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It’s time to discuss one of the spring season’s biggest sports at the high school and college levels. Lacrosse!
Last year, I had a great time covering the sport from all different angles. I photographed a memorable game between Delaware and Monmouth during Easter weekend. I wrote articles for WSOU and TAPinto ranging from CJ Kirst to a high school playoff game.
I was able to attend the Kirst Cup where I saw my high school, Seton Hall Prep, become the best team in the state. I was shadowing a multimedia reporter for the contest so I obviously couldn’t cheer for the high school I am an alum of.
The coverage didn’t stop there. I was also at Rutgers in July photographing The Garden State Cup.
The only thing I still have yet to accomplish with my coverage of lacrosse is announcing a few games. I’m hoping that this spring I can call a few awesome games here in New Jersey, one of the hotbeds for the sport.
In 2026, however, it’s felt challenging trying to cover the sport I have created a great appreciation for. For some reason, at a time where the sport is bigger than ever, my algorithm refuses to showcase the sport to me. I follow Inside Lacrosse and The Lacrosse Network on Instagram so I should be able to see it more on my feed.
From what I have seen this year, the biggest talking point highlighted by many, like ESPN’s Anish Shroff, has been the coverage and visibility of the sport.
College lacrosse is situated in a strange part of the college athletics calendar. The season usually starts late January, early February. Essentially, the first few months are battling, and losing against some big time college basketball conference games.
By the time the NCAA Tournament in college hoops is completed for both men’s and women’s, the lacrosse regular season is almost over. Factor in college baseball and college softball, lacrosse is seemingly forgotten.
The coverage of lacrosse in recent years has improved dramatically, thanks in large part to the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). Games are literally being shown on ABC. Yes, a broadcast TV network.
Unfortunately, there are still massive issues hurting the visibility of “the fastest game on two feet.” Shroff on a podcast a few weeks ago addressed a thing that has annoyed lacrosse fans for forever now. If you guessed roughly every game starting at the same time, you are correct.
Shroff made a lot of great points on The Ride: Lacrosse Podcast and it’s a must listen.
There’s also the matter that most games are behind a subscription on a streaming service. This includes ESPN+, FloSports, B1G+, even random and suspicious streaming services no one has heard of.
The game, at the college level at least, should have more national television appearances outside of ESPNU, ACCN and BTN. I’ll be honest and say I rather have a massive college lacrosse game on ESPN or ESPN2 than an SEC college baseball game.
This brings me to something that I have been monitoring for a bit now. The game between #1 Notre Dame and #2 Richmond was facing a difficult situation which has since been resolved as of Wednesday.
If you haven’t been following, this game had no broadcast partner for the longest time. Imagine if a 1 vs 2 game in college football was not shown on television. Fans would be hunting down the people in charge of that decision.
Luckily for Notre Dame and Richmond, the game will air on ACCNX on April 4 at 12:30 p.m., live from Evanston, Illinois.
While it’s great that the problem got resolved, this should not have happened in the first place.
What bothers me about the coverage of the sport is that some people say it’s not warranted and that it’s a “niche sport.” Believe me, I did a presentation in my journalism class last year about lacrosse and my professor had the audacity to say negative things about the game. He previously worked close to an area known for lacrosse so I didn’t understand his reasoning.
On a personal note, I have tried hard to keep up with what’s currently going on in college lacrosse and lacrosse in general. Life does happen of course. From working retail to covering college basketball and MLS, I haven’t had the time to sit down and watch a complete game this year.
My goal this spring is to capture the magic of New Jersey high school lacrosse, whether it’s through writing, announcing or photography. High school lacrosse, which I never played shockingly, has become something I know a lot about. Going to SHP did help greatly and knowing the guys who played the game were friendly definitely allowed me to like the sport more.
Whether it’s as far as Sparta with Pope John or in Union County with Summit and Westfield, I want to give the sport the coverage it deserves. This sport is amazing and more people should be entertained by it.
Be ready to see more lacrosse coverage on my part over the next few months. Maybe PLL potentially?