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Lacrosse has been played in Pennsylvaniamarker since the 19th century. Today, there are many respected amateur programs at the club, college and high school level, as well as several respected past and present professional teams at the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and Major League Lacrosse (MLL) levels.

History

College

Men's

In 1879, the United States National Amateur Lacrosse Association was formed to coordinate the efforts of private lacrosse clubs in several Northeast cities, including one club which formed in Bradford, Pennsylvaniamarker. College organizations, including a varsity team at Lehigh Universitymarker, soon followed with the formation of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA). Lehigh fielded its first varsity squad in 1885, with the University of Pennsylvaniamarker and Lafayette Collegemarker following suit in 1890. Swarthmore was accepted as a member in the USILA in 1891. During the first 30 years of the USILA, Lehigh and Swarthmore were dominant teams with the two teams being voted National Champions of college a combined eleven seasons. Glen Warner, the Hall of Fame football coach at the Carlisle Indian School from 1899 to 1903, substituted lacrosse for baseball during the spring season because he said, "Lacrosse is a developer of health and strength. It is a game that spectators rave over once the understand it." It is also likely that lacrosse, a contact sport, helped prepare his football players for the fall season.

The first game of the new "inter-university" lacrosse championship (now known as the Ivy League title) was played in New York City between Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, resulting in a victory for Penn by the score of 4 to 3 on April 27, 1901. In 1917, Lehigh, which went undefeated for two straight seasons, won the Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association championship by defeating Penn in overtime 5 to 4 at Franklin Fieldmarker in a title matchup. By 1920, the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse League had expanded to include teams from Syracuse, Rutgers, Penn State and, encouraged by Pop Warner, even considered adding a varsity team at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1920, the USILA realigned their lacrosse association, adding a Southern Division which included powerful teams from Lehigh, Penn and Swarthmore along with traditional Maryland power Johns Hopkins. Penn State played its first intercollegiate game against Penn in 1913 and in 1940 attempted a college box lacrosse league playing top universities including Yale. By the mid-1950s, college lacrosse teams were divided into three divisions by the USILA. While the 'A Division' included traditional national powers Navy and Johns Hopkins, the 'B Division' and 'C Division' included several still potent Pennsylvania universities including Penn, Swarthmore, Penn State, Lehigh, Dickinson and Lafayette.

In total, Lehigh University won nine national titles under the pre-NCAA United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association format of voting for the national champion, while Swarthmore University won four titles. More recently under the NCAA tournament format in place since 1971, Pennsylvania based universities have participated in many NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournaments including Bucknell (1), Cabrini (6), Franklin & Marshall (4), Gettysburg (11), Kutztown (1), Penn (10), Penn State (1), Swarthmore (1), Widener (6) and Villanova (1). Penn has one third place finish and Gettysburg has appeared in three championship finals. Among other highlights, in 2006 Penn upset the number three Cornell team in making the NCAA tournament. In 2005, Penn State was named to the NCAA tournament after nearly making the top ten rankings. Gettysburg has had good success in Division III, regularly appearing in the top five national rankings and reaching the NCAA title games in 2001, 2002 and 2009. Philadelphia has hosted six NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament in Divisions I, II & III at Franklin Fieldmarker and Lincoln Financial Fieldmarker.

In 2009, Villanova defeated Towson in the conference finals to gain the team's first ever NCAA tournament bid. Further developments at the college level in 2009 included Chris Bates head coach at Drexel taking the top job at Princeton, Brian Voelker head coach at Penn taking Bates' position at Drexel, and Mike Murphy head coach at Haverford replacing Voelker at Penn.



Women's

Women's lacrosse started up in Scotland at St Leonards School in the 1890s, and was subsequently introduced in 1926 at The Bryn Mawr School of Baltimore. Penn State started up a women's program in 1965 and Lock Haven Universitymarker in 1969. The most successful programs have been Temple Universitymarker and Penn State in both the AIAW and NCAA Division I, West Chester Universitymarker in Division II, as well as Ursinus Collegemarker and Franklin & Marshallmarker in Division III. Pennsylvania colleges and universities have won a combined 14 AIAW and NCAA women's lacrosse national titles. Temple won championships in 1984 and 1988; Penn State in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1987 and 1989; West Chester in 2002 and 2008; Ursinus in 1986, 1989 and 1990; and Franklin & Marshall in 2007 and 2009. Marsha Florio of Penn State and Gail Cummings of Temple are currently the 3rd and 4th highest scoring Division I players with 380 and 378 career points, respectively. Stephanie Kienle and Katelyn Martin both of West Chester are the 1st and 2nd highest scoring Division II players with 390 and 376 career points, respectively.

