National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

March 3, 1997

Memorial Day -- Weekend Warriors

Division II men's lacrosse may play its final at the same locale as its I and III counterparts

BY MARTY BENSON
STAFF WRITER

Even if you are one of the more than 25,000 zealots who make an annual Memorial Day weekend pilgrimage to the NCAA men's lacrosse championships, chances are you cannot name last year's Division II winner -- or any other season's Division II champion, for that matter.

The primary reason is that the Division II final is not played that weekend, but if the NCAA Executive Committee approves a recent NCAA Men's Lacrosse Committee recommendation, that will change in 1998.

The committee agreed during a January telephone conference to recommend at the Executive Committee's May meeting that the Division II championship be combined with the Divisions I and III finals in 1998, when Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (New Brunswick), plays host to the weekend.

Division II coaches have craved the change almost since the championship's reinstatement in 1993, after an 11-year absence.

"The reason ... is so we wouldn't feel like second cousins," said Vincent Salamone, director of athletics at Long Island University/C. W. Post Campus and the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Committee's lone Division II representative.

Division II's one-game "tournament" has been tucked away at an on-campus site two weeks before Memorial Day weekend. Divisions I and III hold first-round games concurrently.

Under the recommendation, the game would be played on the same weekend, but not on the same field. The Division II championship instead would be held at Rutgers' lacrosse field, Yurcak, on Sunday.

Weather and facilities

Why not go all the way and put the game in the main stadium? If Mother Nature could guarantee dry weather, the committee probably would.

"Whatever happens, we don't want to wind up having any championship on a field that's been damaged to the extent that it would be difficult to play on," said John Parry, chair of the Men's Lacrosse Committee and director of athletics at Butler University.

Since Division I seemingly has the most to lose by adding another game to the main field, it might be natural for its coaches to oppose the idea. But at least one, Princeton's Bill Tierney, whose team has won two of the last three Division I championships, thinks the time has come to include Division II -- and in the main stadium.

"I think it would be all for the positive," Tierney said. "It is short-sighted to think one division is better than the other.

"There is some concern as to what might happen on a rainy weekend, but Maryland has shown it can handle that kind of problem (staging two semifinal and two final games during a weekend). They have done a great job with it and I'm sure Rutgers will as well."

Gothard Lane, former assistant director of athletics at the University of Maryland, College Park, has overseen the facilities for the past four championships weekends. As the person who may be the most knowledgeable about what is possible, he supported adding another game to the main field.

"I don't see why you wouldn't do it," he said. "It's not that much of a problem for the host. What's one more game?"

If the Division II game is to eventually move to the main field, artificial turf would seem a logical way to solve the weather issue. However, the championships are booked through 2002 at Maryland and Rutgers, both of which have natural fields.

Even in years for which sites have yet to be chosen, suitable artificial turf choices are few. The only places in lacrosse country with the right combination of artificial turf and ample seating are Cornell University, Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, even as an auxiliary field solves problems, it presents hurdles of its own. Obviously, the atmosphere of the main stadium will not be duplicated. The other challenge is ticketing.

The Division I semifinals and championship game and the Division III championship game are included in an all-sessions package for Rutgers Stadium, which holds 48,000 fans. Yurcak holds 5,000.

"(That difference means) that game probably will not be part of the ticket package," Parry said.

Calendar challenges

Jack Kaley, coach at New York Institute of Technology, a perennial contender that last reached the championship in 1994, said that the "stepchild" feeling is not the only reason a Division II move will be welcomed.

He said the current date of the game is problematic because it conflicts with other lacrosse events (in addition to the other divisions' tournaments) and many of the potential competitors' final exams.

"It's the same weekend as the junior college championship and the ECAC tournament," he said. "The fan has to make a choice and that hurts all of us (in the lacrosse community). It's also the weekend before our finals, when our kids should be studying."

Ironically, academic schedules also were an argument against the move. Most of the perennial qualifiers finish their spring semester relatively early, which would force a team that advances to pay room and board for its student-athletes for an extra two weeks while the team prepares for the championship.

Since many of the schools have many students who commute, such expense may be less than what might be experienced at residential schools, but still could be considerable.

Kaley said the "problem" can be dealt with as it arises.

"Leave it up to the individual schools, heck ... my kids would pay their own way to go to become part of this," he said.

Division III success a plus

All of the potential drawbacks heard during deliberations over the Division II issue also were voiced when the committee investigated whether to move the Division III championship to the weekend.

By any estimation, that change, which happened in 1992, has been positive.

"It's given us tremendous exposure and provided a great experience for the kids," said Scott Nelson, coach at Nazareth College, which won last year's Division III title. "Everything has been first-class."

That success is magnified by the attendance figures. Before it was part of championships weekend, the largest crowd for the Division III game was 4,205. Although the actual number of fans in the stadium was lower because of inclement weather, the paid attendance last year was 18,586 -- a Division III championship record for any sport.

The committee hopes that a Division II move would increase crowds in a similar manner, although that much of a jump obviously would not be possible unless the game eventually moves to the main facility.

You still can't remember who won last year's Division II title? Long Island-C. W. Post beat Adelphi, 15-10, on Post's field last year in the latest of what has been nearly an all-Long Island event. (Only once, in 1995, did a non-Long Island team play in the final. Springfield College lost to Adelphi.)

Attendance last year at Post was 952.