Big City Lacrosse Classic Tickets

Considered to be America's first sport, Lacrosse was the creation of the North American Indians long before the entrance of Europeans in the continent. One century later, French missionaries gave the sport its name of Lacrosse. It was derived from the French word Le Crosse after the crosier carried by the bishops. Lacrosse was taken up as a sport in 1840s by the French settlers in Canada. Within a few years, the Montreal Lacrosse Club was founded and with it were established the 1st set of rules defining the standard dimensions of the field as well as the team size. Lacrosse quickly became popular in Canada and then spread to the US, England, Scotland, Ireland and Australia. In 1867 the first international lacrosse match between Canada and the United States took place. In the USA, the 1st collegiate lacrosse team was created ten years later in 1877 at New York University followed by the formation of the United States National Amateur Lacrosse Association in 1879. In 1904 and 05, Olympic medals in lacrosse were also award which were won (gold) both times by Canada. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has also been organized men's lacrosse championships since 1971, among Division I schools. The dominating teams have been from John Hopkins, Syracuse and Princeton University. NCAA Division II and III men's lacrosse championships are also held regularly and are very popular.

Today Lacrosse has become a highly competitive, fast and aggressive sport that necessitates great athletic skill as well as teamwork. Of all the forms played of Lacrosse, Men's Lacrosse is the most popular one. It is played by a team of ten men on a grass field and consists of quarter periods of twenty five minutes and in the case of a tie, 4-minute overtime period. In addition to using the stick to throw, catch or carry the ball, players may also kick or roll the ball without touching it with their hands.

US College Lacrosse
In the United States, lacrosse at the collegiate level is played in the sanctioned team sport as well as the club. At present, for men there are sixty one NCAA authorized Division I lacrosse teams, thirty three Division II teams, and hundred and thirty one Division III teams. Women have eighty eight lacrosse teams in Division I, thirty seven Division II and hundred and fifty four teams in Division III. At the level of Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association approximately two hundred collegiate club teams including most major universities compete. In the National College Lacrosse League additional hundred schools boast club teams. Today there are many intercollegiate tournaments arranged in the US and are extremely popular.

Big City Lacrosse Classic
Held in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Big City Classic is an annual college lacrosse event where three games are played back to back. It is sponsored by Inside Lacrosse, the Baltimore based magazine and is played at Meadowlands Stadium- also the home ground of the New York Giants of NFL.

On April 4, 2009, the first ever event was held featuring 6 teams which had a total of sixty seven appearances in NCAA tournament semifinals as well as twenty four National Collegiate Athletic Association championships. In just a short period of time, the Big City Lacrosse Classic has become one of the leading events of the college lacrosse regular season. Last year the team that took the title was the Syracuse University team known by its nick name, the Orange. With 22,308 spectators, it was the record attendance for a lacrosse-only event in a regular season. The next Big City Lacrosse Classic is set to kick off in 2010 with six squads namely Delaware, North Carolina, Hofstra, Princeton, Syracuse and Virginia. Office equipment supplier Konica Minolta has the title sponsorship for that. The company has been in partnership with the Inside Lacrosse Magazine for the past few years to sponsor college lacrosse games but 2010 will be the 1st in which it will use its name. It is expected to be one hot event of the year!