Jacksonville, Florida - Is this for real? Seriously!? There is going to be a lacrosse game in Florida that is between two Division I programs?
Wait a minute Paul! We’ve been having college games for a long time in Florida. Gene’s Spring Flings started in Panama City Beach back in 1996. You coached there in 1998 and 1999. Other companies like World Class Lax have been hosting college programs for a long time. Disney has had teams down and the US National team has been playing games in Orlando.
And don’t forget the Wounded Warrior Project who sponsored DI teams to play in Jacksonville in 2007. Maryland alumnus Jack Francis and a die-hard group of lax-alums made it all happen. Some pretty big name schools have been down here. Nearly every top-10 men’s and women’s team has played in Florida over the past 15-years.
So this is nothing new, right?
Yes it is.
Not only is it new, it is monumental. We have a Florida team with Florida blood playing in the games. Not even a college program from Central or Southeast Florida where lax has been around for over a decade, but a DI team from an area that six years ago no one thought had serious lacrosse. But for the efforts of Mr. Francis, a contingent from Bolles, and several area people who had lax-on-the-brain, the area has become a 20-high school, 1000+ youth participant hot-bed for growth in the state. And Jacksonville will be the site of the first-ever Division I games by a Florida institution.
But the vast growth in north Florida is not the story. Growth in Orlando, and West Palm Beach has been around and been a great story, with many people deserving credit for building the state. This is nothing new and it will continue. People have been doing right by building the sport for a long time. And unlike Saturn cars, lax is here to stay.
The Division I programs that play this Saturday have sprung from the fertile beds of Florida. From the very ideas at local US Lacrosse meetings to the blood, sweat and tears that the players who forged the game in the state over the past 20 years have left behind, these teams come. No other DI programs in the nation have more Florida prep players (16 between the two teams) than these two teams.
None. Zero. No other teams!
It’s not even close to be honest. Yes, Jacksonville University which is in the Sunshine state is loaded with up and coming Florida-based talent. But just because a team is planted in Florida does not mean that 90% or more of the rosters would come from out of state (note Florida’s women’s team roster). Both of these teams are strongly rooted in Florida and the south (11 players from other southern states) and strike a balance between Maryland (16), New York (17), and other traditional areas (13). That is quite a mix of players for both programs.
“We have a great class coming in here next year and the roster I recruited in just a few months is what I had hoped. In a few years I think we will be a top-flight program and be the leader in lacrosse in the south as it continues to grow,” Coach Matt Kerwick said. “It is not hard to recruit at Jacksonville University.”
And Coach Kerwick’s team is playing some pretty stiff competition in year #1. Try UNC, a top-5 team in the pre-season. Try Duke, pre-season #1 and, oh yeah, they just beat the US National Team at the Champions Challenge.
I think they will be tested.
“We don’t want it any other way. This is where we set the bar. We want to be at that level and we will work at it from our first game.”
I’ll say! And the interesting part in all this chatter about building and becoming? There is a hope. A hope that the first-year men’s programs will actually stick with the famed Tar Heels in their first game. If they can it would be a huge early indicator that the program is headed in the right direction…already. If they get thumped, it is a sign that they have a ways to go on their journey, but it is only the first game.
Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is early success. Early success has proven too much for many a program. Sometimes cutting your teeth and paying your dues is better. Sometimes success is not measured in wins and losses but in improvement throughout the course of a longer period of time, like a season.
Lord knows my stock portfolio prefers the long periods of time for evaluation!
The teams are hungry. The teams are nervous. The teams are young. More importantly, the teams are, well, “TEAMS”. Florida’s teams. I figure they will be along for a while, so win or lose the first game, and if it is close or not is irrelevant. This is FOR REAL. It is not some schools from out of state coming to rape and pillage our sun and green spaces. It’s not teams lured to play here.
These are OUR teams. Florida’s first DI men’s and women’s programs. This here is REAL!

Mindy McCord (left) and Matt Kerwick (right) are directing the Dolphins lacrosse programs in history making debuts on Saturday, February 6th on JU's Jack Milne Stadium field. Each have lofty long-term expectations for their programs. (c) JUDolphins.com/JU Sports Information
What should we expect from these games:
The Men:
1) The JU attack will get some pretty goals. They have some very talented players, including Canadian stars Cam Mann and Ryan Serville, even though they are all Freshmen!
2) The JU Keeper is for real…and he has to be. The hardest part about college lacrosse is finding stud defensemen who are 6′5″ and anticipatory. But transfer senior GK Brad Hester has been a major force between the pipes. He is the 5th-year senior, de-facto leader of the squad.
3) Coach Kerwick will be fun to watch and full of positive mojo on the sideline. There is not a better person or role model for kids in the nation than Kerwick. He is a special coach and JU is fortunate to have him.
The Women:
1) There are a lot of good players on the team – several were high school all-Americans. With just three days of practice they defeated a seasoned Rollins squad in a fall exhibition. Rollins is considered a top-10 DII program by many this season. Not bad for three days of practice and some team bonding activities.
2) There are 24 freshman on the Dolphin team (3 SO and 2 JR). That’s a lot of ‘young chicks’ in the yard! They will need to play a tough, feisty, blue-collar game to compete with UMBC which is loaded with veteran players.
3) Watching Mindy and her offensive coordinator Brooke Magnuson (former Maryland prep Player of the Year) will be fun. Both are very active on the sideline and very into motivating their players all game long. They are great mentors to the young pod of Fins laxers!
“We want to be in a fight for every game. We want the players to ‘learn’ what it takes and is required to be the best NCAA player for their position, we want to have no regrets, win a Conference Championship,” commented Mindy McCord on her live blog interview at JUDolphins.com. “We are not going to win every game but our schedule will help prepare us for our conference games and learning from all of our games will be key in building our program.”
“We’re focused on becoming a top-20 program, but we know this will take some time. We have a plan that will take us there. Our class of 2010 recruits who have signed are very, very talented and fast. As Matt (Kerwick) says, when people come down here and see campus and meet the men’s and women’s players and see the school, it’s a great place for an 18-22-year old who wants a great education and experience with the big-city and the beach sand underneath your toes.”
And sometimes in your cleats!
And yes folks, it is happening. It is for real! DI lacrosse is now a Florida thing!
See you at the Groves for tailgating!





