May 16, 2008

by Bryan Nichols, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

It's far from their first meeting. In fact, their latest meeting was less than a month ago and the beating laid on that Annapolis field was something that couldn't be forgotten quickly enough. Yet, here we are for round two as the Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays again flock to the bluffs along the Severn River on Saturdayto battle the U.S. Naval Academy in the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

This game, however, holds much greater meaning than any previous encounter and serves as a milestone to this illustrious rivalry that collectively encompasses over 60 NCAA tournament appearances, 100 years and even more All-Americans. For the first time, Hopkins and Navy will meet in the playoffs. Though Hopkins currently owns a 33-game win streak over their rivals, they are not resting on history to play this game for them. They know it's win or go home.

"We're only looking for a one-game win streak, win each week," says Hopkins Head Coach Dave Pietramala. "We have a tremendous amount of respect for the players, the coaching staff and what the institution represents."

The final whistle will prove to be as harsh as it is decisive, ending one team's season in Maryland's capital, and announcing the other team's journey to a state capital far north, where this year's final four teams will reside for the championship weekend.

The trip to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., (about 30 miles outside of Boston) may be a lengthy haul for whichever Maryland team advances on Saturday, but those miles traveled pale in comparison to what the sport has endured. It was only five years ago that lacrosse's Memorial Day championships began to fill the NFL theaters in Baltimore and Philadelphia; now, the sport has taken on arguably its biggest undertaking. Though traditionally considered a northeast-niche, lacrosse mainly dwelled in its hotbeds of Baltimore, Long Island and Upstate New York, with New England playing second-cousin. Putting the sport's paramount attraction in Boston is simply a gamble. But what is life without gambles?

Take for example the gamble Houston businessman Ralph O'Connor took in 1971 - the first year of the NCAA Lacrosse Championship Tournament - when he contacted two preeminent college programs about playing their annual game in the stadium-of-tomorrow, the Astrodome. The game was to benefit the Texas Heart Institute and the goal was to put on a spectacle that outshined the lure of the state-of-the-art arena. So the Johns Hopkins-alumnus-turned-Texan sought out his much heralded lacrosse program, who had won 29 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) championships by 1970, to fly to Houston.

Once they were on board, the opponent was a forgone conclusion: Navy. Hopkins' Homewood Field and Navy's stadium had rocked in the previous years when these teams met, even setting the lacrosse attendance record (14,000) in 1962 at the Academy. The Midshipmen were a certifiable wrecking crew at this time, winning nine USILA crowns from 1960-70, and their battles with the Blue Jays were something of Greek lore as the Baltimore players gracefully pirouetted through the air, teasing the physical Ogres dressed in navy blue and gold. The dogged Annapolis warriors had their revenge, though.

Under the domed-roof, on top of the neon-green Astroturf, Navy beat Hopkins 9-6 in front of a new attendance record of 18,489. It was the first lacrosse game ever played in Texas and serves as the first blast to the perceived Appalachian-barrier that afflicted the sport.

Today, that wall has been smoothly rounded over. In fact, when Hopkins and Navy last met on April 19, over 29,000 people filled the Horseshoe Stadium at Ohio State University to watch their lacrosse program compete against the University of Denver (both teams subsequently made the 2008 NCAA tournament and OSU vies for a trip to the final four by playing top-seeded Duke this Sunday). That crowd set the latest attendance record for a lacrosse game, while the second largest lacrosse crowd in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium gathered to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Midshipmen's first game, also against Hopkins.

In what seems to be an assertion that is dripping with prophecy, The Baltimore Sun prefaced the inaugural game between Hopkins and Navy on April 4, 1908, by labeling it a game of "great interest." If only the writers knew then that the simple act of two Hopkins players traveling to the Naval Academy to teach the admirals lacrosse would have born America's fastest growing sport 100 years later, I am certain they would have devoted more than just three paragraphs to the story.

In any case, when the final four teams arrive in Boston to play in front of 60,000 fans at the end of the month, only one of the two forefathers will be represented, but all will have these Chesapeake Titans to thank.