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How come some of the northern midwest, some east coast, and north east start so late with games??
  • Just wondering why, game are being played out west and no where else.
  • Just wondering why, game are being played out west and no where else.


    www.weather.com
  • so your both telling me it's because of weather? Makes no sense. If so why did a western washington go to Canada to play a game?? and your telling me weather? Honestly I think its dumb, because if a team can practice and scrimmage outside why not start now playing games. teams should start around the same time. East travels west and west travels east, for cold or hot games. lacrosse is played in all types of weather. weather.com
  • Reply to @LIlaxer2012: It also sounds like you are not open to other people's opinions. So what is your thought?
  • Nobody is interested in traveling several hours in bad weather to play a game when its 20 degrees outside.
  • so you all are telling me it's 50+ degrees in Boise, Utah and Nebraska?? Playing in bad weather is part of the sport. Yes Lighting is understandable, but cold or hot games should played.
  • Reply to @LIlaxer2012: I don't know about you guys down on the island, but this year we're getting lucky. Last year we had to practice 1 night a week in the out dated gym split in half with the girls step/drill dancing team, because there was snow on the ground regularly. Even in this weather, we have broken about 7 sticks just this week. And the teams in New Hampshire, and Maine? There's a good reason that the teams outside of the warm states play their games later in the season.

    Not to mention that generally, you need some kind of training camp to get your team back into the swing of things and southern schools often go back to campus sooner than northern schools. Generally our first week of classes is the last week of January, generously putting teams camps in the beginning of feb, at which point many SELC teams have already been back to school for 2 weeks and started having games.
    William Wezenter II
    Assistant Men's Lacrosse Coach
    Southern Connecticut State University

    All opinions are my own unless otherwise stated.
  • Reply to @SoCoLax2: Briarcliffe College didnt have training camp problems, they went back to school the 2nd week of January.
  • Reply to @LIlaxer2012: And their first game is Sat. March 10th.
    William Wezenter II
    Assistant Men's Lacrosse Coach
    Southern Connecticut State University

    All opinions are my own unless otherwise stated.
  • I will you teams in Michigan would rather wait until the snow is gone (at least most of it) to play their games. Playing later also eliminates waiting multiple weeks with no games before the MCLA tournament too.
  • Why are all the early season college baseball games in Arizona, Texas and Florida?
  • Makes no sense. If so why did a western washington go to Canada to play a game?? and your telling me weather?



    You do know that the Vancouver area is a much different climate than the rest of Canada, right? It's a big country, eh.
    Will Patton
    LAS Forums Moderator
  • Lacrosse is played in all weather, teams should just suck it up and play. Last time i remembered they do sell cold weather sporting clothing. And you should have back up sticks at least 3. Boston College went to down to South Carolina and expected to be a warm hot day, but no they got a cold, windy game. The adapted and won the game. Teams can play in any weather, no excuses. Lacrosse is a man's sport.
  • Reply to @LIlaxer2012: Cool story bro
  • The majority of Northwest colleges (and even high schools) now play on FieldTurf or other all-weather surfaces. This allows our games to generally be played regardless of weather conditions. This issue is not simply one of "sucking it up" and playing in cold and snow. Many schools in other northern regions still practice and play on GRASS, and their schools often cancel practice and games if they fear that conditions will cause too much damage to the natural surface. There is nothing worse than scheduling games at venues and having these cancelled, especially when non-refundable airfare tickets are involved.

    Surprisingly, this has historically been a much bigger issue in "sunny" Northern California than up here in the rainy NW. Their predominantly natural-surface fields flood, and often there are no accpetable all-weather turf field alternatives. It's also tough to practice or play when your fields are buried under feet of snow (as happens many years in the Northeast), and can be downright dangerous for participants and spectators if it is 30 degrees below zero (as happens many years in the Upper Midwest in February).
  • "Lacrosse is played in all weather, teams should just suck it up and play. Last time i remembered they do sell cold weather sporting clothing. And you should have back up sticks at least 3. Boston College went to down to South Carolina and expected to be a warm hot day, but no they got a cold, windy game. The adapted and won the game. Teams can play in any weather, no excuses. Lacrosse is a man's sport."

    @LIlaxer2012 - First of all, Vancouver Canada is not like all of Canada so that argument is out the window. Second, most of those teams in the North (I am speaking more for Minnesota and North Dakota) play in cold weather for most of the year.... so they do suck it up. Third, you obviously don't live in any of these areas because if you did, you wouldn't be talking like you are. Are you kidding me... you are gonna compare the cold in SC to the cold in MN or Michigan. And really, the main reason they hold off on early games is that it still snows hard in northern areas like MN and MI until March....Sometimes until April in MN. This causes a lot of travel uncertainties which can cost a lot of money and creates a lot of danger (four girls just died last night during a snow storm in MN). They do however have the ability to play inside games, but inside stadiums are not all over the place here (MN) and the ones that do exist are constantly booked.... so much of the early season games are played very late here (I have played a game that started a midnight myself). Yes they can travel to other cities, but that is usually done during spring break which makes it a lot easier to deal with academics. Turns out colleges don't roll out the red carpet for club athletes like they do for football and hockey players.
  • Adjust then, send the teams west or south. Its called adjustments.
  • Reply to @LIlaxer2012: I already addressed this point... man you are bullheaded. Look at my last two sentences.

