Players have described this Native American game that has no fixed sidelines by wistfully waxing, "The Indians played for days and ran for miles."

While such a wide-open theory may have been applied to a game of women's lacrosse, the sport as a whole has been -- until recently -- restricted to the East Coast.

"Going West (in lacrosse) used to mean going to Ohio," said Stanford University coach Michele Uhlfelder, in her third year with the Cardinal after assisting at Duke University and Old Dominion University.

As the number of teams has mushroomed over recent years, the sport's regional boundaries are becoming porous. In 1997-98, there were 199 NCAA teams nationally; now there are 256. Granted, most of those schools are on or close to the Atlantic Seaboard. But growth across the Mississippi River is further along than some might realize. Did someone say "manifest destiny"?

"I think in the next few years, the majority of high schools and colleges will have it out here," said Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges coach Dana Latona, who, just as her program, is in a rookie year.

One of the reasons for the growth, Uhlfelder said, is that lacrosse is easy to like from the first face-off.

"Our game spreads quickly," she said. "You don't need to have grown up with it to appreciate it. People watch and say, 'Oh my gosh, how do they handle the ball like that with their sticks?' They like how fast it is and the fact that there is a lot of scoring."

Migrating numbers

Western high schools appear to be ahead of their college neighbors, which suggests that more college teams may be in the offing. Women's numbers for 2002 for high schools kept by the sport's national governing body, US Lacrosse, show 231 schools west of the Mississippi (196 in 2001) -- 36 in Texas (32 in 2001) and 64 in California (61 in 2001). The figures include both interscholastic and club teams.

More colleges from nontraditional areas appear to be interested in elevating club programs to varsity or starting the sport anew, according to US Lacrosse. Coming into this year, three other Division I western schools were playing -- the University of California, Berkeley; St. Mary's College (California); and the University of Denver. The University of Oregon will play varsity in 2005. At least one other Pacific-10 Conference school is seriously considering adding the sport. Stanford, with its championships-laden athletics program, has been the most successful Western team, cracking the top 20 during last season.

In Division II, the University of California, Davis, and Regis University (Colorado) field varsity teams, though the former is moving to Division I. In Division III, six schools -- Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Colorado College, Linfield College, the University of Puget Sound, the University of Redlands and Whittier College -- play varsity.

Draw for coaches

With the sport's newness in the West, most of the coaches nonetheless come from the East.

In Uhlfelder, Stanford landed a Baltimore-area native who played at the University of Maryland, College Park, and has been a U.S. national team member since 1991. Despite her roots, she said moving across the country wasn't an odd step.

"Stanford is a place where you can win the national championship," she said of the perennial NACDA Directors' Cup contender. "I wanted to work at a place that had high expectations of me and of the program and that is not the case everywhere."

Latona was Division III player of the year as a senior in 2000 and part of two national championships at the College of New Jersey. She left a high-school teaching and coaching position to take the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps post.

Another Baltimore product, UC Davis coach Elaine Jones, already was out West when her opportunity with the Aggies arose. The former Virginia all-American, who holds a law degree from the University of Miami (Florida), was assistant director of compliance at the University of Southern California and coach of the Trojans' club team before moving north. After guiding the Aggies to a No. 3 final ranking in her first season last year, she landed Division II coach of the year honors from Warrior/Inside Lacrosse.

Like Stanford, Division III University of Dallas has a Maryland grad as a coach, but Stefani Webb is taking the pioneer spirit further. When the Crusaders start varsity play in 2004, they will be the first varsity team in Texas of either gender. Webb, who also is the school's women's soccer coach and senior woman administrator, played soccer for the Terrapins and graduated in 1995. Although not a lacrosse player, she learned the game from the best. Her roommates during her junior year played lacrosse well enough to win the Division I national championship the next season, the first of the school's NCAA-record seven consecutive titles.

"They have since gone on to coach as well and have been extremely helpful in my new position," Webb said.

While every team looks for Easterners with the second-nature stickwork that comes from growing up with the game, Jones has found, by necessity, that success can come with just Westerners.

Both Stanford and UC Davis have been successful, but they have vastly different rosters geographically. But for one player each from California and Oregon, all of the Cardinal players are from the more traditional areas. The Aggies, who are home-grown from top to bottom, narrowly missed the four-team Division II tournament last year.

Despite Stanford's current roster makeup, Uhlfelder said that those who overlook the talent on the West Coast, especially in the coming years, are shortchanging themselves. Polished veteran lacrosse players may be scarce right now, but many athletes have the talent to become outstanding lacrosse players in a short time and they are picking up the game earlier than before.

"The level of athletes on the West coast should not be overlooked," Uhlfelder said. "Not that I want everyone to come out and get them, but there are a lot of athletes here."

Latona said she hopes to attract players from the East who eventually will help her build a tournament-caliber team with the Athenas, whose school is commonly known as C-M-S.

"I know that when I graduated from high school, a lot of players would have been interested in coming out here if there was an opportunity," she said. "It's a beautiful area and there is an excitement for lacrosse. It's just been a little slower taking off than it has been some other places."

Webb pointed out that although Dallas is the first varsity collegiate program in the Lone Star State, lacrosse is not unknown. When the local high schools' players graduate, some of those student-athletes will still want to play. Dallas will offer the only chance to do so and stay close to home.

"We were looking to add another women's program and the athletics director and myself agreed that lacrosse is a great game and would fit into the school's personality," Webb said. "We don't view it as an odd choice at all. This is a great opportunity for the university to add a successful program."

Webb also hopes to welcome some players from the East.

"We have put together a club team this spring and currently have 22 players participating," she said. "I certainly will be recruiting from the Northeast. We have generally done a good job of getting kids from there in other sports."

When you're far away from most of the nation's other teams, scheduling can be a challenge. Jones noted that the closest Division II peer to the Aggies is Colorado's Regis. UC Davis maintains a modest travel budget by playing all the Division I teams in the area and attracting Division II teams with the promise of nice weather, but Jones said the team is in a precarious position should the Division I Western schools decide not to play a Division II team. That could happen if more Division I schools from the area emerge. The Aggies are seriously investigating moving up.

"If we do go Division I, I'm confident we can get some players out of the East," she said, pointing out that she doesn't have the budget to do so now.

Jones has a schedule that could get the Aggies making some noise in the postseason of their current division. UC Davis plays three of the four Division II semifinalists from last year, including defending champion West Chester.

Western attraction

Stanford attracts Eastern teams to its campus as a temperate place to go in the early season and for spring break. That has resulted in a primarily home schedule that stacks up favorably in strength with many others from more traditional areas. The slate also requires less travel and therefore less missed class time than Uhlfelder's student-athletes at her previous schools and many of their neighbors.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps needs more regional growth in Division III to help its NCAA tournament aspirations. Latona said that if such growth happens, the Athenas look to form a Western conference and gain an automatic bid to the tournament.

Every season, the national geography of women's lacrosse grows more similar to its unique rules. Ohio is no longer the great frontier. The once impassable Mississippi is a memory.

"I just think of the game as limitless," Uhlfelder said. "I've always felt we have a great product -- people just need to be exposed to it.