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Philly area increasingly becoming a hotbed for lacrosse

As top schools converge on Philadelphia for NCAA championships, area lacrosse advocates talk about how well the sport is doing.

PARENTS OF La Salle High School student-athletes sat on the sidelines of Upper Bartley Field as their boys played in the Catholic League semifinals against Cardinal O'Hara. They spoke candidly and vividly about the Catholic League, the playoffs, other divisions, and even threw in jabs at old rival, St. Joseph's Prep.

Listening from afar, one would think they were talking about the heated football, basketball or baseball rivalries built over the years. Nope. Instead, they were talking about lacrosse.

Philadelphia has emerged as a hotbed of lacrosse in the last decade or so, with the numbers continuing to skyrocket. According to Jef Hewlings, US Lacrosse Philadelphia chapter president, the Philadelphia chapter reported 167 boys' teams, with 4,100 participants, in 2013. Only a year later, that number grew to 182 boys' teams, with 5,100 participants. Growth has been even more exponential in the girls' game. In 2013, the Philadelphia chapter reported 263 girls' teams with 5,300 participants. In 2014, there were 286 girls' teams accounted for with 6,350 participants.

"I think it is only going to continue to grow," Hewlings said in a phone interview. "It might not grow at the same rate all the time, but I think it will continue to grow. There are lots of areas - even in Pennsylvania, there are lots of areas - that still don't have it, and I'm sure they are going to catch on with it sooner or later."

The numbers are surely on the rise in the past few years, but many say Philadelphia has been on the rise for about a decade. The area's high school and club programs churn out plenty of Division I prospects who are recruited by coaches from around the country.

"I think that really high-level lacrosse has been being played in Philadelphia for at least the last decade, if not more," Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said in a phone interview.

His top-ranked team joins Denver, Johns Hopkins and Maryland for the national NCAA Division I Final Four this weekend at Lincoln Financial Field. The weekend also features the women's Division I Final Four at PPL Park in Chester, along with action at both stadiums in Divisions II and III.

"There are such high-quality high schools and even youth lacrosse around Philadelphia," Corrigan continued. "There has been consistently high level playing and coaching around Philadelphia for a long time now."

The Inter-Ac dominates much of the talk of great programs in the area, but many schools besides the Haverford School and Malvern Prep have built good programs over the years. Teams such as Conestoga and Garnet Valley are perennial powers that send kids to the next level. The Catholic League, with La Salle and St. Joe's Prep, also has good talent and coaching.

The competition among Philadelphia area schools is improving because some of the better athletes are focusing on lacrosse instead of more popular sports such as baseball and football. But why are many young boys trying out and staying with lacrosse in a city so driven by the four big pro teams?

"It's a game meant for boys," La Salle head coach Bill Leahy said after his team's 18-1 demolition of O'Hara this week. "They run around with sticks. They can be as creative as their imagination can come up with, and they can hit guys. It's a fun sport. It fits right into a boy's lifestyle."

"I like how fast paced it is," said La Salle defender Tim Markiewicz. "I don't really think there's any other sport quite like it. There are a lot of great aspects to it, like the speed and intelligence behind it, along with the precision. I think that is really unique to the sport."

A boy learns much in his early life from a father or similar role model. Leahy sees fathers moving to Philadelphia from well-known lacrosse areas such as Maryland and New York and teaching their sons the game the right way. Even his own team has examples of this transition.

"I think my dad's passion for the game carried over," La Salle middie Zach Drake said. "He loved it so much and it was passed down to me through osmosis, I guess is the word for it."

College coaches who recruit the area see that transition, which has made Philadelphia such a hotbed and so appealing for high-level college programs to come and pluck talent.

"The sport is big enough and developed enough in the area that you get the better athletes playing from the area," Notre Dame's Corrigan said.

"The coaching is at a high enough level that you get kids that understand the game and have the skill set of having competed at a high level through [their] high school career. If you bring all those things together, the skills and the IQ and the athleticism, you get a very good, very balanced player that's capable of coming in and helping your program."

Many Philadelphia area players, such as Maryland's Casey Ikeda, who went to Conestoga, get to high-level programs and contribute right away. Ikeda credits the area with giving him his drive to compete on the highest level.

"It is definitely one of the hotbeds in the country," Ikeda said. "There are so many great players. Playing against top-level competition in the Philly area made me want to play against top-level competition on the next level."

While recruiting and playing at such a high level make the sport look good from the outside, there also has been much development for those who don't want to make the jump to college, according to Hewlings.

"Organizations, clubs, youth leagues and even high schools are trying to get [lacrosse] in through the school board, and are asking us to help them with funding, resources and education, that kind of stuff, so that they can show their school boards and organizations that there is interest. And that's interest from beginners," he said.

Lacrosse is becoming the sport of choice more and more in the Philadelphia area. With more interest from both high-level athletes and beginners, it is safe to stay the area will be at the forefront of the lacrosse movement for years to come.

Agenda

MEN'S DIVISION I SEMIFINALS

Saturday, Lincoln Financial Field

Notre Dame vs. Denver, 1 (ESPN2)

Johns Hopkins vs. Maryland, 3:30 (ESPN2)

CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN2)

Monday, Lincoln Financial Field

Semifinal winners, 1 (ESPN2)

MEN'S DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunday, Lincoln Financial Field

Limestone vs. LeMoyne, 1

MEN'S DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunday, Lincoln Financial Field

Tufts vs. Lynchburg, 4

WOMEN'S DIVISION I SEMIFINALS

Friday, PPL Park

Duke vs. North Carolina, 5 (ESPN3)

Syracuse vs. Maryland, 7:30 (ESPN3)

CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunday, PPL Park

Semifinal winners, 8:30 (ESPNU/ESPN3)

WOMEN'S DIVISION III SEMIFINALS

Saturday, PPL Park

SUNY Cortland vs. Middlebury, 1 (NCAA.com)

Trinity (Conn.) vs. Franklin & Marshall, 4 (NCAA.com)

CHAMPIONSHIP

Sunday, PPL Park

Semifinal winners, 4:30 (NCAA.com)