Lacrosse: Thank you

The night before I hit the road for Baltimore seems like the right time to get out a few big thank yous.

Class of '07 seniors, thank you for bringing the Cornell lacrosse program back where it belongs: in the national spotlight on Memorial Day weekend. Regardless of this weekend's results, this year's seniors will leave with a list of accomplishments that once was unimaginable. Four Ivy League titles (two unshared). A 22-2 Ivy record (12-0 at home). A career sweep of Princeton. Four consecutive years in the NCAA tournament. An undefeated regular season (Cornell's first in 20 years). A trip to the final four (Cornell's first in 19 years). And yet, even with all those notches in their belts, their greatest and most lasting legacy may be something that's harder to quantify -- a rekindling of fan engagement. After years of shrinking and increasingly apathetic crowds at Schoellkopf, attendance and energy at home games shot up as the season progressed. Cornell home attendance average more than 3,500, a miracle considering that the first few home games of the season attracted a few hundred cold fans. People care about Cornell lacrosse again. That's a wonderful thing.

A big thank you to the team and coaching staff and for being such good ambassadors of the university. Has there ever been a team in any sport that has represented us so well? They way they have handled setbacks great and small, from the Boiardi tragedy to the tournament seeding issues, makes me proud. So has their work ethic, warmth, accessibility, civic engagement, and academic progress. Anyone noticed how many times people, from Daily Sun sports reporters to faculty members, have acknowledged publicly how "nice" the lacrosse players and staff are? Have you ever seen a Cornell team in any sport salute the pep band at road games? And when was the last time you read an article in a national media outlet that mentioned a superstar varsity athlete at Cornell with a 3.9 grade point average in physics?

Thank you to the lacrosse parents and pep band for giving Cornell the most supportive and fun road entourage in Division I.

And thank you to all of you, who through the ever-increasing frequency and quality of your posts on this forum have made eLynah a great place for Cornell lacrosse fans to hang out.

See you in Baltimore.

The rekindled interest (on this board in particular) is also in no small part due to your efforts as well.

So a separate thank you to you, Hillel, for your own work to make sure that we paid attention.

yeah definitely thanks hillel... i never knew much about the game and definitely less about the opposing teams, and your frequent updates and insights really helped me get more into the CULax experience. i don't think i would have gotten as into it, and i definitely wouldn't have travelled to see the games in princeton and baltimore if it weren't for the eLynah excitement.

see everyone in baltimore tomorrow... especially cause my seats are so high in the stadium i should be able to see just about everyone and everything