NCAA Lacrosse History

Unveiling The NCAA Lacrosse History

From its humble beginnings of 5,458 spectators to an audience of 69,020, the NCAA Lacrosse history, undoubtedly, holds one of the most crowd-drawing tournaments in the United States. In the 2005 Men Lacrosse Championship, a total of 133,801 attendants were listed that nearly outdrawn the Final Four of men’s basketball. NCAA or National Collegiate Athletic Association has 36 sports tournament under its wings and lacrosse remains to be a favorite of most college and high school students.

When French settlers in North America discovered the game, they saw that the stick and ball sport was raw. They created standards for the sports and later became Canada’s official summer sport. It then spread to Eastern United States and in the 1880s, the first tournament for lacrosse was held. But it was not until 1971, that NCAA finally embraced the sport in one of its tournaments. NCAA Lacrosse history shows that the extensive popularity of the sport among high school and college students prompted the organization to initiate the lacrosse tournament.

The NCAA Lacrosse for men has three divisions. Division I has seven participating teams with Syracuse garnering the most championships of 9. Division II started in 1974 but was interrupted between the years 1982 to 1992. 11 Colleges and Universities had attended the said division, to date, with Adelphi bearing 7 championships. Division III had Hobart as its first champion in 1980 scoring 11-8 against Cortland State.

The NCAA Lacrosse history for women’s also held significant records. The association has three divisions for women. Division I started in 1982 with Maryland dominating at 9 championships. Division II was just recently opened in 2001. C.W. Post was its first champion. And Division III had its first champion in 1985.

The first team to win in the NCAA Lacrosse history is Cornell University which defeated Maryland with a score of 12-6 in 1971. The tournament was hosted by Hofstra. Richie Moran coached the team that showcased famous players like John Burnap, Bob Rule, Alan Rimmer, and Bob Shaw. Though Cornell topped in the very first tournament, it only placed seventh in terms of number of championships in the first Division.

The popularity of the sport is contributed by factors like star players, innovative playing techniques and team domination. For the first time in NCAA Lacrosse history, the 1983 tournament that debuted Syracuse in the championship list, gave way to twin star players Paul and Gary Gaits. Spectators were amazed at viewing what was called the lacrosse version of basketball’s slam dunk. This caught media’s attention and since then, people were always looking for forward to new styles in playing lacrosse. High school and college got hooked which eventually increased participation in the NCAA.

The Gaits were a big help to the Syracuse team in winning the championship for three straight years in 1980s, a feat that succeeded Johns Hopkins’ three consecutive wins in the 70s decade. The 90s was dominated by Princeton.

The NCAA Lacrosse history had shown us how teams have conquered titles. The 2007 NCAA Lacrosse will once again unfold the best teams in America. All three men’s divisions will open on May 6 while women’s start on May 12, 2007.