The North American Lacrosse League released its 2013 schedule earlier today. Check it out below.

League Press Release

The Professional Lacrosse League (PLL) announced today that Reading Rockets' forward Travis Bland has been named the Player of the Week for the period ending October 7th, 2012.

The Georgetown, Ontario native had eleven points in last week's game, leading the Rockets within inches of the franchise's first win. Bland recorded two goals and nine assists on the night. 

The forward started his junior lacrosse career in the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League with Halton Hills from 2002-2006. He would then suit up Ajax-Pickering in Ontario Senior B Lacrosse in 2008, becoming the league's top scorer in his first year. Bland most recently finished his 2011 Major Series Lacrosse season with Ajax, recording 16 goals and 28 assists in 19 games.

Note: Some style and grammatical changes were made to the release.

When former ACC freshman of the year Nicky Galasso was given a release from his scholarship at North Carolina to explore transfer opportunities yesterday, early speculation was the Long Island native would stay close to home and pick Hofstra. He shot down those rumors quickly.

"Hofstra is a great program, but I think it might be too close to home," Galasso told LaxMagazine.com on Tuesday. "I'm thinking maybe elsewhere, try to get a little bit away and still have that college experience."

One school that's "a little bit away" is Syracuse University. Orange head coach John Desko was late to his media opp yesterday afternoon because he was reportedly dealing with a transfer situation. Now, the Syracuse Post-Standard has reported Desko is in fact talking to Galasso about making the switch.

Galasso was a third-team All-American in 2011, but saw limited action in 2012 after breaking his foot in the fall. He would have to sit out a season if he transferred to another ACC school, but not if he picks Syracuse or any other school outside of North Carolina's conference.

After the Washington Stealth became the first team to sign their entire draft class on Monday, the Colorado Mammoth announced they have joined them by inking all three selections.

"Now it's time for them to show that they can play alongside the world's best and contribute," said Mammoth President and General Manager Steve Govett in a team press release.

Colorado had picks in the first, fifth, and sixth rounds. It took two forwards, Colton Clark (9th overall) and Alex Demopoulos (53rd), and a transition player in Jaeden Gastaldo (44th overall).

Team Press Release

ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Chesapeake Bayhawks announced today that general manager and assistant coach Brian Reese has retired citing a need for more time with his family.

Reese joined the Bayhawks in September of 2011 and spearheaded building the championship squad during the expansion year alongside head coach Dave Cottle. Together, they were able to revive a struggling team after a devastating loss in the 2011 semi-final game vs. Boston. Reese’s insightful player acquisitions in the off season and team oriented mentality during the season contributed to the squad ending the 2012 year with a fourth MLL crown and an 12-4 record.

“Brian did a phenomenal job as the general manager,” head coach Dave Cottle said. “He is a great person, a great coach, and great with the personnel coordination. He will be missed and we wish him and his family nothing but the best.”

Prior to joining the Bayhawks last year, Reese had been with the Outlaws since their year of inception into Major League Lacrosse (MLL) in 2006. He also performed a four year stint as head coach through 2010, boasting a record of 30-12. During his six year career with Denver, the Outlaws tallied a winning record and clinched a playoff berth each year. Before starting his career with the Outlaws, Reese was an MLL defenseman for the Bayhawks from 2001-2004, where he was a member of the 2002 championship team.

"I have been an MLL general manager for the past 8 years and have taken tremendous pride in building great teams and have been extremely fortunate to work with many great people,” Reese stated.  “Ending this season with the Bayhawks and winning the MLL Championship was truly special and will be something I will never forget. Right now it’s time for me to focus on my family and my life away from the MLL. I'm looking forward to spending more time with my four wonderful kids and wife and be there as they compete at their own respective sports. I would like to thank Brendan Kelly, Dave Cottle and the entire Bayhawks staff for the opportunity to work in a great organization.  I started my MLL career as a Bayhawk and it’s great to finish as one. I also want to thank all the players that I have had the chance to be around. It's been an honor to work with them and they truly make the sport great. I can now shift to being a fan and enjoy a little extra free time."

Fall ball was in full swing this weekend and one of the teams in actions was Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish played in the "Playing for Peace" tournament in Chicago and came away with victories over Detroit and Bellarmine. Oh, and they looked good doing it. 

The Boys from South Bend are coming off a 13-3 season in which they won the Big East regular season title and made it all the way to the Final Four. The team was led by its defense. Opponents managed only 6.31 goals-per-game and converted just 20% of their shots. John Kemp returns in the net for the Domers, but the defense isn't the only unit with returning stars.

