Tale of two tourneys

Boys, girls lacrosse use differing methods to crown champs

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Sports Writer

High school lacrosse fans in the state of Michigan get the best of both worlds.

Because the Michigan High School Athletic Association state tournaments for boys and girls lacrosse follow different formats, spectators get to see both sides of the playoff coin.

Girls participate in a blind geographic draw tournament format, similar to traditional MHSAA tourneys for soccer, softball and baseball. Boys use a seeded system, which places teams in different regions based on current and past success.

“There’s pros and cons to both sides,” MHSAA Associate Director Tom Rashid said. “The boys chose to go with (the seeded system), and the girls chose not to.

“At first, I was a little skeptical (with the boys system). But over time, I have seen some merit to it.”

The boys and the girls lacrosse committees picked their current systems when the MHSAA first sponsored their tournaments in the 2005 spring sports season.

After three years, both lacrosse committees, made up of coaches and administrators, have decided to keep them intact.

“The representative council is scheduled to vote on the lacrosse tournaments,” MHSAA Communications Director John Johnson said. “They’re going to recommend that boys seeding continue. There was no recommendation (for change) from the girls, so they will also remain the same.”

Both formats offer varying degrees of positives and negatives, and while there are some dissenting opinions, both sides feel their respective formats benefit each specific situation.

The girls geographic format sees fewer teams playing farther from home, which is sometimes the case in the boys system.

This not only saves money for athletic department budgets, but it also allows for less strain on the time of its participants.

“I am not in favor of changing to a format that does not take geography into account,” Rochester United girls lacrosse coach Dave Hamel said.

“Given the demands and hard choices our student athletes in spring sports already have, with graduation, proms and end of the year activities, it would present a significant logistical and academic strain for students and schools. As competitively imperfect as the blind-draw system is, it beats the alternative.”

The flaw of the blind-draw tourney is a competitive imbalance, in some cases.

This year’s Division 1 regional at South Lyon High features three teams in the Laxpower.com — a national college and high school lacrosse Web site — Michigan top 10.

These teams include defending four-time Division 1 champion Grosse Pointe South (No. 6), Grosse Pointe North (No. 7) and South Lyon (No. 9).

“I would love to see it change to a seeded tournament,” said Grosse Pointe South girls lacrosse coach Erin Stewart, who played on the 2001 Division 1 state champion Birmingham United team.

“When I played, it was a seeded tournament, and it was always very exciting. It would be tough to go to a seed tournament now, though, because it would be very tough for the MHSAA to gauge how competitive all the teams are now.” 

Under the boys system, the emphasis is less on geography and more on parity.

The boys committee pre-seeds the top eight teams in D-1 and D-2 into regionals, so each has two of the top-eight teams. Pre-seeds are based on six criteria, the most important of which are a team’s three-year performance and standings in former divisions and statewide tournaments.

The boys lacrosse committee then reconvenes just prior to the postseason — this year they meet May 9 — to seed each team in their respective individual regions.

“I’m a proponent of the seeded system, because it separates the top teams to ensure the best teams meet in the end,” Troy Athens boys lacrosse coach Bill Katsaros said.

“Sometimes in soccer, you’ll get the No. 1 and No. 2 teams playing each other in the first round, and then the final is a blowout.”

While the two systems have plenty of differences, there is one common bond uniting them.

As Rob Ambrose, the coach of Birmingham Brother Rice’s 13 state championships, points out, if a team wants to win a state title, it has to beat the best, regardless of format.

“I don’t know if it makes a difference whether it’s at the end or the beginning,” Ambrose said. “Somewhere along the line, though, it’s going to have to happen. The best teams are going to have to play each other.”

For specific regional draws in the boys and girls tournaments, along with further information on the MHSAA boys lacrosse seeding criteria, visit www.mhsaa.com.