Rocking the Cradle

The Syracuse men’s lacrosse team has won nine NCAA championships but has never played a game west of Denver.

That streak is scheduled to end Saturday when the Orange plays in the four-team First 4 showcase at the Home Depot Center in Carson. The event also will represent another milestone for the sport, which is finding a foothold in Southern California.

The showcase is being organized by Pantheon International, which also produces the John Wooden Classic at the Arrowhead Pond.

Pantheon joins a growing list of promoters, venue operators and enthusiasts who are taking advantage of the sport’s growth in the region.

The Southern California Girls Lacrosse Assn. increased from five teams in 2003 to 29 this year. And the Pacific Coast Lacrosse Assn., which began with six middle school teams in 1999, added 13 high school and middle school teams this year, bringing its membership to approximately 50.

The growth has led the Southern Section, the governing body for athletics at most high schools in the Southland, to sanction the sport beginning next spring.

“It’s going through another growth spurt right now,” said Gary Greenbaum, president and co-founder of the PCLA.

Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns and operates Staples Center and the Home Depot Center, formed a partnership last week with Major League Lacrosse, which will bring an expansion team to the Home Depot Center in May 2006.

The yet-to-be-named professional team will be the second to make its debut in Southern California since last year.

It wasn’t a hard sell for Scott Blackmun, chief operating officer for AEG, which will handle the team’s day-to-day operations.

Blackmun spent three years working for the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado, where lacrosse has flourished. He believes the sport’s popularity in Southern California is headed in the same direction.

“If you look at the way it’s spreading from east to west, we’re in the middle of some explosive growth,” he said.

After this weekend, there could be a new batch of Southland lacrosse fans.

Syracuse, ranked No. 5 in the nation, will play No. 11 Georgetown in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday.

Tenth-ranked North Carolina and No. 14 Notre Dame will play in the first game, scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

After Saturday’s event, fans can show their ticket stubs and receive a two-for-one deal on selected tickets when the Anaheim Storm plays host to the Toronto Rock in a National Lacrosse League game at the Arrowhead Pond.

Ted and Tiffany Cronin of Anaheim Hills, season-ticket holders for the Mighty Ducks, became hooked on lacrosse last year after watching an exhibition.

“It’s exactly like hockey except they’re not wearing skates,” Ted Cronin said.

Speed, athleticism and high-scoring games aren’t the only ingredients that draw interest. Phil and Cathie Herberts of Lake Forest appreciate that many of the coaches and players have regular jobs, which require them to fly in for home games.

“This is a good sport to go watch, because they’re doing it for the love of the game,” said Phil Herberts, a 10-year season-ticket holder for the Mighty Ducks.

“When the Angels went on strike, we left them. Now that hockey is on strike, we will not go back.”

Lacrosse and hockey could be considered relatives. Both have roots in Canada, although lacrosse got a head start when it was invented by Native Americans. Each requires agile footwork and dynamic stick work with a blend of toughness.

Where the sports differ is their playing surfaces and functions of the stick. Major League Lacrosse plays on soccer-sized grass fields resembling traditional field lacrosse. The Storm plays on indoor hockey-sized ovals with synthetic turf, similar to box lacrosse.

A lacrosse stick measures anywhere from 30 to 60 inches in length, depending on the position. A pocket is on the end of the stick, similar to a butterfly net, allowing players to catch, pass and shoot, primarily through the air and often with much trickery.

It can also be used to dislodge the ball from an opponent’s stick, whether by poking, prodding or swinging.

Goalkeepers defend at each end with larger-pocketed sticks. Goals are worth one point, unless it’s an MLL game, where a two-point scoring line has been added. Like hockey or soccer, man-advantage situations can play an integral part of the game.

The NLL has added wrinkles as well. Probably most noticeable are a shot clock and the rock-concert atmosphere, differentiating the sport from traditional field lacrosse.

Gary Gait, the NLL’s all-time leading scorer, plays for the Colorado Mammoth. In the last three years, he’s credited with turning lacrosse into the sport of choice for many in the Denver area. While the Storm averaged a league-low 4,750 last season, the Mammoth averaged a league-high 17,618.

Gait, who scored the tying goal with 2 minutes 19 seconds remaining last week against the Storm, then set up the winning goal with 48 seconds left, said luring lacrosse fans isn’t difficult. It’s reaching out to the general sports fan, and Gait said the best method is word of mouth.

“People look at lacrosse in the paper and they still don’t know what it is,” said Gait, 37. “But if someone says, ‘Hey, my buddy went to the game and never saw lacrosse before and thought it was great. You should come out next time,’ then it will draw other people in.”

The sport was broadcast on network TV for the first time last month, when NBC televised the NLL All-Star game on a month’s notice. NBC also is scheduled to televise the league’s Champions Cup Final on May 14.

The NLL All-Star game drew a respectable 0.8 share, which equates to about 800,000 homes. By comparison, Arena Football League games on NBC average a 1.0 share and last season’s NHL game of the week on ABC averaged a 1.1.

MLL recently signed a deal for a game of the week to be broadcast on ESPN2.

Greenbaum, who also coaches lacrosse at Beverly Hills High, said now that the Southern Section is set to begin sanctioning the sport, it should provide a boost because high school students will be able to earn class credit for participation.

About the only shortage right now is field space, especially in the city of Los Angeles, and quality referees.

“We’ve been trying to convert football referees and it’s not easy,” Greenbaum said. “A lot of players graduate from college and come out here and are filling a lot of the coaching positions, but we need referees, badly.”

Professional lacrosse also faces challenges in the crowded Southern California sports market.

The Pond is filled only to about 25% capacity for most Storm games, and operators must market and pay for the team on a thin budget.

“We are at the beginning of something that’s going to a take a few years to get going,” said Mike O’Donnell, chief operating officer of Anaheim Arena Management and co-governor of the Storm.

“We’ve got to educate the public, and we’ve got to get the community entrenched in what we’re doing. There’s a lot of work to do with this.”

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First 4

* What: The First 4 is an elite NCAA lacrosse invitational created to showcase the top Division I men’s college lacrosse programs in the country.

* When: The inaugural event will be held at the Home Depot Center in Carson beginning Saturday.

* Main event schedule: 5 p.m., North Carolina vs. Notre Dame; 7:30 p.m., Syracuse vs. Georgetown.