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US Lacrosse College Notebook
Feb. 14, 2003
No Snow in California
While most of the collegiate lacrosse world continues to use sticks
to help shovel snow and ice off fields, varsity competition will
heat up "for real" this weekend as regular season play
begins in the South and West. Highlighting the limited slate of
games is a women’s Division I vs. II match-up in California
Saturday, pitting Stanford against UC-Davis. The weather forecast
is for showers, but with a predicted high of 60, the two schools
won't get much sympathy from the rest of the country.
The Cardinal, 11-7 a year ago and inaugural champion of the Mountain
Pacific Lacrosse League, enters 2003 ready to take the next step.
After landing Baltimore’s Roland Park standout Kelsey Twist,
who promptly led Stanford in goals (36) and total points (48) as
a freshman last year, coach Michelle Uhlfelder hopes to continue
the Cardinal’s drive toward an NCAA tournament berth by playing
seven teams that appeared in the 2002 tourney. Stanford, whose top
four scorers were freshmen last year, will host runner-up Georgetown
and travel to semifinalist Cornell in perhaps its two stiffest challenges.
“We want to impact the national scene. We're young, but our
schedule has gotten exponentially more difficult. We want to play
the best to try to beat the best,” said Uhlfelder. “Since
I got here, we've kind of hit the pavement running, in terms of
our goals. ... Our overall goal is to get to the final four consistently.
This year, our schedule gives us the opportunity to get to the NCAA
tournament, and an opportunity to prove ourselves and see where
we fall in the big picture.”
Of more importance to Stanford, and to the sport in the West, however,
is that four of those seven games will be at home. In addition to
the match-up with the Hoyas, the Cardinal will welcome to The Farm
three other NCAA tournament teams from a year ago, Duke, Loyola
and UMBC. Hosting four NCAA teams continues a recent trend Western
schools have of getting top teams from the East to travel.
“It signals the Mississippi River is no longer the electric
fence of lacrosse. It's easy on the East Coast that what surrounds
you is the only thing, but the potential for growth of the girls'
game lies on the West Coast and in the Midwest, in terms of conference
growth, revenues, and improving the national championship...people
here love sports and attend games.”
Stanford’s ascension out West will get another challenge in
a few years, as Pac-10 Conference rival Oregon recently announced
it will field a varsity women’s lacrosse program beginning
with the 2004-05 school year.
“I think Oregon was the spark when it announced. We're extremely
excited. It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when with respect
to [college] lacrosse exploding out here,” said Uhlfelder.
Stanford will wait to challenge future conference foes, and it’s
a good thing, because the Cardinal has plenty on its plate for 2003,
beginning with Saturday’s game at the Aggies. UC-Davis, 8-6
overall but 5-0 against fellow Division II competition last year,
is moving to Division I. The Aggies were shut out of the NCAA tournament
in 2002 despite a No. 3 ranking in the coaches’ poll. So in
order to be the best in ’03, the Aggies are going to play the
best. UC-Davis will play defending champion West Chester, runner-up
Longwood and semifinalist Stonehill. Seniors Kelly Algin (32 goals)
and Jamie Fitzpatrick (26) return as the Aggies hope to avenge an
11-4 loss to the Cardinal last year.
"Stanford is a tough game to open the season, but it’s
a good one," said Aggie coach Elaine Jones. "It’s
a nice gauge of where we need to go, to see how to prepare for the
rest of the season. We're looking to slow down their transition
and make them work for their goals."
Faceoff is 1 p.m. at Aggie Field.
Around the Country
• The Division II men's season kicks off this weekend with
an interesting match-up on Feb. 15 as 2002 national runner-up New
York Tech heads to North Carolina to play at St. Andrew's, a semifinalist
last year. NYIT plays at Wingate on Feb. 17 and will then be idle
for more than three weeks before opening at home on March 11 against
Merrimack.
• North Carolina will also be the hub for women's lacrosse
this weekend. The annual South of the Border tournament at Duke
and North Carolina features more than 150 one-hour scrimmages on
its Feb. 15-16 schedule. The field includes top-rated Division I
programs like Georgetown, Loyola and Vanderbilt, in addition to
the host teams, as well as Division II, III and US Lacrosse Women's
Division Intercollegiate Associates teams. Nippon University, the
second-ranked college team in Japan, is also scheduled to appear.
• Quinnipiac begins the recent annual parade of Division I
men's teams traveling to Colorado. The Bobcats will play at Denver
on Friday and at Air Force on Sunday. Other teams heading to play
at Denver and Air Force this year are Butler, Duke, Hobart, Manhattan,
Ohio State and Siena. Fox Sports Rocky Mountain is scheduled to
televise the two Denver games in the Face-Off Classic next weekend
(Manhattan on Feb. 22 and Duke on Feb. 23). The Manhattan game will
be televised on a slight delay, beginning at 4:30 Mountain time.
The Duke game will be carried live, beginning at 12:30 Mountain
time.
• The US Lacrosse Men's and Women's Intercollegiate Associates
are already into their seasons and this weekend features some marquee
match-ups. On the men's side, Brigham Young and Tennessee travel
to the Lone Star State for games against Texas and Texas A&M.
Two-time MDIA champion and 2002 runner-up Colorado State opens its
season at Arizona (2-0). On the women's side, numerous teams from
around the country will be in North Carolina for the South of the
Border tournament, including defending champion Cal Poly-San Luis
Obispo (3-0).
US Lacrosse College Notebook is a weekly feature on the US Lacrosse
web site. For information about supporting the sport through membership
in US Lacrosse, visit our membership page.
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