Chapman men’s lacrosse boasts history of success despite club team classification

Don’t confuse Chapman men’s lacrosse with an intermural or even traditional club sport: they are one of the top teams in Divison I of the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association and won a national title in 2016. SAM ANDRUS Staff Photographer

In a game of lacrosse, there’s rarely a moment of peace. Instead, it’s poetry in motion — combining the fluid strategy of soccer, the speed and decisiveness of ice hockey and the jarring contact of football. On the field, the players dip and dance through defenders, firing off shots in rapid succession. Yet despite that poetry, the Chapman men’s lacrosse team flies under the radar. Since it’s a club team that competes in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA), they differ from other teams on campus. Commonly, sports on campus are divided between those governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and those that aren’t. The latter group, a mix of club and intramural sports, differ from NCAA sports in terms of funding. With club sports like lacrosse, the players are responsible for paying dues that cover travel, equipment, and other necessities.

“Being a club is good because it’s run by the players,” said Kyle Souza, junior defenseman. “When you’re funding the league, what you say has more weight.”

The men’s lacrosse team competes with 75 other programs in the MCLA Division I bracket, playing alongside schools like Arizona State University and The University of Southern California. The MCLA exists to bring high level lacrosse teams to areas where varsity status, a.k.a. teams governed by the NCAA, don’t currently exist.

Chapman lacrosse is one of those programs and is undefeated this season. Despite Chapman’s small enrollment compared to other universities in the association, the team sits third in the national poll of all Division I programs, above big schools like Georgia Tech, Florida State University and Boston College. “The biggest misconception is that (our team is like) intramural sports. That’s not the case. We train six days a week, then we’ll travel,” said Parker Halaburda, a senior face-off specialist. “When I say the MCLA, I say that so it’s not mistaken as a club, because the MCLA is like its own division.”

Halaburda equated the MCLA to a stepping stone for collegiate programs looking to make the jump from club to varsity-level play. The level of competition offered in the MCLA in some cases is just as high as the league’s Division I counterpart. However, it’s the difference in passion for the sport that may govern a player’s choice to opt for either league.

“If you went to a school that has recruited you specifically to play (lacrosse), you’re under contract to keep playing with them. The biggest thing that drew me to play MCLA versus NCAA was the passion for the sport,” Halaburda said. “With some guys in the NCAA they lose the passion because they’re contractually obligated to (play).”

Souza believes that Chapman’s desirable location in Orange County makes it easy to recruit players for the team. However, the program credits much of its success to the support it receives from the athletic department — a benefit that creates stability, which can be rare for the student athletes on club teams. The team is allowed access to the athletic gym, Wilson Field and the athletic training staff, making preparation for game days easier. Additionally, support from administration allows a more stable environment for the athletes as they’re able to focus on preparing for the task at hand, winning lacrosse games, rather than duties like collecting dues and hiring or firing coaches.

The support is only part of the equation. The team is committed to their craft, spending countless hours in the athletic gym, studying game film to prepare for upcoming matches and spending two hours each night on Wilson Field followed by hitting the weights in the gym. Hard work pays off, as the team went to the finals for three consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2018 and won a national title over California Polytechnic State University in 2016.

“It’s cool to see that small schools like Chapman can compete with the big names,” Halaburda said.