Jeff Jacobs: Lacrosse at UConn makes sense, but don’t hold your breath | The Boneyard

Jeff Jacobs: Lacrosse at UConn makes sense, but don’t hold your breath

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Jeff Jacobs: Lacrosse at UConn makes sense, but don’t hold your breath

>>“It’s not a priority at this time from the standpoint that we’ve got a lot other things we’re dealing with,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said. “Obviously, whether it’s sports sponsorship or budget, we’ve got to get our situation in order before we start thinking about adding sports.

“I do think if you were ever going to consider adding a sport at UConn, that one is at the top of the list.”<<

>>“Listen, we can’t go back and play revisionist history here,” said Benedict, hired in 2016. “But why that sport wasn’t on the list and isn’t already sponsored at our place, I can’t tell you. This isn’t just something that’s becoming relevant right now. This is a sport we could have been dominating the last decade.”<<

>>“If someone came forward who wanted to support lacrosse financially, it certainly would increase the likelihood of it happening,” Benedict said. “That hasn’t happened. We really haven’t gone out and solicited people for it. It is something we’ll have on the list, but there are more pressing things we’ve got to address first.”>>

>>“It comes down to this,” Brameier said, “money and managing Title IX numbers.”

Truth. That’s why lacrosse is a club sport for men at UConn and the women are Division I.

“If you add a men’s sport, you have to have something to offset that,” Benedict said. “A lot of these men’s lacrosse teams have 40 athletes (average D-I roster: 44). That’s a big number. What would be the complementary sport to add for women? Or do you reduce a men’s sport? You’re not canceling soccer or baseball at our place.”<<

>>Few things would win over Fairfield County better than adding lacrosse. Evidently it will take some gold from the Gold Cost to make it happen. “Anybody interested,” Benedict said, “should look me up.”<<

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Cut Football. Add Lacrosse. (Pot Stirring Emoji)

0FB0EE8B-08F5-4869-A160-D4D11D25AA60.jpeg
 
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Men's lacrosse would be a great sport to add, if UConn ever had the money available. As has been mentioned, this area is ground zero when it comes to fertile lacrosse recruiting grounds. It would be the first thing to look at if UConn were ever invited to join the the Big 10 or the ACC.
 
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We should add it. It will keep players’ parents and girlfriends off the streets.
 

cohenzone

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It’s Jacobs opening his mouth about a sport that few UConn fans are clamoring for and even fewer understand. Syracuse doesn’t have either a hockey or baseball program which are, to me, much more of a notable absence than our not having varsity lacrosse. They have softball and men’s lacrosse. They don’t have swimming . This is not to put down lacrosse. And obviously fan interest isn’t the determining factor or else so either lightly attended sports can be questioned. Why UConn doesn’t have a bowling team is beyond me.
 
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It’s Jacobs opening his mouth about a sport that few UConn fans are clamoring for and even fewer understand. Syracuse doesn’t have either a hockey or baseball program which are, to me, much more of a notable absence than our not having varsity lacrosse. They have softball and men’s lacrosse. They don’t have swimming . This is not to put down lacrosse. And obviously fan interest isn’t the determining factor or else so either lightly attended sports can be questioned. Why UConn doesn’t have a bowling team is beyond me.
I actually agree with you that can interest shouldn’t really matter. It is just that when this topic comes up there are usually a bunch of posts on how many fans it will draw and how Fairfield county folks will be swarming to Storrs for a Tuesday night battle with Bentley or someone. Yet the fact is that Fairfield Cty fans don’t even swarm to Fairfield to see college lacrosse. Fairfield averages like 350 Yale under 1000, UMass around under 1000. Yet UConn should play at the Rent to handle the crowds.
 
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anybody attending the D1 lax quarterfinals at the Rent on Sunday?
Noon - #1 Penn State v. #8 Loyola
2:30pm - #5 Yale v. #4 Penn
 
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Connecticut lacrosse in the national spotlight once again

>>A year ago the national-championship runs by the Yale and Wesleyan men’s lacrosse programs raised the visibility of the sport in Connecticut. Lacrosse will be front and center once again on the national stage with Yale one of the four teams playing NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse quarterfinal games at Rentschler Field on Sunday. That is merely the tip of the lacrosse iceberg as the Division I men’s national championship team in 2021 and 2022 will be crowned at the site of the UConn football program.

