The Challenge

The Adrenaline Challenge began in 2002 as a modest event with a few teams and a couple college coaches, who came mostly out of curiosity.

Times have certainly changed.

This Saturday, the Adrenaline Challenge kicks off its eighth edition. And this weekend’s field appears to be the most competitive yet. About 70 college recruiters are scheduled to come watch 60 teams play at Robb Field in San Diego.

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“I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job attracting some of the best all-star teams from nearly every pocket in the West,” Adrenaline Lacrosse Director Alex Cade said. “I would definitely say this is the most talented group of lacrosse players coming to the event.”

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This year’s Adrenaline Challenge has added significance, in that it is a sanctioned event for the WSL Elite 25 Player Rankings. The Adrenaline Challenge has been sanctioned as an Elite 25 event because of the deep talent pool that is expected, as well as the number of major metropolitan areas throughout the West that will be sending all-star teams.

The field for the two-day event is comprised of 48 boys teams and 12 girls teams, according to Adrenaline Team & Recruiting Coordinator Rory Doucette. Teams will be coming from eight Western states this year: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Utah.

There will also be a New York contingent for the first time. Seven players from Long Island will participate with the defending-champion Wild Card Starz, Doucette said.

As has become customary with Adrenaline events, there will be dozens of recruiters. Cade called this, “the best recruiting field ever for an Adrenaline Challenge.”

“The caliber of program is the highest it has ever been,” Cade added.

Among the schools expected to be represented on the men’s side are NCAA Division III powers Salisbury, Lynchburg, Nazareth, Roanoke, Middlebury, Tufts, Washington & Lee, Washington College and St. Lawrence, Doucette said. There will also be several NCAA Division II and MCLA recruiters in attendance.

On the women’s side, recruiters from Duke, Columbia, Princeton, Yale and Fresno State are expected to be among the attendees, Doucette said.

“We feel great about it,” Doucette said. “We did our best to find different types of schools that we think will be great fits for the different types of kids out here.”