The following is an article published on the 7th page of the March 15th, 2007 issue of the Spartan Daily, written by Daily staff writers Kimberly Lien and Yael Reed Wachspress, with photograph from "The Book of Rules: a visual guide to every commonly played sport and game". A correction was published on the 4th page of the March 20th, 2007 issue of the Spartan Daily.

[Photo Caption] The crosse (stick) -- There are different lengths and head sizes but lengths range between 40-72 inches. Only four crosses are allowed at
[Photo Caption] The uniform -- all players must wear protective gear and a helmet with a facemask and chinstrap.
[Photo Caption] The teams -- 10 players to a team, including a goalkeeper, three defenders, three midfielders and three attackers.

The San Jose State University lacrosse club team will be playing rival Dominican University this Saturday in its third year as a club — and in its f rst year as a NCAA Division B "team."

"All of the teams in California, Arizona, Nevada," said SJSU coach Derek de Lemos," most of the teams across the nation — are technically considered clubs, but we play at what they call a 'virtual varsity level'."

Of all the lacrosse teams in California, only Dominican, Notre Dame de Namur University and Whittier College are NCAA sanctioned, according to De Lemos.

"Lacrosse is actually one of the fastest growing sports in North America," said attack Tyler MacCaulay. "It's also one of the oldest ones. It was played by the Native Americans."

Patrick Burchfield and MacCaulay founded the lacrosse club at SJSU three years ago.

"Out of that first group of guys, Tyler MacCaulay and Patrick are the only two guys that are left," De Lemos said.

MacCaulay is a sophomore positioned at attack and is one of four team captains. Burchfield, Rob Hunt and Niel Figlia are the other team captains.

"It's been diffi cult finding guys, but this year was probably one of our better years as far as finding guys," MacCaulay said.

In the beginning of SJSU lacrosse, Burchfield recruited players by placing fliers around campus and through word of mouth.

De Lemos coached for six years at Cal State East Bay — previously Cal State Hayward — before coming to SJSU.

"The administration at Cal State Hayward had raised their fees that they were charging us," De Lemos said. 

"They would give us money, and then would raise the cost of what the stuff was that we were paying for," he said. "So, it ended up costing us more money."

Funding problems were not the only factors in De Lemos decision to leave his previous coaching position. 

"I just got frustrated with that," De Lemos said. "Plus, the level of dedication from the players at the school wasn't to the level that I wanted it to be at."

Since the university does not officially sanction SJSU lacrosse, the team must find its own funding for any coaching, training and traveling expenses.

"Each one of us pays dues of $350," MacCaulay said. "It's not as much as some club teams pay for lacrosse, but for us that's what we can do now. We also do fundraising." 

"We also get funding from Club Sports, which helps out a lot," MacCaulay said. "I mean, without dues and without Club Sports we really would not be a team."

University-funded teams, such as Dominican, operate on a much larger scale and budget than a team like SJSU, which has to share field time with soccer and rugby.

"A school like Michigan has a quarter of a million dollar budget that is funded from the school as well as an endowment in dues," De Lemos said.

This Saturday at Dominican, the SJSU lacrosse team will be facing a program that has access to amenities such as a full-paid staff and trainers.

"This will be the fourth time that we've played them in the last three years," De Lemos said. "We're 2-1 against them overall. Their team has vastly improved from last year." 

As SJSU lacrosse is in its first year in league play, they have also been placed on probation and are ineligible for playoffs.

"Being in our first year in the league," De Lemos said, "we have to serve one-year probation. And, so, the only thing we really have to play for is the WCL North Division championship, which we are currently tied with Pepperdine at 2-0 each.

SJSU will face Pepperdine University on April 8, where the outcome of the match could determine the league champion.

"We do have one more game against UC Santa Cruz," De Lemos said. "So, if we beat Pepperdine, then happen to lose UC Santa Cruz, there could be potentially a three-way tie."

SJSU lacrosse has never won a championship, but did host a tournament two years ago at William Street Park.

"We lost in the championship game to (the University of) Nevada-Reno," MacCaulay said. "But, hopefully this year we can do pretty good. We're looking to win our division."

The possibility of championships and tournament play is part of the process that de Lemos hopes will bring more attention and appreciation to lacrosse at SJSU.

We're just getting out there and playing," De Lemos said. "And, all the colleges around — now that we have a team — I get e-mails every day (from teams wanting to play us)."

In past years, the draw for SJSU lacrosse centered around one particular player.

"We had a female — Caroline Dukelow," De Lemos said, "who had played for us, and there was her entire sorority was there cheering basically for us. And then, we had probably 60 other people."

Dukelow left the team and attempted to start a women's team, but plans for that never went through.

"I'm not sure what her stumbling block had been," De Lemos said. 

"She would come out and they'd practice with us, a few of the girls that were interested," he said. "And, I'm not sure what exactly happened."

The popularity of lacrosse in general has grown with the development of professional teams such as the San Jose Stealth and San Francisco Dragons.

"Back when I first started playing," De Lemos said, "nobody had any idea what it was. They thought you were running around with a butterfly catcher or something like that."

Lowdown on lacrosse 

The game lacrosse originated during the 15th century, by North American Indians who used the sport as a basis for their culture. The game would be played sometimes up to three days in length, for fun, to heal the sick, to toughen their warriors and to settle disputes between tribes.

It was later picked up by white settlers on the East Coast who turned the pastime into a sport — making lacrosse the first American sport.

The 2005 U.S. lacrosse survey reports that New York University fielded the nation's first college team in 1877.

Played on an open field like soccer, lacrosse is a combination of hockey, football and basketball.

Although considered a primitive sport —more injuries were found in football, wrestling, soccer and hockey as opposed to lacrosse.

The U.S. lacrosse survey estimated that the number of youth participants in 2005 were 204,384, in high school 147,042 and 24,502 players in college.

New teams have been announced in Div. I schools like the University of Louisville and the University of Oregon, while the growth of NCAA Div. II and III levels is even stronger.

Correction  

On Thursday March 15, the sports page ran an article on the lacrosse club team at San Jose State University. The headline read "Lacrosse travels west to California; gains NCAA status" incorrectly inferring that SJSU gained NCAA Div. 1 status. Instead the SJSU lacrosse team is part of the developing Div. B Western Collegiate Lacrosse League.