Air Force men’s lacrosse head coach Fred Acee stood and watched. A high schooler in his camp had seen ‘The Move’ on TV. Like many other young lacrosse players across the nation, the youngster watched highlight reels of Michael Powell against Massachusetts last May.

Also, like many high school players across the country, the kid from Arizona thought he could copy Powell’s acrobatics. So he gave it a shot.

And just like Powell, the kid landed the flip and fired a shot. Seemed like just another moment to remember in Acee’s annual lacrosse camp. But it also showed just how far lacrosse has come. A few years ago, a kid from Long Island or Maryland may have attempted to copy such a fancy move. But a kid from Arizona? Definitely not five years ago.

It’s happening now, though. Lacrosse is rapidly expanding west, especially at the high school level. And slowly but surely, it’s catching up to the east. Even Syracuse is noticing the trend, taking a trip to California in March to play Georgetown in the First 4 Lacrosse Invitational.

‘The kid had the ball in his stick and figured, ‘hell I can do that,” Acee said. ‘There’s a lot of good lacrosse out there.’

The high school and club levels have seen the greatest increases in participation. John Principi, head coach for Torrey Pines High School near San Diego, has noticed the difference first hand. Torrey Pines is one of the West’s premier high school lacrosse programs.

Last year, Torrey Pines beat traditional eastern power Garden City in Long Island and sent four players – including SU backup goalie Jake Myers – to Division I teams in the East. A major difference, Principi said, is the increase of club teams before the junior high level. Even Myers, now a freshman at SU, only started playing in seventh grade. Now, western youths can play as early as kindergarten.

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, boy’s lacrosse isn’t one of the top 10 most popular high school sports. Still, participation has increased nationwide from 41,822 in 2001 to 53,436 in 2004, a jump of 27.8 percent. On the girl’s side, participation has risen from 32,403 in 2001 to 43,099 in 2004, a 33 percent increase.

Principi said in the mid-to-late 1990s a lot of California football and basketball players started taking an interest in lacrosse. Already athletically gifted, the players quickly adapted to lacrosse. At first, athletes used lacrosse to stay in shape in their off-season. Soon, serious players began to drop football and basketball, concentrating solely on lacrosse, Principi said.

‘It’s starting to equal out,’ Myers said. ‘They have all these new leagues. They’re teaching kids the game at age 10. When I was 10, I didn’t even hear of the sport.’

And while the sport is rapidly expanding at the high school level, men’s Division I lacrosse hasn’t caught on as quickly. The western boundary for lacrosse resembles that of the original 13 colonies. The Great Western Conference consists of six teams. But four of them, Fairfield, Notre Dame, Butler and Ohio State aren’t even west of the Mississippi. Fairfield is in Connecticut.

The other two teams, Denver and Air Force, are both located in Colorado – one of the recruiting hotbeds along with California, Texas and Arizona – for high school talent. Not a single Division I men’s team is located west of Colorado.

Most western colleges have club teams, and several western schools have Division I women’s teams, including California, Stanford, Oregon and St. Mary’s. Principi – who played Division I football and club lacrosse at California – said most men’s clubs teams are competitive enough to play at the Division I level.

Lack of funding and Title IX equity laws currently hold these programs back. But as the sport becomes more popular and funding increases, Principi expects more schools to finance Division I men’s teams.

‘It’s such a complicated thing,’ Notre Dame head men’s coach Kevin Corrigan said. ‘My guess is five-to-10 years from now, there’s going to be a lot of lacrosse in this country.’

For now, though, the six ‘western’ schools have struggled to catch up. But they’re making strides. Notre Dame starts this season ranked No. 10 in the Inside Lacrosse preseason coaches’ poll. Ohio State and Denver are in the mix as well, ranked 14th and 24th, respectively.

Notre Dame is the only Great Western school to reach a Final Four, falling to Syracuse in a 2001 national semifinal. Last season, only Ohio State reached the 16-team NCAA Championships, and bowed out to North Carolina in the first round.

