Save Moravian College Lacrosse!!

4/12/2010
Fans lined the street, signing the petition to Save MoCo Lax as they entered Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem, PA. Their team, with heavy hearts, fought like true warriors on a beautiful sunny spring afternoon. Back in February, President of Moravian College, Chris Thomforde, announced this season will be Mens Lacrosses final season just days before the first game.




Moravian is one of the very first colleges ever established in the US, yet its Mens Lacrosse team is a nascent program on the NCAA lacrosse landscape. The differences end there, as Moravian College and its Mens Lacrosse team have many striking similarities.

Founded by Fran Meagher in 2003, Moravian was voted 3rd most improved program in NCAA Division III in 2009. However, Meaghers teams have struggled mightily on the field. Historically speaking, they have a losing record, and no trips to the playoffs to write home about.

But if you measured success by that stick, the story would end here. With Division I and the final four controlling the national lacrosse media, it is rare to read about a program like Moravians, one of the dozens of Division III programs to pop up around the country, highlighting the true growth of this sport. It is a team that has been successful in every other measure, that demands a certain commitment from its members, and is indicative of Meaghers history with the sport. The majority of the team members carry 3.0 + grade point averages. The Mens Lacrosse program embodies the values at the core of the mission of the College. Academic achievement, leadership development and competitive excellence are the three pronged commitment needed to be a part of the program, which has members involved in the following community based volunteer efforts:

•Grace Community Food Bank
•Habitat for Humanity
•YMCA Counselors
•Volunteer EMT and Junior Fire Department
•New Jersey Community Chapter: Pass It Along

A survey of Mens Lacrosse alumni shows 2 are studying for their masters, and 17 of 18 are currently employed, an excellent % given todays marketplace, in industries such as Healthcare, Education, Financial Services, and Media.

Consider the similarities to Moravian College itself. The schools vision is to develop a community of liberal learning, where scholarship, intellectual curiosity and creative expression invigorate all facets of our lives, a community of service, which equips and empowers men and women to serve others with professional skill, grace, and integrity, including those who live out their lives on the periphery of society; and a community of wise stewards, who care for and enhance our treasures of heritage, people and place for generations to come. Yet they too have suffered. Fund raising efforts (especially for the sports programs) have been poorly organized, the endowment has seen deep losses, and the President must feel that his hand has been forced to slash and burn in order to save the village.

Nonetheless, Fran Meagher has his team right where he wants them they are going down standing. They are looking the Board in the eye, and playing the best they can with the hand they were dealt. He has these kids learning lifelong lessons in the face of a tragedy. For Save MoCo Lax Day, the captains organized the largest crowd in Moravian Lacrosse history and invited the Board to the game. They had petitions, balloons, t-shirts, local businesses, and a tailgate to feed the masses. Only 1 board member had the nerve to show up, and he was surprised to see approximately 1,000 supporters filling the bleachers and cheering on the Greyhounds.

In a bittersweet finish to a hard fought battle, Susquehanna Univ. midfielder Rory Meagher, Frans youngest son, scored the final goal to ice the game for a 9-7 Susquehanna win.

This small and scrappy team is fighting for all theyve worked for, and the Board of Trustees thinks they are the problem. The leaders of today need to look closer and understand that a program like Moravian College Mens Lacrosse is building the leaders of tomorrow, and is part of the solution.

Save MoCo Lax.




We are also asking friends of the program and members of the lacrosse community to write letters of support citing any of the recent articles on the growth of lacrosse and/or citing reasons that NCAA lacrosse at Moravian is good for the college and regional community from which it draws students.

Those letters can be sent to:
Board of Trustees
c/o Deb Hinkel
Presidents Office
Moravian College
1200 Main Street
Bethlehem, PA 18018

ATTN: Save MoCo Lax

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Moravian
• Moravian College
• Lacrosse
• Lax
• Save MoCo Lax

[colin20]

Great thanks to Brian Gonsar, an up and coming film producer who volunteered his efforts to support out cause!

[airjordan11321]

@faxmaster201 you are just plain dumb. growing does not mean most popular. it means growing. just because more people watch nascar or play golf doesn't mean they are faster growing. in fact in means the exact opposite because they are already popular. retard.

[faxmaster201]

Hay I'm all for the Lax team, being a MoCo stundent and all, but Lax is the fastest growing sport in the NCAA NOT America, the fastest growing sport in america can not be pinpointed because NASCAR has more tv viewers than anyother sport and Golf is picked up by more people in america than any other sport.

[youngmoneyballaz]

so what happened]?i heard about this on lax.com, it was a story on the first page. are they keeping the program or is it done? will they at least have a club team