Women's lacrosse team prepares for rare West Coast opponent

Brittany and Brandi Jones, two sisters and starters on the No. 2 Terrapin women's lacrosse team, didn't start playing the sport until they enrolled in high school. They hail from Poway, Calif., where it's more common to grow up with a soccer ball at your feet than a lacrosse stick in your hands.

Their coach, Cathy Reese, is from Ellicott City. Her 5-year-old son has already started to pick up the game, and for youth in this area, that's not so out of the ordinary.

The Jones sisters were able to use their natural athletic abilities to catch up to their peers and star at a top-level Division I program. For years, many others on the West Coast haven't gotten that opportunity, but that's starting to change, especially in the women's game.

Tonight, the Terps (8-0, 3-0 ACC) play No. 12 Stanford, the West Coast's premier team, at 7 p.m. at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. Besides golf, no women's college sport has grown more in the past 10 years than lacrosse, according to U.S. Lacrosse, the sport's governing body. In California, more than 140 boys and girls high school lacrosse programs have sprouted up in the past five years.

"I like it because it means that the programs are growing on the West Coast," Brittany Jones said. "I know that the tough competition is on the East Coast, but it's nice to see that teams are growing and getting better on the West Coast."

East Coast teams dominate the top 20 Inside Lacrosse rankings. But Stanford has also created a niche for itself among the nation's elite. Last season, the Cardinal finished 14-4 and knocked off then-No. 3 Penn in the final game of the regular season.

The NCAA did not select the Cardinal as an at-large team for the tournament, despite their best season in program history and its fifth consecutive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title. This season, the MPSF has an automatic berth to the postseason tournament for the first time, in recognition of the budding influence of teams out west.

• EAST COAST DOMINATION

For teams on the West Coast, the struggle for visibility isn't new. The NCAA held its first women's lacrosse championship in 1982. In the 28 years since, only one West Coast team played in the tournament.

Before Northwestern won the title in 2005, no school west of Penn has ever played in the national championship game. Even now, the Wildcats still mark the farthest west the trophy has traveled.

The states of Maryland, Virginia and New York became hotbeds for high school talent, meaning area schools continued to grow in strength.

Meanwhile, without a team receiving national recognition, West Coast schools struggled to create an interest for the sport, hurting the growth of talent.

To get the sport rolling, several former East Coast players made the trek out west. Jill Malko, who graduated from Boston University in 1985, founded a lacrosse club at St. Mary's (Calif.) and helped the Cal club team achieve varsity sport status in 1998.

Michele Uhlfelder, who played for the Terps between 1987 and 1991, guided her Stanford program to a top-20 ranking in 2003, the first time a West Coast team garnered a national ranking. She also led the Cardinal to a NCAA Tournament berth in 2006, the first time a West Coast team broke into the field.

Reese was also a pioneer. The former Terps' player took her first head coaching position at Denver in 2004, making the plunge to the lightly regarded MPSF.

Recruiting became Reese's biggest fear. But her concerns quickly vanished. She combined East Coast recruits looking for playing time with West Coast recruits, who, while still learning the game, were still capable.

"That's one thing that really opened my eyes when I was out coaching at Denver," Reese said. "There were so many more kids playing at youth levels throughout Colorado and the West Coast."

After two losing seasons, Reese guided the Pioneers to a program-best 15-5 record. The success led her back to College Park, where she secured one of the best women's lacrosse coaching positions in the country.

Using Reese and others as precedents, many former players decided to start their coaching careers out west because the opportunities came easier. This year, the MPSF conference includes seven Division I programs: Cal, Denver, Fresno State, Oregon, St. Mary's (Calif.) and UC Davis. Stanford coach Amy Bokker actually left George Mason for the chance to go west in 2009.

"There's a lot of growth," Brittany Jones said. "A lot of people from the East Coast are migrating out there to make the sport grow, and it's really taking off."

• TALENT INFUSION

Players from the west, such as the Jones sisters and Terps' freshman Anne Morgan Yeatman, started picking up the game and forcing college coaches to expand recruiting. But players out west are still at a disadvantage compared to East Coast players, from coaching to playing opportunities.

"A lot of California is raw, athletic players without the stick skills of the east," Brandi Jones said.

The gap is closing, though.

"It's just coming along at a different pace," Reese said. "There is a lot of want for information out there right now. They want to get good coaches and players to go out west to help the game continue to grow."

Unlike many players in this area, the Jones sisters had no access to outside youth leagues growing up and were limited to their high school program only. But when they went home this past summer, the sport looked different.

"We go back, and we coach teams in elementary, middle and high schools," Brittany Jones said. "It's so great that we can go back and coach these younger girls and get them interested in the game."

Despite the gradual growth, the west still lacks the east's exposure.

"The area is growing, but the kids aren't seen as much as they are back east," Reese said. "It's hard for us to go out there now and see kids, but we see them over the summer when they are traveling to camps."