NCAA lacrosse tournment hits Chester’s PPL park today

Lacrosse is said to be North America’s oldest indigenous sport. The NCAA’s men’s lacrosse quarterfinal playoffs take the field today in Chester.

Of the four NCAA teams that will battle this weekend at Chester’s PPL Park, each has at least two players who started in the Philadelphia area.

“Oh it’s absolutely fantastic,” said Chris Goldberg, editor of philly-lacrosse-dot-com. According to Goldbert, lacrosse is on the rise in our region faster than anywhere else in the country.

“The Philly lacrosse scene has become a hot-bed that’s accepted right on the heels of Baltimore and Long Island,” he said.

It’s this growth that made PPL Park an idea spot for the college quarterfinals. Virginia plays Notre Dame at noon today, and Colgate faces off against Duke at 2:30 p.m.

Goldberg expects a packed crowd for each game and says that next year the region will see even more lacrosse fervor as the NCAA finals will be held at Lincoln Financial Field.

This year’s finals will be at Gilette Stadium, home to the NFL’s New England Patriots, on Memorial Day weekend.