Larry the K's Lineup

  The Johnson & Wales University Wildcats celebrate winning the title on May 6, 2023. The Johnson & Wales University women's lacrosse team's season ended on Saturday (May 13, 2023) with a first-round 17-7 defeat to Christopher Newport University (CNU) at Gettysburg, Pa. The CNU Captains dominated every statistical category, en route to a dominating performance. The Wildcats trailed 5-0 before scoring two goals to pull within three, but the Captains pounced on the Wildcasts' uncharacteristic turnovers to take an 11-3 halftime lead. The Wildcats fought hard in the second half, but couldn't overcome their faster opponent and the goaltending of Hadley Chadwick, who thwarted several close-up shots by the Wildcats. As a result of the loss, the Wildcats --- the Great Northeast Athletic Conference champs --- finished their 2023 season with a 16-3 record. The team has much to be proud of this season, including being undefeated in conference play. Congratulations are due ...

  AI or Artificial Intelligence is with us, probably to stay, but those of us who value human interactions over those with automatic machines and robots --- it’s nearly impossible to get a human to speak with if you have the misfortune of having to call a bank, insurance or cable company (Xfinity is the absolute worst when it comes to trying to reach an actual human being) --- are pessimistic about the future of a society where human beings are rapidly, and inevitably, being replaced by machines. Self-driving cars may sound good to inherently lazy drivers, but it’s bad enough dealing with humans who go too fast and who like to cut people off and who refuse to go the speed limit on city roads, let alone on the interstates --- but can you just imagine how dangerous the roads will be when most cars are dependent on the efficient operation of machines?  That’s a frightening thought! This column, decrying the uses of AI and its likely increases in the future, was published in...

  Larry and Alana celebrate the championship. The Johnson & Wales University women's lacrosse team turned in a determined, gritty performance as they played their best game of the year to beat St. Joseph's College of Maine Saturday afternoon on their home turf by a score of 10-6 to capture the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title. The Wildcats led wire to wire, holding leads of 2-0 and 5-3 after the first two quarters, respectively, and 8-5 after three, before a lockdown defensive game limited the Monks to just one goal in the fourth quarter while the Cats added two more to expand their lead to four goals with about 2 minutes to go. From there, the Wildcats used the clock to their advantage as they claimed the dramatic victory. Goalie Emma Glyman, who deservedly was named the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs, made seven key saves and complemented the Wildcats' tenacious defense. When time ran out, a wild celebration took place on the field, with one play...

  Johnson and Wales University's women's lacrosse team advanced to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Lacrosse finals on Saturday morning with a hard-fought 14-5 win over the Emmanuel Saints on Wednesday afternoon. Don't be fooled by the final score, as the Wildcats' leads were only 4-2 after one quarter and 6-3 at halftime, before mounting a second-half push to take a 10-5 lead into the final quarter, where they shut out the Saints and added four goals to account for the final score. Similar to the two teams' regular-season encounter, the Saints gave the Wildcats a real fight in the first half, and the game didn't feel comfortable until the Cats' dominating fourth-quarter performance. The conference championship will be decided at 11 a.m. Saturday (May 6) at Johnson & Wales when the Wildcats take on St. Joseph's of Maine in a rematch of an April 15 game in Providence that JWU won 11-9 on two late fourth-quarter goals. Another...

Boston-area sports fans who are trying to console themselves after the Bruins' stunning elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs in the first round after Sunday night's 4-3 overtime loss against the Florida Panthers can take solace in a plucky New England team that is hanging tough in their own playoffs. I'm talking about the Johnson and Wales University Wildcats, who last week clinched the No. 1 seed in their conference (GNAC) lacrosse playoffs, and who on Saturday evening advanced to Wednesday's semifinals against Emmanuel College after breaking open a close quarterfinal game in the third period en route to an 18-7 win over Elms College. My daughter Alana (pictured), a senior who has been called upon to play defense, midfielder and attacker, played a good chunk of the game after one of the Wildcats' starters got two yellow cards from the "card-happy" referees. (One was the result of a questionable illegal stick call by one of the officials). Here's ...