Cal Poly vs Chico State Rivalry

[CPLaxGM]

I suppose I have been involved with lacrosse in the WCLL for far too long now, but as I was thinking about our playoff game coming up this weekend against Chico I got a little nostalgic. So forgive me if this seems overly narcissistic, but I thought people might find this interesting.

The playoff game between Cal Poly and Chico State this Saturday in San Luis Obispo will mark the 16th meeting between the two teams in the past ten years. Admittedly, I am rather biased, but I think the rivalry that has developed between our two squads is one of the best in the WCLL and maybe the USLIA. It may not be at the level of BYU vs CSU, but it has a lot of unique qualities that make it interesting. First, the two schools have essentially no history of competition. About the only thing that Cal Poly and Chico compete for is the title of most epic parties cancelled due to rioting; so far that's two apiece (Pioneer Days and Halloween for Chico, Poly Royal and Mardi Gras for SLO town). Unlike natural rivalries like Cal vs Stanford and UCLA vs USC, which are rivalries simply because everything the two schools do are competetive, this is a lacrosse only rivalry that developed in the early 90's.

Second, the rivalry developed when the two teams were hard-nosed but fairly inexperienced Division B teams, and has grown into a matchup against two teams routinely ranked in the USLIA Top 25. In the old days, both teams were in the WCLL Division B North and we often faced each other twice per year, once during the regular season and then again in the playoffs. When this rivalry developed, the WCLL landscape was a vastly different place. The high school lacrosse scene in California was just about to begin its tremendous growth spurt, and there were only a handful of HS teams in the Bay Area, the private school Condor League, and another handful of teams in SD. Cal and Santa Clara were the dominant teams in the north (as well as Sonoma), and teams like Cal Poly and Chico played with a majority of guys who had never picked up a stick before arriving at college.

The annual grudge match rose to a new level when the teams began playing for "the boot" in the mid-1990s, which is our own special trophy along the lines of "the axe" that Cal and Stanford fight over each year.

Here's the results since 1995
Regular Season: 7-4 CP
Playoffs: 3-1 CP
Overall: 10-5 CP
Games Played in Chico: 4-3 Chico (4-2 Chico reg season)
Games Played in SLO: 7-1 CP (5-0 CP reg season)

In the last three playoff matchups between the two squads (1997, 1998, and 2003), the game was decided by one goal including two overtime contests. I am guessing that this Saturday's game will be just as tight, and we are looking forward to hosting our long-time rivals here in SLO Town.

[SLDINI]

Marc,

Great post! As you know I am a big fan of the "BOOT" rivalry.

But why stop at '95

We beat you guys in Chico in '93, '94 & '95. You should know this we played against each other. Here are the years and the scores as I have them. Please feel free to fill in the blanks. Also what year did the "BOOT" start I remeber the boot in '93 but we did not play for it.

2005 ?
2005 9-6 Chico (Boot Win)
2004 8-7 Poly (Boot Win)
2003 9-8 Poly OT win *** (Playoff Win) Famous Clock Game
2003 10-8 Chico (Boot Win)
2002 10- 6 Poly (Boot Win)
2001 17-1 Poly (Boot Win)
2000 ??? Poly (Boot Win)
1999 ?
1998 ?
1997 ?
1996 ?
1995 8-6 Chico
1994 12-4 Chico
1993 9-8 Chico
1992 Did not Play this year ??
1991 ?
1990 ?
1989 ?
1988 7-4 Poly (First Game Poly vs Chico)

[CPLaxGM]

Steve,

Basically, I stopped at 1995 because that is as far back as my records go. I have the actual scoresheets for most of those games, so I figured they had to be pretty accurate. I wasn't around in 1994, playing or coaching, so I couldn't remember that year. And everything's rather hazy from as far back as my playing days. Although I definitely remember losing to you 9-8 in OT but I couldn't remember if that was 92 or 93.

Here's the scores that I have records of (with game location if known):

2005: 9-6 Chico (in Chico); playoffs pending
2004: 8-7 (OT) CP (in SLO)
2003: 10-8 Chico (in Chico); WCLL DivA Quarterfinals 9-8 (OT) CP (in Chico)
2002: 10-6 CP (in SLO)
2001: 18-6 CP (in Chico)
2000: 14-10 CP (in SLO)
1999: 9-5 Chico (in Chico)
1998: 10-8 CP (in SLO); WCLL DivB Quarterfinals 6-5 Chico (in SLO)
1997: 11-5 CP (in Chico); WCLL DivB Quarterfinals 10-9 (OT) CP (in SLO)
1996: 9-7 CP; WCLL DivB Quarterfinals 11-8 CP
1995: 8-6 Chico

[CPLaxGM]

As for when the boot tradition started, it was between the 1994 and 1996 seasons. I stopped playing in 1993 and started coaching in 1997. I don't recall anything about the boot from my playing days (although I remember a number of other interesting traditions), but by the time I started coaching "the boot" was already firmly entrenched in Mustang/Wildcat lore.

[OldPoly75]

To fill in the history the boot was "liberated" from Chico during a house party following the old Chico Tourney in 1996. The liberators will remain nameless

[Digginlax]

Anybody have the final count of penalties and minutes assessed to both squads in this game? I'm extremely curious.

[sdsuspect4L]

Chico was man up 6 times and man down 5. Not sure on the minutes