Did you know that only four universities have won the NCAA men's lacrosse championship since 1991? That's crazy, right? I looked it up and its true. In fact, if you go back to 1978 only five teams have won the national championship and even crazier still, in the entire 26-year history of Division-1A men's lacrosse, only seven schools have ever won the national title. Miami football and Duke basketball ain't got nothing on these guys. Anyway the reason to mention all of this is because those four teams that have won the title since 1991 (Syracuse, Princeton, Virginia and Johns Hopkins) also all happen to be ranked #1 - #4 this year and will be pitted against each other in a special pre-Final Four of sorts called The Face-Off Classic on March 3rd in Baltimore. For those not in the know, this is pretty much like being able to attend a college football double header featuring Florida against Ohio State and USC against Texas. #2 Johns Hopkins, who last won the whole thing in 2005 faces off against #4 Princeton, whose title drought (2001) might as well be a lifetime ago in lacrosse years. Then, #3 Syracuse (2004) will take on defending champ and #1 Virginia. If you live in the area or are a crazed lax fan who wants to attend, click here to purchase tickets.
I love that the website references the 2002 match-up between Cuse and Virginia, a game I was fortunate enough to attend. True story, I'm at the game with two friends who have never seen a lacrosse game before in their lives and one other guy who is a lifetime player. It's the first game of the year and the first lacrosse game I've ever seen live that I didn't actually play in. I'm just blown away with the skill, the grace and the speed of the game. Who knew that the ball wasn't supposed to hit the ground every five seconds? Who knew that defensemen could actually have better skills than some middies? Anyway, my lacrosse-playing buddy and I are in awe, reacting to every goal, standing and cheering every great play. We stay til the bitter end in a back-and-forth battle eventually won by our Orange that was arguably the best regular-season lacrosse game ever.
My other two friends...left at halftime, bored to tears. Lacrosse...I suppose you either you get it or you don't.