Floating lax balls

"Drexel's Brian Neary (no.1) shoves Towson University midfielder Timmy Andre, jarring loose the ball during the first quarter at Johnny Unitas Stadium, Saturday, April 12. Drexel (10-3) defeated Towson (4-7), 10-9."

This spring I've shot more lacrosse assignments than anything else.

Good thing is I really enjoy shooting the game, since I grew up playing the fastest game on two feet.

My project for my second to final Mass Communication (NOT, communications, big pet peeve of mine) course entitled New Media, is on the rise of the sport. I've been shooting, writing, reading, and searching for stories related to the rapidly popularizing sport.

I've studied and searched out stories ranging from: a coach reaching 300 career wins, new technologies in equipment, teens beating one another with lacrosse sticks in a gang related issue, and most recently, high school students introducing the sport internationally in South Africa.

It really is amazing to see how far the game has come since I started playing at the age six.

When I started playing, it was merely a spring sport played in Maryland with laced back, bulky helmets. Now it’s all over the United States, very popular, one of the most attended NCAA championship games, and fashionable with advertising everywhere you look.

But even though the game is at a new level, some universities are identifying how long they’ve played the sport.

On Saturday, Towson University hosted Drexel University. Since the program reached its 50th year, they had a throw-back day, recognizing the then-1974 Towson State University Tigers, when they won the NCAA Division II men’s lacrosse championship.

They had jerseys similar to the 1974 team, which was attractive. It also kind of reminded me of the jerseys my brother wore when he played at Towson [State] nearly a decade ago.

Anyways, since I've been assigned to so many lacrosse games, like anything, it has become redundant. So I am continually trying to change my approach to the game.

Whether it's shooting from the stands or press box to get a different angle, or by anticipating a certain play or action of a match; I am always trying to stay on my toes.

This season has been amazing weather wise, and the games haven't had a dull moment either. Just about every game I've covered has been a close match; well, at least for one half. Even if the game was a blow out, the action has been phenomenal.

One photo I've been trying to make at least once a game involves having either a ball or stick flying through the air.

While the game is very fast, hard-hitting at times, things do get clustered and difficult to shoot when there are six or more players crowded around the goal.

So when I get an image of a stick being checked out of a players hand or a ball floating in mid air, it makes a reader stop and wonder what they are seeing.

This is a great way to get the reader to stop on the page and get more information, and that's always good in any story, especially a sports story when most readers only care about the score and the first couple graphs of the article.

Here are two more related images I've made in the past two or three weeks that's have ran:

Image from University of Maryland
Image from Towson University