UCI helps host men’s collegiate lacrosse championship tournament

Irvine will host another showcase lacrosse event this coming week as the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Assn. stages its national championship tournament for the third year in a row at UC Irvine and Chapman University in Orange.

Thirty-two teams from across the country in Divisions I and II will play first-round and quarterfinal games Monday and Tuesday at UCI’s Anteater Recreation Fields. The semifinals and championship games will be played at Chapman on Thursday and Saturday.

“We certainly enjoy the hospitality of the West Coast, all around in Orange County,” said MCLA President Ken Lovic, who also is the head lacrosse coach at Georgia Tech University, a tournament participant.

The 2014 event was the first time the MCLA held the national tournament in a western state.

“It was a no-brainer for us to want to return our tournament to such a great location,” Lovic said.

Policy dictates that tournament sites rotate in the future for competitive balance. But negotiations are underway to potentially return to UCI and Chapman next year, Lovic said.

“It’s a great opportunity to host an event of this caliber. It brings a lot of attention to our university,” said Adrienne Buckingham, UCI director of club sports and special events. “This is our third year, so we have it all dialed in pretty much by now.”

The university relies on recreation department employees and student staff members to operate the event and reaps a modest financial benefit that helps fund intramural and club sports programs at UCI.

“We are excited to watch the growth of it,” said Irvine Chamber of Commerce Vice President Linda DiMario. “Our hoteliers are excited to watch the growth of it.”

She said the event’s economic impact for area hotels and restaurants is significant, but she could offer no official estimates, since the event is a UCI production. The chamber offers support services including maps, transportation information and hotel and restaurant listings.

Lacrosse is a team sport invented by pre-Columbian North Americans as a war game. Hundreds of years later, it may not be a mainstream sport in the United States, but its popularity, at least in participation, is booming.

Players in the speedy contact sport use long-handled sticks topped with pocket nets to control, pitch and catch a hard rubber ball the size of an orange. The game resembles hockey on a grass field as two teams of 10 players each (including a goalie) try to score into the opponent’s net, which is about the size of a double doorway.

Boys and girls programs at the high school and younger levels have been getting stronger outside the game’s traditional hotbed in the East. Southern California in particular has seen an increasing number of new players gravitate to it.

Dozens of former Orange County high school players are on the rosters of several of the teams competing in the tournament.

“It’s a niche sport; I believe it always will be to a certain extent,” said Concordia University head coach Ryan Brent, whose 12-0 Eagles are in the tournament for the third straight year and seeded third in Division II this season. “This gives people an opportunity to come out and check out a new sport, as people are always looking for ways to entertain themselves.”

The MCLA, which is celebrating its 20th year, consists of member schools that do not offer varsity lacrosse. Teams are not part of the NCAA structure, though their universities may be. MCLA teams are mostly club programs playing on small budgets in a non-revenue sport.

Chapman University enters the tournament with a 16-0 record and the No. 1 seed in Division I. The Panthers won the Southwest Lacrosse League title over teams that included USC, UCLA and other Pac-12 schools that do not offer the sport on the NCAA level.

“We’re giving a national championship opportunity to the rest of the schools who believe in lacrosse but may not have varsity status,” Lovic said.