Lacrosse is a fast-paced and extremely
physical sport. While the rules might be confusing to the first-time
spectator, the flow of play is easy to pick up.
Professional indoor lacrosse has been around since the '80s (the rules of indoor lacrosse are slightly different than the rules for outdoor lacrosse). The National Lacrosse League (NLL) currently has 9 franchises (with 2 expansion teams to be added for the 2001-2002 season).
Major League Lacrosse (MLL), a professional outdoor lacrosse league, will start play in summer 2001, with 6 teams.
NCAA men's lacrosse is extremely popular at a number of schools on the east coast. While there are teams nationwide, college lacrosse is still largely an East Coast sport. The NCAA men's lacrosse tournament is currently 12 teams, with the top 4 seeds getting a bye into the second round.
NCAA lacrosse has traditionally been dominated by a small group of schools, with only 7 schools winning the championship in its 31 years (interestingly, all 7 have won multiple titles)
Below's a list of NCAA Division I men's lacrosse champions:
1971 Cornell
1972 Virginia
1973 Maryland
1974 Johns Hopkins
1975 Maryland
1976 Cornell
1977 Cornell
1978 Johns Hopkins
1979 Johns Hopkins
1980 Johns Hopkins
1981 North Carolina
1982 North Carolina
1983 Syracuse
1984 Johns Hopkins
1985 Johns Hopkins
1986 North Carolina
1987 Johns Hopkins
1988 Syracuse
1989 Syracuse
1990 Syracuse***
1991 North Carolina
1992 Princeton
1993 Syracuse
1994 Princeton
1995 Syracuse
1996 Princeton
1997 Princeton
1998 Princeton
1999 Virginia
2000 Syracuse
2001 Princeton
*** Syracuse was forced to vacate the title by the NCAA's Committee on Infractions