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Forty Games Imminent In Santa Barbara Fall Brawl By Brine

Oct. 16, 2011

Santa Barbara, CA - Twenty-seven teams will play forty games at the Santa Barbara Fall Brawl Sponsored By Brine. This is the 4th Annual version of the event and it will take place at UCSB Storke Field on Sunday, October 23rd. It is the largest field of teams for the Fall Brawl since it's inception in October 2008. The Fall Brawl is a set schedule event with opponents and game times pre-determined.

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The Fall Brawl features divisions for post-collegiate, collegiate, high school and middle school teams. All teams are girls and women despite an attempt to include boys and men for the first time. A few boys and mens teams entered but not enough to include them.

"I really thought we'd have the opposite problem when we announced the boys and mens lacrosse divisions last May," said tournament director and head UCSB women's lacrosse coach Paul Ramsey.

"I was bracing to have to turn away boys and mens teams so the girls and womens divisions wouldn't be impacted," added Ramsey. 

Surprising as it is that few boys and men want to come to Santa Barbara for Fall Brawl lacrosse this weekend it hasn't resulted in a small event. In fact, the 27 teams of girls and women will bring in more than 500 female athletes and an equal number of family and fans. The influx of more than 1,000 people will provide for combinations of hotel stays, meals out and refueling at local gas stations before returning home to pump some money into the local economy.

The Santa Barbara Fall Brawl is also a girl's lacrosse training and rating event. The Southern California Women's Lacrosse Umpire Board is instructing in a UCSB classroom on Saturday and out on the field on Sunday. Officiating prospects who have some aptitude for it stand a chance of getting a Youth Umpire Rating that will let them officiate in the spring. Anyone interested in learning to officiate girl's lacrosse should go to the SCWLU website to get more information about joining the clinic and rating session.

It could have been a boy's lacrosse official training and rating weekend too but without boys teams playing that will have to wait until next year.

"We are where we are with this event because of the growth of girl's lacrosse in California and the support of our sponsors," said Ramsey. "It's great having Brine and Lacrosse Fanatic behind us."

The Fall Brawl is second in size for lacrosse events in Central California only to the annual 64 team Santa Barbara Shootout in February, played at UCSB, SBCC and Girsh Park. The Shootout will likely remain a girls and womens teams only event because of it's immense size with 64 teams. But both Ramsey and new UCSB men's lacrosse head coach, Mike Allan, would like the Fall Brawl to eventually feature an equal number of mens and womens teams.

"We're going to go to work on that together for next year," commented Ramsey.

Until then 1,000 lacrosse players, fans and officials will be at UCSB this Sunday for women's lacrosse action.