Santa Barbara Shootout Stacks WDIA Field
by David Ely | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
The 2010 US Lacrosse WDIA season might just be a little over a
week old, but most of the nation’s top lacrosse squads are
about to face some of their toughest competition of the season.
The 22nd-annual Santa Barbara Shootout kicks off Friday, and it
promises to be one of the most talent-rich weekends the WDIA offers
this year. More than half of Lacrosse Magazine’s
preseason top 20-ranked teams will play in multiple games during
the Shootout, and plenty of other schools will get a chance to see
where their squads stand.
We recently caught up with UC Santa Barbara head coach (and the
event’s planner) Paul Ramsey, and here’s a list of some
of the top storylines that will headline the Santa Barbara
Shootout.
1. Talent, talent, talent.
Nine of Lacrosse Magazine’s top 10 preseason-ranked
WDIA teams will take the field this weekend, with No. 1 Virginia
Tech Club as the lone exception. In all, 14 of the top 20 will be
in attendance. Other than Nationals, this will be the only time
during the season that so many of the nation’s elite teams
will play in the same event.
2. Scintillating matchups.
With so many good teams in the Shootout, there’s no shortage
of high-profile contests. The best matchup of the weekend figures
to be No. 2 UCSB vs. No. 3 Colorado on Sunday. But if that’s
not enough, the Buffaloes square off against No. 5 Michigan on
Saturday in another top-5 game. There are 10 games pitting two
top-10 squads against each other in the Shootout.
3. Postseason impact.
A couple of wins against top-notch foes will look nice on a resume
for Nationals. “Going to tournaments like the Shootout helps
teams put themselves in position for the at-large bids to
Nationals,” Ramsey said in an e-mail. “It can also help
with getting a better seed if you get the automatic bid from a
weaker conference.” For a number of teams, this Shootout
offers their toughest competition of the entire season. So
it’s the perfect opportunity for playoff posturing.
4. History will be made.
The Shootout isn’t all about the WDIA. On Friday at 6:30
p.m., Santa Barbara City College and Marymount College of Palos
Verdes will play in the first game between community colleges west
of the Mississippi. This game could be the first of plenty more to
come as Ramsey believes that “it’s only a matter of
time that we get more community colleges” in California
because of the growth of high school lacrosse in the area.
5. Krista Shaw.
Santa Clara’s Shaw is the LM's preseason WDIA Player of the
Year. Shaw posted 65 goals to go along with 11 assists in 2009, and
she leads a Broncos team that returns 10 of 12 starters from last
year’s team. This Shootout is the perfect opportunity for
Shaw to prove that she’s worthy of her preseason
accolade.
6. The size of the field.
The Shootout features 48 teams, including 30 from the WDIA. The
size of the field, coupled with the fact that teams will travel
from all across the country, means that schools will get to play
against schools they normally wouldn’t see under normal
circumstances. For example, Georgia plays Cal Poly SLO, and
Michigan plays UCLA.
News & Notes
The West Coast and Southeast regions began play last weekend, as
teams saw action for the first time in 2010. The SWLL, the TWLL,
the WCLL’s Divisions I and II, the WWLL’s North I and
II and the WWLL's South I and II were the only conferences that had
teams in play.... The weekend featured no upsets. Nearly all of the
top teams in action went the week without being truly challenged.
Lindenwood smoked Tennessee Wesleyan, 17-3. Santa Clara won its two
games by a combined count of 34-10. UC Santa Barbara blanked UC San
Diego 18-0.... Perhaps one of the most impressive performances of
the week came from the Florida Club team. The Gators won three SWLL
games (defeats of Auburn, Miami and Florida State), and they scored
more than 17 goals in each contest.
