| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
St. John's Men's Lacrosse News |
|
| |
|
|
| |
June 11, 2008
St. John's Set To Play In New BIG EAST Lacrosse League For 2010 Season |
|
| |
QUEENS, N.Y. (June 11, 2008) – The St. John’s men’s lacrosse program will be moving out of the ECAC Lacrosse League and into the newly formed BIG EAST Lacrosse conference beginning in the spring of 2010. The formation of the league was announced by BIG EAST Commissioner Michael Tranghese on Wednesday after a unanimous vote by the league’s 16 Directors of Athletics during their recent annual spring meeting.
“The creation of a BIG EAST lacrosse conference is a huge step for St. John's lacrosse and the other members of the league,” said St. John’s Director of Athletics Chris Monasch. “The combination of the BIG EAST brand, its television influence and the quality of the member lacrosse programs will yield one of the best conferences in the country.”
The six schools that will participate with St. John’s in the newly formed league are Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, Syracuse and Villanova. The teams will play a six-game single round-robin regular season schedule. The BIG EAST will apply for an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Championship field.
"This is really a huge step forward, not only for our program, but for the sport in general,” remarked St. John’s head coach Jason Miller. “We've been able to build our program quickly over the past four years by playing in a great league, the ECAC. Moving to the BIG EAST will enable us to continue that growth."
Since its reinstatement in 2005, the St. John’s lacrosse program has participated in the ECAC Lacrosse League with fellow new BIG EAST members Rutgers and Georgetown, along with Fairfield, Hobart, Loyola, Massachusetts and Penn State. The Red Storm will continue to play in the ECAC for the 2009 season.
In 2008, St. John’s graduated its first class of senior student-athletes who helped rebuild the program in 2005 after a 10-year hiatus. The Class of 2008 marked many milestones for the Red Storm with two All-ECAC selections in defenseman Tim LaMare and attackman Tom Michaelsen, who was also a North-South Senior All-Star and St. John’s first-ever Major League Lacrosse draft pick.
Under Miller, the Red Storm also tallied first-time wins over perennial power houses and league foes Penn State, Hobart, Rutgers and Fairfield while also securing non-conference victories over Lafayette, Quinnipiac and Siena.
Among the new BIG EAST lacrosse members, Syracuse won the 2008 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse national title, the program’s 10th championship, after earning an at-large bid as a Division I Independent. Notre Dame also garnered a berth into the national tournament as an automatic qualifier from the Great Western Lacrosse League. Providence has been playing as a member of MAAC and Villanova currently plays in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Source: St. John's Sports Information
|
|