In 2009 Franklin & Marshall won the Division III national title defeating Salisbury 11 to 10.

High School

See also: List of Pennsylvania State Lacrosse High School Champions


Lacrosse development at the private preparatory school or public high school level in Pennsylvania by the mid-1950s had progressed much more slowly than at the collegiate level. At that time, Lower Merion High Schoolmarker was the only public school offering varsity lacrosse as a spring sport. But by 1965, a state high school championship system had been put in place with the Hill Schoolmarker being named the initial Pennsylvania prep champion of what is now known as the Avery Blake Memorial Trophy. Since 2001, with the expansion of lacrosse programs at high schools throughout the state, the Keystone Cup has been played where the three state sectional champions meet to determine the statewide champion.

Pennsylvania high schools with the most state lacrosse titles include Lower Merion (7), Ridley (6), Haverford School (5), and Penn Charter (5). In 2008, LaSalle College High won the state title and was ranked fourth in the nation, the highest ever national rank of any Pennsylvania prep school. Haverford School regularly appears in the top 15 nationally, and plays recognized programs such as The Gilmanmarker and Lawrencevillemarker Schools. Three schools have repeated as champion for three straight years, Harriton High Schoolmarker from 1970 to 1972, Penn Charter from 1974 to 1976 and Ridley from 2001 to 2003. In the 2009 PIAA state finals, LaSalle won its second consecutive title in defeating Conestoga High Schoolmarker, in its first appearance in the state finals, 7 to 3. LaSalle ended the year ranked 4th in a national poll for the second straight season, while Conestoga finished the year ranked 12th. Also in 2009, all-time lacrosse player Frank Urso was named the head lacrosse coach at Garnet Valley High School.

Professional

In 1974, the original Philadelphia Wings became the first professional team from Pennsylvania. The team included popular Flyer player Doug Favell, and the well-known Gene Hart announcing games for the team, as well as Canadian star John Grant Sr. father of John Grant, Jr.. The Wings typically drew crowds of over 10,000 at the Spectrummarker and reached the league finals in 1974. The team folded along with the league in 1975. In 1985, a box lacrosse USA/Canada Superseries, an eight-game series, was played at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. This series revitalized interest in box lacrosse and was a pre-cursor to the Major Indoor Lacrosse League and National Lacrosse League.

The current Philadelphia Wings, the oldest franchise in the NLL, started up in 1987 by among others Mike French, and have the most championships of any NLL team with six. Early on the Wings made an effort to connect with the local community by drafting local talent including Scott Growney from Harriton High Schoolmarker, J.R. Castle, Mark Moschella, Scott Carruthers from Drexel, Chris Flynn from Penn, and Tony Resch from William Penn Charter Schoolmarker. Strong fan support was evident even in the Wings initial season, where the team averaged over 10,000 fans for their home games in 1987. The Wings have an all-time record in 23 seasons of 152-118 during the regular season, and 16-10 in the playoffs. NLL Hall of Famers Gary Gait,Paul Gait, Tom Marechek and Dallas Eliuk are among the notable players who have been a part of the club.

The Pittsburgh Bulls played in the NLL from 1990–1993 including players Dave Pietramala and Kevin Bilger, and the Pittsburgh CrosseFire played a single season in 2000 until they relocated to become the Colorado Mammoth. In 2004, the Philadelphia Barrage of the MLL moved from Bridgeport and played until 2008 when they folded along with three other teams. In five years of operation, the Barrage won three league championships. The team played its home games at United Sports Training Centermarker in West Bradford Township, Pennsylvaniamarker.

Notable programs

Today, the national governing body of lacrosse is US Lacrosse. US Lacrosse services the state of Pennsylvania through three local chapters: the Pittsburgh chapter, the Central Pennsylvania Lacrosse chapter and the Philadelphia Lacrosse Association. All three maintain the Pennsylvania Lacrosse Hall of Fame, which honors the great players, coaches, officials and promoters who have made significant contributions to the game at the professional, college and high school levels in Pennsylvania.

College



High school



Notable players



: * Sources


See also



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