    It costs a lot of money to make two long trips (and three times if you make it to nationals) and almost all other teams in Northern areas travel during spring break for OC games because west and south teams generally don't want to travel to the North for spring break.... or ever. And it's really nice when teams out west have you out one year but then renege on their promise to make it out to our area the next.
  • why does it bother you that these teams start off a bit later? I hear your arguement for why they CAN (although it is quite ignorant), but what is your logic behind your arguement that they SHOULD start earlier?
  • Reply to @goldlax: to me it will balance out the poll talks. Teams that start late it kind of hurts them. Just having teams start around the same time just makes sense. 99.9% of sports start at or around the same time why not the MCLA? It's possible. @Sharkattack some colleges do roll out the red carpet for club teams.
  • Reply to @LIlaxer2012: Your concern is poll talks? That’s really a ridiculous reason for teams to consider playing games earlier.
  • 99.9% of sports start at or around the same time why not the MCLA? It's possible.



    While this is generally true it sheds light on the one glaring advantage the MCLA has over other college sports. We dont all have as much school support, financial or otherwise, as we would like. But what we do have is the freedom to do things how we want them to be done. Teams can pay minimal dues, play the minimun number of games, not have fancy gear or apparel, or they can pay to fly all over the country and play the best teams in the best new gear. We have the ability to get out of it what we put into it. The start date is a branch of that freedom. When you really think about it when a team starts can give or take away a big strategic advantage. Forcing a team to start earlier after only a few practices because of the semester starting or field availability due to weather, takes away their ability to properly prepare for the season. If we make teams that are ready to play the first week of February wait to play you take away the edge they would gain by getting experience early on. By allowing the teams to choose their start date you let them strategically schedule. If the only negative side affect to that is a somewhat inaccurate Week 1 Poll, then so be it

    Dan Podesta
    Saint Mary's Lacrosse President- 2010-2011
    Saint Mary's Lacrosse Vice President- 2008-2010
    http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/club-sports/
  • Reply to @LIlaxer2012: More often than not if teams started early like you want, it still wouldn't balance the polls because of who teams will start their season with. Look around the league and you'll see how many DII teams will play and/or scrimmage or play DI teams or less competitive teams as a warm up. Ultimately the polls do not balance themselves out until mid-March when teams start to put together a resume of wins and losses.
    Andy Joly
    Head Coach - Missouri Baptist University
    Vice Commissioner - GRLC
  • LILaxer,

    Take a look at the NCAA. Teams start different weeks. 25% of the teams haven't played yet while others have 2-3 games under their belt. The Polls really don't matter at this point. If your Briarcliffe team handles the games they need to (Dayton, SCAD, Davenport) the poll will take care of itself. If they don't the poll will also take care of that.
  • LILaxer is just a troll - stop responding
  • LILaxer2012 is not officially associated with the Briarcliffe Bulldog team. My players are not allowed to post on forums until they graduate from the program. The only ones from Briarcliffe allowed to post are staff members. The only staff member that does post is myself. Just clarifying. I do not bash or post against any person or team (or how they run their program or schedule their games - I would hope my program would be treated the same). I do feel the need to point out that I do not agree with LILaxer's posts and he is not speaking for my team. Thank you for your time, good luck to everyone - Coach Pagano
    Coach SeanMichael Pagano
    Briarcliffe College
    Bulldogs
  • I have no ties with the Briarcliffe lacrosse team nor with the school. Just a fan of the only Long Island program in the MCLA.
  • And we do appreciate that support. Just clarifying that the views you present are solely yours and not that of the BC program! Hope you make some of our games! Our website is being redesigned and will have a brand new look. Any info you need can be found there.
    Coach SeanMichael Pagano
    Briarcliffe College
    Bulldogs
  • And we do appreciate that support. Just clarifying that the views you present are solely yours and not that of the BC program! Hope you make some of our games! Our website is being redesigned and will have a brand new look. Any info you need can be found there.



    4:42 am??????? do you sleep up there?

  • I will be at some games looking forward to the Davenport-SCAD Weekend.
  • Lol, 5:42am is exactly 18 minutes before practice starts!
    Coach SeanMichael Pagano
    Briarcliffe College
    Bulldogs
  • The cold in Minnesota is brutal up there. Can't imagine playing in that weather. as was said before most teams cant afford to travel to warm regions during the month of February, the down fall for a pay to play league. Once teams gets funded by their respective school then yes the MCLA can start and be on the same level as the NCAA when it comes to scheduling games around the same time. Fundraising will get you so far.
  • Please don't call this a pay to play league....that is not true for everyone! Granted that may be true for the majority but the biggest hurdle recruiting on Long Island is that everyone believes we are pay to play. We are fully funded by our school except for extra trips or gear which we then fundraise for. Our athletes do not pay to play on our team. We are "virtual varsity" in how our program is run.
    Coach SeanMichael Pagano
    Briarcliffe College
    Bulldogs
  • This is where recruiting and a good organizational culture comes in handy. I know some people laugh at the idea that an MCLA team actually recruits, or some think it doesn't work.... but it does and what happens is if you get your team to start bringing in players, it makes it easier to go to the Student Government and receive funding for your club. I know of several teams in the UMLL that receive a lot of student government funding because they can bring up to 15 or more people a year. That is more than any single recruiter at some colleges. A good organizational culture helps because the students will tend to treat it like their own business and work for the extras that the school wont pay for like clothing and good coaching. Basically, you get what you put into it... and that doesn't always have to be money.
  • My fault and no disrespect to the MCLA and the "the pay to play league" comment. Just to my knowledge most programs don't have what you and your program have up there on Long Island with your school having your back financially. No disrespect at all.
  • Anyone else bothered by the fact that this thread starts a question with "How come"?
  • Oh, you mistook me. No offense taken. Definitely see where your coming from just trying to point out (especially to anyone from Long Island reading this) that some teams are not pay to play. No disrespect taken at all Clublaxer......
    Coach SeanMichael Pagano
    Briarcliffe College
    Bulldogs