The attack brings back Sean Rogers. He led the team with 22 goals as a junior last season. Rogers is great, but much of the talk has focused on the future of this unit. In other words, Matt Kavanagh. The guy is the top-ranked post grad player in the country and it's easy to see why.

Kavanagh left his mark on Team USA's U-19 team. He won the gold medal at the 2012 FIL Championships and was named tournament MVP. Kavanagh totaled 19 points in the competition. He looks to helps a team that managed only 8.62 goals-per-game. 

Guys like Rogers and Kavanagh may seem relatively small, but with a defense like Notre Dame's it can mean a lot. If this team can score as good as it stops shots, then another final four could be well on the way.

A week after the NLL draft, the Washington Stealth have already signed all seven of their selections to one-year contracts, according to the team. All the players will be invited to the team's training camp in two months. 

Washington picked defensemen Tyler Garrson (11th overall), Bill Hostrawser (12th), and Justin Pychel (19th) in the second round. The Stealth also took forward Mitch Jones (21st), defenseman Tim Henderson (23rd), transition player TJ Cowx (30th overall), and forward Kyle Buchanan (48th) with their other picks.

The training camp opens in early December. 40 players get invited to try out for the team, but only 23 make the active roster to start the season. Washington opens the season at home on January 5 against the reigning champion Rochester Knighthawks.

Fall ball is underway in college lax and teams are beginning to get a feel for who will replace some star players who have moved on. One of those teams is Princeton. The Tigers are doing something they haven't done in the last four years: look for a new goalie.

They haven't needed one because Tyler Fiorito was the man between the pipes for almost his entire career. He missed just one game during his time at Princeton and stopped nearly 200 more shots and than he let get past him. The netminder won Ivy League Player of the Year in 2012 and was a two-time All-American.

The 2013 team has three options to replace Fiorito: junior Brian Kavanagh, sophomore Eric Sanshagrin and freshman Matt O'Connor. Sanshagrin actually got a start last season. Against Manhattan, he allowed five goals, made eleven saves and got the win.

Overall, he appeared in five games and managed a 6.71 GAA. Kavanagh saw only fifteen minutes of action in 2012. He gave up three goals and made three saves in three games. Finally, O'Connor enters as the 67th best recruit according to Inside Lacrosse and saw a lot of time in the 'Play for Parkinson's' event this weekend.

I think it will be either Sanshagrin or O'Connor in the net come the start of the season. In a "gun to my head" situation, I'm going with O'Connor. The amount of time he  saw this weekend was huge and I think Princeton will want to continue the stability in net they had the last four years with Fiorito. 

The PLL is playing this season under strained circumstances. It has only three teams, but the future is looking up. Three franchises are in position to join the league next season. A fourth could be the Syracuse Stingers, located on the Onondaga Reservation, in central New York.

The team is led by captain Neal Powless and got its first taste of PLL action Saturday against the Charlotte Copperheads. Although Syracuse lost 18-10, it was an important first step for the franchise to join the league.

Another big step, of course,  is just having a guy like Powless around.  The veteran is no stranger to box lax. He's played for the Six Nations Chiefs of the MSL and the Rochester Knighthawks of the NLL. In fact, he wast part of the 'Hawks first championship team in 1997.

Not only is Powless a veteran of box lacrosse, he's from the Onondaga Nation. Lacrosse is huge in central New York and having a team that can be in a lacrosse hub is big for the PLL. As for the Stingers, keeping a local guy or two around can't hurt. Especially if they have Powless' resume. 

For the second straight week, the Jacksonville Bullies (3-1) and Reading Rockets (0-2) went to overtime. Again, Jax took the win. The Bullies scored the tying goal with less than a second to go in regulation and scored the lone overtime goal win 18-17.

Kiel Matisz led the way for Jacksonville with six goals, including the game-winner. The best individual performance belonged to Reading's Travis Bland, though. He finished with two goals and nine assists, his second straight week leading the Rockets in scoring.

Reading jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, but went into the break down 6-5. Matisz and reigning PLL player of the week Andrew Kirkaldy scored five of the six goals for Jax. The Bullies expanded that lead in the second and went into the half up 11-8. 

Reading stepped up in the second half and took back the lead early in the fourth quarter. But Jacksonville had a comeback up its sleeve. With less than two minutes to play in regulation and the Bullies down 17-15, Junior Bucktooth scored a goal to bring Jax within one. Then, Shawn Wilkins tied the game with 0.4 seconds left on the clock to force overtime. Matisz buried the game-winner to get Jacksonville a third straight win.