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California, Here We Come

West Coast lax commanding attention, respect from established Eastern foes

By Jeff Capellini
LaxPower.com Correspondent

April 12 — There has been this theory going around for some time now, one that says if you play high school lacrosse on the West Coast, you don’t really play lacrosse.

Oh, you may have sticks, goals, fancy uniforms, and painted white lines on a field. Heck, someone probably even keeps score. But that doesn’t mean you play the game.

Well, certainly not as well as they do on the East Coast. Right?

Guess again.

In case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the chatter on certain lacrosse web sites you haven’t, they play the game quite well out West. So well, in fact, that teams from as far away as California have managed to grab the attention of some of the better programs in, among other places, New York.

“In all of our travels, we see good athletes,” says Wantagh, NY coach John Cuiffo, “but I told my kids we’d see great athletes our there ... and we did.”

Wantagh made the trip to San Diego back at the end of March, not because that wonderful area is perpetually sunny and 80 degrees every single day, but because Cuiffo knew the experience was too good to pass up.

“The way they treated us was first class,” he said. “It’s what the game should be. It’s that camaraderie on the field that carries over to off the field that makes this game so special.”

Wantagh beat Poway, Calif., 8-4, and the Air Academy of Colorado, 14-7, but lost to Coronado, Calif., 6-5. Though that defeat probably raised more than a few eyebrows on Long Island, it had precedent. Last year, New York power Garden City went out to the San Diego area and lost to Torrey Pines.

Translation? It may be time to start taking some of these West Coast teams a little more seriously.