In some parts of the country, lacrosse isn't a fringe sport; it's a phenomenon.

Football-crazy Western Pennsylvania has a long way to go on the lacrosse field to catch upstate New York, Maryland or parts of New England in terms of level of play or participation, but all the sport needs, its supporters say, is a foot in the door among youth starved for athletic competition.

	John Heller, Post-Gazette Action in the Golden Triangle Lacrosse League so far this summer has been hot and heavy. Matches have been held at Founder's Field in Indianola. Click photo for larger image.

"Pretty much everybody that I know, once they actually played the organized sport, fell in love with it," said Kee Joe Song, the coach of the region's preeminent high school program, Mt. Lebanon.

It is against that backdrop the Golden Triangle Lacrosse Club began a summer league this month. The league, which plays games Wednesday nights at Founders Field in Indianola, has a mission statement of "providing quality lacrosse experiences for the youth of Western Pennsylvania in a safe, family-oriented setting."

The league features 16 teams and 325 players, divided into four teams each in four age groups ranging from 11 to 18 years old. Yesterday was the third week of play. The schedule will extend to Aug. 1.

"Any time you can get any kind of league open, you can get more and more kids playing, it's a positive," said Song, who has played in and coached WPSLA championship games. "It's great to see a summer league get a little bit of recognition."

Sandy Savitz grew up in the lacrosse hotbed of Syracuse, N.Y., watched several of his friends play lacrosse at a high level at a place where the sport is as mainstream as any other. Though Savitz concentrated on golf and basketball -- ultimately playing the latter at the college and international levels -- lacrosse was always ingrained. He moved to this area seven years ago, and soon enough, his son was playing the sport.

That awakened the lacrosse bug for Savitz, who joined with Dave Naugler and Ken Szelong to found and run Golden Triangle. Naugler is the president of Pine-Richland Lacrosse.

"When my son first got involved [in lacrosse], I saw how everyone around here has been terrific," Savitz said. "That generated this whole monstrosity, which turned out to be a good thing."

Golden Triangle, which rents the facility from the Pittsburgh Harlequins Rugby Football Club, strives to make the level of play as competitive as possible. Coaches include Fox Chapel High School coach Ty Wessel, North Allegheny coach John Rullan, Winchester Thurston coach Darrell Schmitt -- who has won WPSLA championships with two different schools -- and Pittsburgh Youth Lacrosse president Mike Concordia.

People involved with the sport claim opportunity is the only impediment to continuing the already exploding popularity of lacrosse. Exposing youth to the sport is the key, said one of the area's more veteran high school coaches, Jim Moriarty.

The Bethel Park coach has been involved with lacrosse for 43 years, the past 15 in the Pittsburgh area. He is the co-director of the Pittsburgh A.C.E.S., an area lacrosse organization that promotes the sport through leagues and practices at the RMU Island Sports Center and other area venues.

"The biggest quote we hear from one another as coaches is dads watching their kids playing saying, 'Lacrosse, I wish I had this when I was a kid,'" said Moriarty, the Bethel Park coach who has coached other high school teams in the area.

Moriarty said his organization had only about eight kids when it started three years ago and now boasts 120. He said there weren't any travel all-star teams in Pittsburgh only a few years ago but now the area has three or four.

It was once a given that WPSLA teams could not compete against the best from the Philadelphia area, where lacrosse has traditionally been a bigger deal.

Song graduated from Mt. Lebanon in 1998 as an all-WPSLA first-team selection as well as an all-conference linebacker for the Blue Devils football squad. He said the level of play in the Greater Pittsburgh area has increased dramatically over the past decade.

"It's not even close to being the same," Song said. "The stick skills is the first thing that stands out, I'd say. It's the caliber of athlete we're getting now."

High schools likely will accept the sport more when the WPIAL -- via the PIAA -- starts sanctioning boys' lacrosse beginning two years from now. The WPSLA has served the sport well, but lacrosse still carries the stigma, so to speak, of being a "club" sport.

Still, it won't matter if kids aren't playing lacrosse before they enter high school. That's where a group like Golden Triangle steps in.

"We really want to open up lacrosse to more area kids," Savitz said. "We think this is just another way of putting Pittsburgh lacrosse on the map."