To put it mildly, Princeton's lacrosse team is good. It has won six of the last 10 national championships and has had more players on the last two National Teams than any other school. Until this summer, though, there has not been a major outdoor lacrosse league in which the Tigers could display their prowess at the next level.
That changed when Jake Steinfeld of "Body by Jake" fame started Major League Lacrosse, the new outdoor lacrosse league based in the Northeast.
Granted, for a number of years there has been an indoor professional league, but never an outdoor lacrosse league. This new league offers a change from indoor lacrosse that, the league hopes, will help the sport catch on outside of its traditional home in the Northeast.
"It was a dream of mine to play at the highest level of lacrosse I could," New Jersey Pride defender Christian Cook '98 said.
"I actually fluctuated between trying out for the U.S. National Team and playing in the MLL, and in the end I decided that the MLL would give me the opportunity to play against the best players in the world week in and week out and that is just the challenge I was looking for," Cook said. "It proved to be all that and more."
The league is comprised of six teams — the Baltimore Bayhawks, Boston Cannons, Bridgeport Barrage, New Jersey Pride, Long Island Lizards, and the Rochester Rattlers. The teams were comprised almost entirely of the star players from the traditional top lacrosse schools and looked as much like the All-Tournament teams from the last six final fours as anything else.
For example, three of the teams had half their players coming from perennial powerhouses Princeton, Syracuse, Johns Hopkins and Virginia.
"Playing with all of the outstanding players whom I played with and against in college was great," Cook said. "It was a unique opportunity to play against the best in the world with proven winners at every position."
It was also a unique opportunity for the fearsome threesome of college All-America attackmen Chris Massey '98, Jon Hess '98, and Jesse Hubbard '98 to be reunited and relive the days of old, in which they won back-to-back-to-back championships from 1996 to 1998. Also reunited with the trio was Cook, the 1998 collegiate defenseman of the year. The Pride just missed the playoffs after dropping its final game of the year.
"It was great to be reunited with the other players from college," Cook said.
"We all were part of something special and developed close relationships during our four years together. No matter where my teammates are in the world, when we get together, it is like not a minute passed. In addition, I would have hated to play against Hubbard, Hess and Massey, knowing how they tormented other teams in college. I am fortunate in that respect."
"It was great to play with them again, especially Jon [Hess] and Chris [Massey], the other attacks [from Princeton]," Hubbard said. "It was also cool to see them again and play with them a lot."
The season recently finished with the Long Island Lizards capturing the inaugural title over the Rochester Rattlers in the championship game. Now league organizers are making plans on how to expand the MLL and help foster the growth of lacrosse in the United States.
"Major League Lacrosse is proud to have made a positive impact on the sport of lacrosse in such a short period of time," MLL founder Jake Steinfeld said in a press release.
"I am pleased to say our product has been outstanding. Better than all of our wildest dreams. From the enthusiasm of our fans in each city to unprecedented television coverage to showcasing the best players in the world to building strong relationships with our corporate partners and suppliers, we all have enjoyed many spectacular moments in our inaugural season. As we head into our second season, our plans to strengthen the League are already in motion."
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