SANDY — The Brigham Young University lacrosse team took another step in legitimizing its program Saturday night as it played host to the 2008 Intermountain Lacrosse Showcase at Alta High.
The night marked the first time any NCAA Division I lacrosse teams have played in Utah, and for BYU the event has essentially been five years in the making.
BYU has quietly been making a name for itself on the club level in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association, winning the 2007 MCLA national championship along with traveling east four of the past five years to compete in tournaments against NCAA-caliber teams.
"For many years we have worked up the ladder so we could afford to travel and so we could rise up in competition and play the better teams," BYU coach Jason Lamb said. "A lot of what made this weekend possible is the fact that we have played well. We have shown that a club lacrosse team from Utah is good enough that it is worth taking the time to play us."
The other two teams who accepted invitations to play in the showcase as a highlight to end their fall camps were the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and the University of Denver. Both teams advanced to the 2008 NCAA tournament and were ranked in the top 25.
Coach Lamb says that while his team is only competing at the club level, it has a competitive squad with several players who could be playing on Division I programs but have chosen to play at BYU. Lamb hopes that eventually the program will be at the level where the University could get behind it at the NCAA level.
"I have taken the philosophy of 'If you build it, they will come,'" he said. "If we can build and get more sponsors and get more of the student body following it, then I think the university may consider it important. But that is not the purpose of this event from my point of view."
Coaches of the three schools held coaches and skills camps for the community on Friday and Saturday as they hope to aid in the already growing popularity of the sport across the Wasatch Front.
Lamb, who is from New York, says there is still a lot of room for improvement at the high school level in Utah, but he has seen a lot of progress in the past few years. Last year, there were 1,976 high school athletes who competed in organized lacrosse throughout the state.
The showcase was capped off by three scrimmages between the teams. UMBC beat Denver 12-9 in the opening scrimmage of the night.
The Cougars scored first in their match-up against UMBC and extended their lead to 2-1 just before the end of the first quarter. But the Retrievers fought back as BYU managed only one goal in the second quarter and UMBC went ahead 5-3 by halftime. UMBC rattled off three goals to extend their lead even further in the third quarter. BYU added two more goals to close the gap but it was too little too late and UMBC won 8-5.
Playing their second game in a row the Cougars fell to Denver by a score of 14-6.
"This weekend is not about winning or losing," Lamb said. "It's all about competing."
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