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Syracuse Men's Lacrosse News |
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June 11 , 2008
BIG EAST Conference Announces Formation of Men's Lacrosse League |
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The BIG EAST Conference will formally begin sponsoring the sport of men’s lacrosse beginning in the spring of 2010. The announcement about the Conference adding its 24th sport was made today by Commissioner Michael Tranghese following a unanimous vote by the league’s 16 Directors of Athletics during their recent annual spring meeting.
The seven conference schools that will participate in the newly formed league are Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, 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.
Syracuse won the 2008 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse national title, the program’s 10th, 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. Currently, Georgetown, Rutgers and St. John’s are part of the ECAC, Providence is a member of the MAAC and Villanova plays in the Colonial Athletic Association.
"I think it is a positive for college lacrosse and BIG EAST lacrosse," SU head coach John Desko said. "It should be if not your best conference then one of the best conferences in the country. Anything that will help some of the schools within the conference – I know they are going to have to add scholarships, coaching positions and that is great for the growth of the game of lacrosse."
The Orange owns a 777-306-15 record all-time in men's lacrosse, which began at the school in 1916. Its 777 victories are second all-time behind Johns Hopkins. Syracuse has made 28 trips to the NCAA Tournament and boasts the highest postseason winning percentage in NCAA history at .760 (57-18). It's 10 national championships are an NCAA record.
“We are looking forward to the excitement that men’s lacrosse will bring to the BIG EAST Conference,” said Commissioner Tranghese. “We have schools with established and successful programs, which want to come together and compete under the BIG EAST brand.”
Men’s lacrosse will be the BIG EAST’s 11 men’s sport while the Conference conducts 13 women’s sports.
QUOTES FROM SYRACUSE HEAD COACH JOHN DESKO
On the creation of the BIG EAST Men's Lacrosse league:
"We've heard so much about the BIG EAST Conference and lacrosse happening and I guess it's finally here. It sounds like 2010, so we'll start to re-vamp our schedule pretty soon and try and get as many of the teams in the BIG EAST that we don’t have on the schedule on the schedule as soon as possible."
On the advantage of being in a conference:
"Being in a conference will add more to the conference games. Obviously, it's another opportunity to make the playoffs. The winner of the conference should have an automatic qualifier. That gives you added incentive to play those games. If you had a year similar to the one Syracuse had last year, it's another way to make the playoffs."
On if it is important to keep all of Syracuse's natural rivals:
"It's important to keep the local rivals and some of the teams that are traditionally the top teams in the country. Syracuse is known for having a playoff schedule and with strength of schedule and your RPI being so important for the playoffs then we need to keep as many of the top ranked teams as we can on the schedule."
On how it changes things like recruiting over the next couple of years:
"I don't know if it will affect Syracuse too much in the recruiting process. I think it will help some of the other school within the conference. We have been fortunate and we have a number of national championships and that usually helps Syracuse University to get its foot in the door – in addition to the academic education. I can see it really helping some of the other schools in the conference."
On if scheduling will be more difficult:
"It still remains to be seen what the conference is going to require as far as when we play the games. There is no conference championship right now, which I think most coaches in the conference tend to agree with. Plus it would take another weekend away from our regular season schedule where we would have to drop yet another opponent. So I think not having a conference championship is good enough for now and we'll see. We are going to try and play with our schedule and talk to the other coaches to find out if we can get some of the Notre Dames of the world on our schedule first without having to go to the conference."
On if the conference benefits the sport of lacrosse:
"I think it is a positive for college lacrosse and BIG EAST lacrosse. It should be if not your best conference then one of the best conferences in the country. Anything that will help some of the schools within the conference – I know they are going to have to add scholarships, coaching positions and that is great for the growth of the game of lacrosse."
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Source: SU Sports Information Department
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