April 18, 2008

by Mark Medina, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

Ohio State men's lacrosse coach Joe Breschi isn't afraid to ask for extra help from others outside of his program - even when it involves the Buckeyes' big-time football coach, Jim Tressel.

"He'll always take the moment to work with a recruit and squeeze in 10 to 15 minutes to talk to him," Breschi said, "sometimes even a half hour."

You'd think the man who has led Ohio State to a national championship and four BCS title games, including the last two, would have too much on his plate. But that's not the Tressel that Breschi knows.

Tressel also grants the men's lacrosse team access to the Woody Hayes athletic center - an 8,000 square-foot weight room that consists of free weights and Nautlius equipment for mostly football players.

That's why it's not surprising Tressel was instrumental in organizing a men's lacrosse-spring football scrimmage doubleheader aimed to shatter attendance records Saturday.

It begins at 11 a.m., when No. 15 Ohio State (8-3, 3-0 GWLL) hosts No. 19 Denver (9-4, 3-0) at Ohio Stadium - an event that Ohio State's associate director of athletic communications Leann Parker said has sold 44,000 tickets so far.

Ohio State officials hope the showcase breaks four records: attendance at a regular-season lacrosse game (20,180 at last year's Faceoff Classic at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore), national lacrosse attendance (52,004 at last year's final four in the same venue), OSU's spring football game record (75,301 last year) and the national spring football game record (92,138).

Tressel recalled a similar event in 1981, when he was the Syracuse quarterbacks coach. The Orange's 12-11 overtime win against Hobart in men's lacrosse preceded the annual football game that year.

"That was a great atmosphere," Tressel said via e-mail. "I have wanted to find ways to do that since, and we're really looking forward to making something similar happen at Ohio State this Saturday."

Syracuse also recently hosted lacrosse-spring football doubleheaders in 2000 (Massachusetts, with 6,834 fans in attendance) and 2004 (Albany, 4,926).

"In our case, there were a few more in attendance for lacrosse than there had been for the football scrimmage," Syracuse head coach John Desko said.

That won't be the case at the Horseshoe on Saturday. The Buckeyes played there before 920 fans against Navy on Feb. 16. But the circumstances are much different this time. Ohio State is coming off four consecutive victories, including a 14-11 upset of then-No. 12 North Carolina. Similarly the Pioneers (9-4) have engineered a six-game winning streak. That momentum collides with a Great Western Lacrosse League match-up that could determine the automatic qualifier out of that conference.

"It's exciting, and it has the potential to be record-breaking," Breschi said. "You hope that happens, but when it comes down to it, there are huge ramifications in determining who will be seeded in the conference tournament at the end of the year."

Part of Ohio State's effort in focusing on the task at hand has included weekly readings of John C. Maxwell's "Talent is Never Enough" - a book that outlines 13 characteristics that, coupled with intelligence and talent, the author believes is necessary for long-term success. Those qualities include belief, passion, initiative, focus, preparation, practice, perseverance, courage, teachability, character, relationships and responsibility.

Breschi's advice to his players about "dialing in" has led to the Buckeyes' recent success after losing three games in overtime early in the season.

"It's done a lot for us," said Buckeyes midfielder Kevin Buchanan, who leads the team with 29 goals and 20 assists. "A lot of times we get caught up in so many aspects of the game. But taking that half hour out of that day and developing a goal from each chapter develops the goal for that week. That relates to our playing and character building. It helps to remind ourselves to do the little things."

That same approach has yielded similar results for the Pioneers. Junior attackman Cliff Smith said the season's turning point happened after Denver's 20-7 loss to Cornell in Dallas on March 18. After that game, Smith saw better team chemistry, instead of finger pointing, en route to Denver's current six-game winning streak.

Another tough test awaits the Pioneers.

"We don't know what to expect," said Smith, who's second on the team with 29 points behind freshman attackman Jamie Lincoln (35g, 4a). "We're not anticipating it's going to be 70,000 when we get there. People will be coming in when the game's going on. Hopefully it won't be overwhelming."

Denver coach Jamie Munro said Denver's preparation was more limited than usual because of the Norovirus that affected a reported 63 university students this week. Munro said several unnamed players contracted the virus, which causes the stomach flu and can be spread by direct contact. Munro cancelled one practice and even had the school's food services sanitize the team locker room.

"Our number one concern right now is that we have healthy guys for Saturday," Munro said. "That's the number one hope. The number two hope is we have enough practice and preparation time to handle this aura of excitement. We can't enjoy this right now. They're puking their brains out."

But that won't keep Denver away from Ohio Stadium, a place where both teams will try to overcome the excitement, while still embracing the effort to bring more exposure to lacrosse.

"Standing on the sidelines is amazing enough," said Ohio State midfielder Scott Lathrop, who grew up in Columbis, Ohio. "I'm lucky to get an opportunity to play in this game. I've been a Buckeye since the day I was born."