Barbara Henderson remembers when Syracuse hosted the Big East softball championship in 2004. That was a tough year for Syracuse’s senior associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator.Syracuse Softball Stadium is not designed to collect money, accommodate fans or provide hospitality for extra media.

Henderson was one of the people responsible for preparing a small facility for the biggest conference softball event of the year.

Hosting the inaugural Big East women’s lacrosse tournament has been easier. Henderson may not be able to look back on previous championships for guidance, but the Carrier Dome has handled even bigger events in the past.

‘This is a piece of cake compared to the softball championship,’ Henderson said. ‘It’s an expansion of what we do during the normal game. The Dome already has everything in place. It’s an event facility.’

Henderson has spent the last week preparing the tiniest details for this weekend’s tournament. From stocking the concession stands to paying ushers to making sure towels are in the visiting locker rooms, everything needs to be ready, and this tournament has never been done before. It’s been a lot of extra work.

Still, it’s the Carrier Dome.

No. 9 Georgetown (9-6, 4-1) earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament and takes on fourth-seeded No. 12 Notre Dame (11-5, 3-2) tonight at 5:30.

No. 7 Syracuse (10-4, 4-1), which won a share of the conference regular season crown to become the second seed, battles the third seed, No. 17 Rutgers (12-4, 3-2), 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. The championship game is Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

No matter how well the Orange performs this weekend, Syracuse will remain a part of women’s lacrosse Big East tournament history. The conference chose Syracuse as host for all three games because of the Carrier Dome’s capability to accommodate major events.

Hosting the tournament will celebrate the 10th season of Syracuse women’s lacrosse. As the sport continues to grow, both in Syracuse and across the Big East, conference officials decided a premier facility would help turn the tournament into a premier event.

‘The Carrier Dome does a phenomenal job with events in general,’ Syracuse head coach Lisa Miller said. ‘It puts on football games, basketball tournaments. Just to have that kind of staff running the event is going to make it a first-class event.’

Because the conference tries to spread championship equally among the schools, Syracuse could not have hosted this weekend’s tournament before 2006. The Carrier Dome housed the indoor track and field championship from its inception in 1984 until 2005. Dome staff removed the AstroTurf floor to prepare for those meets.When the Carrier Dome was fitted with a permanent FieldTurf surface, it no longer could serve as the tournament site. The Big East moved track and field to Akron, Ohio, leaving Syracuse available to host a different championship.

Jim Siedliski, the Big East associate commissioner for Olympic sports, said track and field’s relocation played a role in the conference’s decision to award Syracuse the women’s lacrosse tournament.

Though Syracuse did not host a championship during the 2005-06 academic year, it will host two in the next seven months – women’s lacrosse this weekend and field hockey in November.

Henderson said SU is looking forward to hosting events again.

‘We will host any events that would like to come here from the conference,’ Henderson said. ‘It’s a great opportunity to showcase our campus. It will always be in the Big East record books that the first-ever women’s lacrosse tournament was at Syracuse University, and we can take some pride in that.’

Since the Carrier Dome has held large events in the past, Siedliski said Syracuse was the perfect candidate to host this tournament. Unlike many outdoor lacrosse fields, the facility is easily able to handle increased attendance and media attention.

The Carrier Dome and lacrosse have always had a good relationship. The Syracuse men’s team has won more national championships than any other team in the country. The Orange women are 103-51 all-time – a winning percentage of .669.

This tournament is just another piece of Syracuse lacrosse history.

‘Everyone identifies Syracuse with excellence in lacrosse,’ Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne said. ‘The Central New York area is an attractive place for the game. Everyone loves playing in the Carrier Dome, it’s a wonderful facility and we’re looking forward to coming back.’

From the team’s perspective, hosting the tournament is only an advantage. The Orange is 6-1 this season at home and has won more than 79 percent of its games in the Carrier Dome overall.

Rutgers head coach Laura Brand thinks having the tournament at the Carrier Dome could definitely help Syracuse.

‘We’re so lucky to have played there earlier this season,’ Brand said. ‘Some of these teams have not played in the Carrier Dome yet this year. There are girls who are going to play there now for the first time ever. It’s a tough place to play for someone who never has before.’

Although the coaches have toyed with the idea of a Big East tournament for several years, they could not reach a majority. Some coaches worried about losing a weekend of regular season play. Others didn’t want to take their team away from campus during finals.

The decision to hold a tournament comes after arguably the most successful season in Big East women’s lacrosse history. All four teams are nationally ranked, and Connecticut also spent time this season in the top 20.

In just seven years, the Big East has become one of the best women’s lacrosse conferences in the country. The tournament marks the sport’s rapid growth in the Big East and across the country. More leagues are holding conference championships than ever before, and the Big East coaches finally decided their league was ready.

‘The landscape of the sport has changed over the past couple years where there used to be only a couple league tournaments,’ Siedliski said. ‘Now the majority of the leagues have moved in that direction. We’re ecstatic about this because we know we have a real powerhouse conference in women’s lacrosse.’

Published on April 27, 2007 at 12:00 pm