In all the years that SU has been in conference play (Big East and ACC), its a bit frustrating that none of the conference tournaments have been played anywhere near Syracuse, NY. They'll play in Georgia before anywhere near New York. I understand North Carolina makes sense since three of the five schools play in or very near that state, but it still doesn't mystifies me as to why tournament games can't be played anywhere near Syracuse. If they are going to pick a neutral site, how About DC which seems a lot closer to CNY than North Carolina? Seems like there is a greater recruiting advantage there as well.
A little outside the box, but they could also follow the lead of the Ivy League and play at or near an ACC membership school as a way to apply pressure on that school to add lacrosse. The Ivy plays at Columbia which does not have lacrosse. It's a little silly, but seems better than playing at random places like Chester PA and Kennesaw GA. Could the ACC play a game at Louisville, KY which would be a lot more central to Notre Dame and Syracuse?
Last point but it does seem like the greater lacrosse industrial complex does not value the upstate/western/central New York area. In the most recent PLL survey to chose "home cities" the furthest northern New York city chosen was Albany. What gives? You could chose New York as a region and New York City, but no Rochester, Buffalo or Syracuse. The NCAA played a Quarterfinals game in the Dome all the way back in the Mike Powell years but nothing since. Buffalo just drew 20k fans to the NLL finals. Why won't the people in charge of lacrosse's greater good embrace the legacy and tradition of one of the sports biggest strong holds? Do they take it for granted? Worried fans won't show up if SU is not involved? Do they just not want to be associated with that region of the country? Just seems downright silly at this point.