Western teams did see some improvement last season, though. Air Force and Denver both defeated Virginia, a traditional eastern powerhouse.

Still, competing with eastern schools is a difficult task. Many eastern schools hesitate to travel west, especially now that western teams have shown they can win. To get an eastern power to travel west, the western school often must offer large sums of money.

‘Nobody will come out here to play,’ Acee said. ‘I can’t even get Army or Navy.’

Recruiting is another difficulty. Air Force and Denver don’t even go after the eastern powerhouse players. At Notre Dame, Corrigan does recruit those players. Denver head coach Jamie Munro said he can find equal talent in the West, especially defenders, middies and goalies. Attackmen, Munro said, are still stronger in the East. Instead of competing with schools like Syracuse, Princeton or Johns Hopkins, Munro regularly recruits against schools like Hobart, Ohio State and Delaware.

‘We haven’t had a guy like Mike Powell,’ Munro said. ‘But that’s a really hard thing to find.’

SU head coach John Desko said he’s noticed that eastern players have greater lacrosse savvy. While athletically, western players are equally gifted, western coaches don’t teach the same complex offenses and defense that eastern high school players learn. While Principi agreed, he said western players will learn these techniques as former college players continue to funnel west and teach the game.

‘The other day, coach (Desko) critiqued someone for not being on their man,’ said Sean McGonigle, an SU freshman defenseman from the San Diego area. ‘Coach said, ‘you learned that in fourth grade.’ But we didn’t learn it that early. We didn’t even learn to use our left hand until junior or senior year.’

As western high school lacrosse continues to improve, the coaches expect to have more luck convincing players to stay west. Air Force and Denver, located in Colorado, have one of the West’s strongest recruiting bases.

Still, most dominant western players dream of playing east. Tired of the West Coast and after years of hearing about the dominance of eastern lacrosse, these players want to prove they too can compete with the East’s best.

A recruit recently told Acee he dreamed of becoming a pilot. Acee assumed the kid to be a perfect fit at Air Force. Then Johns Hopkins called with a scholarship offer. Suddenly piloting didn’t sound as enticing.

‘My goal was always to come back east,’ McGonigle said.

Said Principi: ‘It’s every die-hard lacrosse player on the west coast’s dream to play at Hopkins, Syracuse or Virginia.’

McGonigle and Myers hope as western colleges adopt Division I programs, some eastern players will head west. The Orange, along with Georgetown, Notre Dame and North Carolina, will play in the First 4 Invitational on March 12. The event, which organizers hope to make an annual affair, will be hosted by the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Along with a college doubleheader that pits SU against Georgetown and Notre Dame against North Carolina, the event features five other college games and four high school games. Torrey Pines is one of the teams participating, and Principi said players are already talking about it.

Western fans will get to see lacrosse in person for the first time, and major college coaches will be on hand to watch the West’s top high school talent. Desko said Syracuse doesn’t actively recruit the West. McGonigle and Myers both had to compile highlight tapes and resumes to draw interest from eastern schools.

Event organizers don’t expect the record crowds drawn by last year’s Final Four in Baltimore, but they hope to attract 8,000 to 10,000 fans.

‘All (SU players) talk about is how they’ve never been there before,’ Myers said.

With western lacrosse booming on the high school level and improving at the college level, the sport certainly has a bright future. But until more western Division I programs form, it may be difficult for western schools to compete for championships.

Difficulty with travel and scheduling home games and trouble attracting elite players still plagues western colleges. Still, the coaches from the so-called western schools say they are already competing and expect the competition gap to decrease soon.

And the western players who have come east are out to prove they can indeed play with the East’s best.

‘I think we’ve seen the day already (when western teams can compete with eastern ones),’ Corrigan said. ‘You’ve seen Ohio State and Denver compete. You’ve seen the growth of lacrosse. Butler’s been in the top 10. Denver’s capable this year. The strength of our league reflects it.’

Published on March 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm