Active Sara

It's an exciting time of year for lacrosse as both the men's and women's NCAA tournament brackets have been announced and high school boy's and girl's championships are underway. It's going to be an exciting couple weeks!

I've recently collected some of my favorite articles, blogs and videos from around the web to get all of you lacrosse fans out there pumped up for the best time of the year.

Before you do anything though, make sure you vote for your favorite men's and women's college players in the 2008 LaxPower Fan Awards at LaxPower.

Ever wonder what college athletes do to stay in shape in the offseason? Well, check out a recent article from ESPNU, Denver lacrosse player has unique offseason conditioning program, to learn how Andrew Bourke prepares himself during the summer months. We'll see if Bourke's training paid off when Denver faces Maryland in the First Round of NCAA's this Sunday.

Which DI men's team has the best attack unit? This video from Quint's Corner will analyze the best and the best and might just tell you which team will take home an NCAA championship this year.

Maverick, a major lacrosse company for gear and apparel, recently announced that they will provide all the gear Florida's premier club team, the Fightin' Possums, will need to compete at the highest level. It's great for Maverick and it's awesome for lacrosse in Florida. Check out the article High School: Maverik to outfit Florida's Fightin' Possums to learn more before this team starts taking it to the competition in summer tournaments.

Head Coach Julie Myers and her UVA women's lacrosse team are always competitive in the big dance, but they haven't been able to come home with the crown since Northwestern took over in 2005. Check out this video from LaxPower and watch Myers describe her team. Will they be able to win it in 2008? Only time will tell.

Tyler Tolson is one of DIII's high scorers, but his lacrosse career almost ended before high school. Find out why in the Inside Lacrosse article, Finding his footing before Tolson and the Lynchburg Hornet's take on the Washington Shoremen in the second round of NCAA play this Saturday.

If you know someone or are someone who wants to play lacrosse in college make sure you check out the College Recruiting Timeline for Lacrosse in the Active Recruiting 101 special section to ensure you are doing everything you need to get that spot on a college lacrosse team.

Enjoy the best time of the year lacrosse fans!

I headed over to Albert/Daly Field last Friday night, which is right down the street from my parent's house in Virginia, to watch William & Mary play conference rival and 15th-ranked Towson University. We used to play both of these teams every year so I was eager to see how they were doing in 2008. William & Mary was able to hold on to the lead to beat Towson, 14-13. It was a great game! It's always fun to see an upset.

Towson started things off and got a quick 2-0 lead as Fratzke collected a pair of goals before the game was even three minutes old. The Tribe quickly responded as Grace Golden scored two unassisted goals, bringing the game even at the 23:52 mark. Less than a minute later, Jamie Sellers broke the deadlock with a goal at 22:12, but her work was short-lived, as Towson pieced together a pair of free position goals, less than a minute apart, to regain the advantage, 4-3.

Five minutes later Clare Dennis scored to bring the Tribe even at 4-4. William & Mary freshman Ashley Holofcener threaded a perfect feed to Dennis, moving the Tribe out to a 5-4 lead. The Tribe would score again off a take from Sellars. Golden stretched the lead to 7-4, when she found her way to the cage at 9:36.

Towson's McNamara scored at 7:05, but William & Mary quickly answered back with goals from Julia Martin and Katie Rees to rebuild the lead to 9-5. Sensing it needed to find some rhythm before halftime, the Tigers attack turned up the heat over the remainder of the half, firing off some point blank attempts that Geary turned away. Finally, with just :19 remaining, McNamara found an opening and got the ball over goal line and sent the two teams to half with the score at 9-6.

In the second half, William and Mary pushed its lead to 11-6, with goals from Sellers and Holofcener. Despite a pair of goals by Fratzke at 19:12 and 18:32, William & Mary seemed to remain in complete control of the action. Dennis and freshman attacker Maggie Anderson each turned in lightening strikes, to bring the game to 13-8.

However, Towson rallied back tightening up the game at 13-11 with 9:50 to play. Sellers made the Tigers' pay with a goal to put the game at 14-11. Towson scored the game's final two goals and put relentless pressure till the final seconds.

Here is one of my interviews with William & Mary goalie, Emily Geary. She had a great game and you can definitely tell in the interview how excited she was about the win. I also found out that Geary and I went to the same high school and played for the same coach. Small world!

I'm glad I caught the game and was able to get some good footage with interviews. Next, I'm headed to Villanova Stadium to see Villanova play Navy Tuesday night.