High school lacrosse to become IHSA sport in 2018

Starting in 2018, boys and girls lacrosse will be upgraded from an IHSA "emerging sport" to a full IHSA sport.

The move is a major step toward legitimizing high school lacrosse in Illinois and should help eliminate the stigma of a "club" sport. The decision could reshape the way athletic departments fund teams, increase lacrosse teams' access to school facilities and promote more growth within what is already America's fastest-growing game.

However, what appears on its face like a clear win for lacrosse teams is a bit more complex. For some, it will help them get to the next level. For others, it could mean the end of high school lacrosse. When schools are asked to dedicate more resources to lacrosse, some may instead choose to cut programs.

"I’m excited because it’s the next step for lacrosse," Huntley coach Dominic Saccomanno said. "But, to be 100 percent honest, I don’t know what it means for the sport. It’s kind of mixed feelings. Some people (at other schools) are sitting here saying, 'Does that mean our team is done? Is our school going to take it on?'"

Currently, there is a great disparity in the amount of support the club teams receive from their schools. Huntley arguably provides the most resources of any program in the area. The Red Raiders practice and play on the school’s new artificial turf field, announcers broadcast the games and the team shares a locker room with the baseball team.

Other programs have been fighting, without much luck, for similar access to resources. Most practice off campus and travel to games in cars instead of on team buses.

Crystal Lake Central, for example, has to sometimes borrow helmets from Play it Again Sports to outfit players. They hold practices at Lippold Park, which players said makes it challenging for younger players who do not have their driver's licenses.

“The fact that we have to come out to Lippold because we’re not a sanctioned sport and the school doesn’t want us practicing on their property, it’s just another barrier," Crystal Lake Central senior goalie John Stroud said.

In addition to changing the way resources are allocated, the move to a state series could shift the competitive balance in lacrosse. Under the current playoff system run by the Illinois High School Lacrosse Association, either Loyola or New Trier has won the championship each of the past 14 seasons. Eight of those seasons, the two teams met in the championship game.

However, should the IHSA lump teams into geographically defined sectionals in a similar way that they do with boys basketball, those two powerhouses would be paired in the same sectional.

"You’re going to start seeing one-goal and two-goal championship games going by the wayside if Loyola and New Trier have to duke it out earlier in the playoffs," Saccomanno said."

Steps to start a state series for lacrosse began in 2009, when the IHSA recognized it as an emerging sport. At that time, the IHSA said once the sport grew to a certain threshold (65 boys teams and 40 girls teams) a postseason tournament would be run under the IHSA.

The IHSA reports the numbers were not met when the issue was last visited in January, but it has since grown to 83 boys teams and 59 girls teams. This season, McHenry, Hampshire (co-op), Dundee-Crown and Marian Central are competing at the boys varsity level for the first time, and Huntley added a varsity girls program.

“The addition of lacrosse builds on the IHSA mission of offering a wide range of participation opportunities for high school students in Illinois,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in a statement. “The IHSA Board has been extremely diligent in evaluating lacrosse’s status as an IHSA sport over the past seven years, and based on the continued growth, felt the time was right to begin in the spring of 2018.”