The popularity of lacrosse in Connecticut seems to grow with each passing year. For those who need any proof, consider that Loyola (MD) and Penn will be playing in East Hartford on Sunday and the only Division I men’s program with more Connecticut natives on the roster than Loyola’s 10 and Penn’s eight is Vermont. Six of the eight NCAA Division I quarterfinalists have at least one Connecticut player.<<

Here’s a look at the Connecticut high school programs with the most current Division I men’s lacrosse players

Brunswick​
17​
Darien​
17​
New Canaan​
15​
Staples​
10​
Ridgefield​
9​
Greenwich​
8​
Fairfield Prep​
7​
Cheshire​
5​
Glastonbury​
5​
Xavier​
5​


Division I men’s programs with the most Connecticut products (teams in bold are in the quarterfinals)

Vermont11
Loyola (MD)10
Penn8
Brown7
Quinnipiac7
Colgate6
Bucknell5
Holy Cross5
UMass5
Virginia5
— Jim Fuller
 
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Way to go ESPN...

Stadium half an hour away and have put on numerous amounts of games @ Rentschler Field and you have “technical difficulties” for over 30 minutes?

No weather, not a full house...
I know they probably scheduled the B or C team to work it, but come on....
 
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great crowd yesterday. almost all lower sideline seats full. superb lacrosse. stellar OT win by Yale in the 2nd game. only surprise was the the $20 Laz parking fee.
 
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Yale just tied an NCAA record 10 goals in the first quarter. But possible Penn State can come back. Potent offenses from both teams. 12-9, Yale leading late in the second. 10-2 Yale, after the first. PSU momentum is not good for Yale.
 
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Yale just tied an NCAA record 10 goals in the first quarter. But possible Penn State can come back. Potent offenses from both teams. 12-9, Yale leading late in the second. 10-2 Yale, after the first. PSU momentum is not good for Yale.

Yale takes on Virginia on Monday for the championship.
 
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will there be 32,000 in 2021 at the Rent??
Possible. We'll see what kind or crowd shows up tomorrow.

If anyone wants to carpool for a trip there, PM me.
 
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18,702 showes up for the D3 title game. Cabrini defeated Amherst for probably their first title. Tied at the half, but Cabrini took the second half to create distance.
 
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Connecticut lacrosse in the national spotlight once again

>>A year ago the national-championship runs by the Yale and Wesleyan men’s lacrosse programs raised the visibility of the sport in Connecticut. Lacrosse will be front and center once again on the national stage with Yale one of the four teams playing NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse quarterfinal games at Rentschler Field on Sunday. That is merely the tip of the lacrosse iceberg as the Division I men’s national championship team in 2021 and 2022 will be crowned at the site of the UConn football program.

The popularity of lacrosse in Connecticut seems to grow with each passing year. For those who need any proof, consider that Loyola (MD) and Penn will be playing in East Hartford on Sunday and the only Division I men’s program with more Connecticut natives on the roster than Loyola’s 10 and Penn’s eight is Vermont. Six of the eight NCAA Division I quarterfinalists have at least one Connecticut player.<<

Here’s a look at the Connecticut high school programs with the most current Division I men’s lacrosse players

Brunswick​
17​
Darien​
17​
New Canaan​
15​
Staples​
10​
Ridgefield​
9​
Greenwich​
8​
Fairfield Prep​
7​
Cheshire​
5​
Glastonbury​
5​
Xavier​
5​


Division I men’s programs with the most Connecticut products (teams in bold are in the quarterfinals)

Vermont11
Loyola (MD)10
Penn8
Brown7
Quinnipiac7
Colgate6
Bucknell5
Holy Cross5
UMass5
Virginia5
— Jim Fuller

 
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Virginia goalie might be the difference in the title game.
 
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UVA is already claiming the title on Wikipedia. UVA's goalie was Yale's kryptonite.
 

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