saw the game slip away from them as Eastern found the back of the net three times in the last five minutes of the third period to make the score 7-2. Centenary was able to find the goal twice more before the end of the game but Eastern added another notch to their total as well making the final score 8-4.

Reig and Colin Aldino (Belmar/St. Rose) both recorded a goal and an assist for the Cyclones to lead the team while Shann Nate and Small (Great Mills, MD/Great Mills) both added a goal apiece. Eastern’s Ryan led the team with three goals in the match.

Click here for the complete Box Score.

The men take the field again this weekend for a home match against another PAC opponent, Marywood University. Game begins at 1:00pm

Source: Centenary College

Yale visits Princeton 3/29/08

Yale vs. Princeton

The site: Class of 1952 Stadium • Princeton, N.J.
The date: Saturday, March 29, 2008 • noon
Radio: WPRB FM 103.3; www.goprincetontigers.com
TV: CBS College Sports
The series: Princeton leads 66-20-2
Last meeting: Princeton defeated Yale 5-3 • March 31, 2007

Click here for the full press release in PDF format which includes more stats and probable starters.

Courier Post - Talent, experience give West Deptford edge

By KEVIN CALLAHAN
Courier-Post Staff

Last year, the West Deptford High School boys' lacrosse team started its campaign with a 1-3 record. The three defeats, however, were to three ranked teams by the Courier-Post -- No. 4 Lenape, No. 10 Holy Cross and No. 7 Clearview.

The loss to Clearview was disheartening, though, because it came on a Golden Goal in the second overtime. . .

Read the full article here.

NJ Boys Varsity Lacrosse Schedule for 3/29/08

Date & Time	Home	Away
3/29/2008 Sat 8:00 AM	Rumson-Fair Haven	Mendham
3/29/2008 Sat 8:00 AM	St. Josephs (Metuc...	CBA (Syracuse, NY)
3/29/2008 Sat 9:00 AM	Westfield	Skeaneatles
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Holy Cross	Lenape
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Vernon	Clifton
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Pennington	Rutgers Prep
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	New Egypt	Freehold Twp.
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Glen Ridge	Montgomery
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Madison	Sparta
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Monroe	Red Bank Regional
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Wall	Neptune
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Delaware Valley	Morris Knolls
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Mendham	St. Josephs (Metuc...
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Jackson Memorial	South Brunswick
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Somerville	J-P Stevens
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Manasquan	Christian Brothers
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Edison	Morristown
3/29/2008 Sat 10:00 AM	Rumson-Fair Haven	CBA (Syracuse, NY)
3/29/2008 Sat 10:30 AM	Bridgewater	Westfield
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Montclair	Kinnelon
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Mountain Lakes	Ridge
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Robbinsville	Rancocas Valley
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Columbia	St. Peters (JC)
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Governor Livingsto...	TBA
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Kingsway	Cherry Hill East
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Eastern	Notre Dame
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	St. Josephs (Montv...	Nanuet
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Wayne Hills	Pope John (Sparta)
3/29/2008 Sat 11:00 AM	Toms River East	West Windsor North
3/29/2008 Sat 12:00 PM	Monsignor Donovan	West Deptford
3/29/2008 Sat 1:00 PM	Hunterdon Central	Ramapo
3/29/2008 Sat 1:00 PM	West Essex	Hopewell Valley
3/29/2008 Sat 1:00 PM	Morristown-Beard	Voorhees
3/29/2008 Sat 2:00 PM	Peddie	Blair
3/29/2008 Sat 4:45 PM	Immaculata	CBA (Syracuse, NY)

Notes: The Rumson, St Joe's, CBA NY, Mendham games are scheduled to be played at Rutgers. The Westfield v. Skeaneatles game will be played at Bridgewater. As of this post, the Immaculata v. CBA game will be played at St Joe's Metuchen campus. Double check with the schools for last minute changes before you head out to a game.