Look at the schools still standing in the NCAA lacrosse tournament.
Duke. Ohio State. Navy. Virginia. Maryland. Syracuse. Notre Dame.
Oh, and Johns Hopkins.
All but the Hop compete in college football's highest division. Compete, of course, is used very loosely for Duke, Syracuse and 2007 Notre Dame, but all of those schools are members of what used to be called Division I-A.
Thing is, there are only 12 of those schools playing Division I lacrosse (Air Force, Army, North Carolina, Penn State and Rutgers are the others). None have added lacrosse since 1981.
The major-college influence was always in the sport because of the ACC schools and Syracuse, but never to this extent. The fine seasons Notre Dame and Ohio State produced certainly have helped expand that presence.
Interestingly enough, last year only two of those dozen I-A schools reached the quarterfinals --- the lowest total in the event's history.
Don't think it's a bit unusual? Here are the last 25 seasons worth of lacrosse quarterfinalists from I-A members.
1984: 5 (Army, North Carolina, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia)
1985: 4 (Army, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia)
1986: 6 (Maryland, Navy, North Carolina, Rutgers, Syracuse, Virginia
1987: 4 (Maryland, Navy, North Carolina, Syracuse)
1988: 4 (Navy, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia)
1989: 4 (Maryland, Navy, North Carolina, Syracuse)
1990: 3 (North Carolina, Rutgers, Syracuse)
1991: 3 (Maryland, North Carolina, Syracuse)
1992: 3 (Maryland, North Carolina, Syracuse)
1993: 4 (Army, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia)
1994: 4 (Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia)
1995: 4 (Maryland, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia)
1996: 4 (Maryland, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia)
1997: 4 (Duke, Maryland, Syracuse, Virginia)
1998: 4 (Duke, Maryland, Syracuse, Virginia)
1999: 3 (Duke, Syracuse, Virginia)
2000: 5 (Duke, Maryland, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia)
2001: 3 (Maryland, Notre Dame, Syracuse)
2002: 3 (Duke, Syracuse, Virginia)
2003: 3 (Maryland, Syracuse, Virginia)
2004: 4 (Maryland, Navy, North Carolina, Syracuse)
2005: 4 (Duke, Maryland, Navy, Virginia)
2006: 3 (Maryland, Syracuse, Virginia)
2007: 2 (Duke, North Carolina)
2008: 7 (Duke, Maryland, Navy, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Syracuse, Virginia)
--- Patrick Stevens
Comments (2)
Blame the regionality (word?) of the sport. It's a very good thing to see the Ohio States, Notre Dames and Denvers of the world getting better and competing. Every time one of those programs gets good at the sport it opens up a whole new fanbase.
Posted by NunesMagician | May 12, 2008 7:37 PM
This is good stuff. This is the first place I go on the net for lacrosse insights and stats (along with other ACC sports info), and I'm always rewarded by the historical perspective and data I find here.
Posted by J. | May 12, 2008 11:24 PM