MIAA Boys Lacrosse: Championship sites a concern

HIGH SCHOOLS

Lowell’s Grady Avila, left, faces heavy pressure from Lincoln Crane of Tewksbury during a boys lacrosse game at Doucette Field. Tewksbury was a 14-6 winner at home. JAMES THOMAS FOR THE LOWELL SUN

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By Brendan Connelly

Correspondent

On Wednesday, the MIAA’s boys lacrosse committee convened virtually to plan its 2025 playoff season, which is set to begin in just three weeks.

The primary point of contention: championship sites.

“I think there’s constant effort to get the best site available for the championship games,” said MIAA lacrosse tournament director Dan Brothers. “Other sports play at high schools, with the big two of course being TD Garden and Gillette. Those two kind of sit there and set the bar very high for other sports. We want to sit there, where we try to get a better site. Maybe the site is available next year, but we try for this year, and see if we can do that. We’re going to continue to try and put that effort through. It’s never been told ‘Don’t go there, don’t go there.’ It’s always been that we end up falling back on a high school when we’re not able to lock one. The best site, and one that fits our needs.”

Last year, the boys finals were held at Burlington High School, a somewhat central location viable to hosting large crowds. However, many fans deemed it a lackluster venue compared to the collegiate sites in Eastern Massachusetts.

So the MIAA began working on trying to land a spot. This year, hurdles prevented them from doing such, many of which were out of the association’s control.

The MIAA’s cutoff date for the playoffs will remain Memorial Day, with boys brackets being released May 28. Finals games would be held June 13-14.

Some popular venues that were quickly removed from the list of options included Bentley (stadium under construction), Boston University and Veterans Stadium in Quincy (both with conflicting events the same weekend), or Harvard (not financially feasible).

MIAA lacrosse vice chairman and Plymouth North athletic director Justin Domingos was adamant with his opinions, especially after hearing from local coaches statewide.

“I think it’s frustrating for everybody, when you’re playing football at Gillette, your basketball tournament games are at Tsongas,” Domingos said. “I know Worcester State has hosted a bunch of stuff for us before, and now we’re talking about hosting a boys championship game at a high school location? No offense to any of the high school venues, they’re awesome venues for high school games and in general, but baseball is going out to play at the Woo Sox park, and softball is at UMass. So, it’s tough when the boys lacrosse coaches see that. They think they are being slighted, and I totally understand.”

As of now, Worcester State remains a possible site for boys finals, while high school options are also being vetted as safe backups.

Two other noteworthy developments stemmed from Wednesday’s meeting. The President of World Series of Lacrosse and a longtime official with the MIAA, Darrell Benson announced he was retiring from the committee board.

The committee also discussed the possibility of adding a shot clock for games, a topic that will be discussed in further detail moving forward.