The BIG EAST will begin sponsoring men's lacrosse in 2010.
BIG EAST Conference Announces Formation of Men's Lacrosse League
6/11/2008 12:14:22 PM | Men's Lacrosse
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.
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