February 19, 2023 - While most of the power programs in Division 3 lacrosse are concentrated in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, the fastest growing region might be the Midwest. By our count, the state of Illinois ranks sixth with 10 D3 men’s lacrosse programs.
Two of those schools quietly making a name for themselves reside on the same street, separated by just two miles. This Friday, February 24, North Central College hosts Benedictine University in the annual Chicago Maple Avenue Cup. Both teams won their conferences in 2022 and competed in the NCAA Tournament.
Located in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, North Central is at the west end of Chicago Avenue, which, when traveling east, turns into Maple Avenue in the town of Lisle, home to Benedictine.
“In our eyes, the winner of the game gets to claim the whole road as their own,” said Jay Farrell, coach at North Central.
Farrell knows the rivalry well. He started the Cardinals program in 2017 after serving as head coach at Benedictine from 2013-15. During his time with the Eagles, Farrell coached Blake Keenan as a player. Keenan would follow Farrell to North Central before becoming a head coach at Earlham College in Indiana. This summer, Keenan returned to his alma mater and will line up against his mentor on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
“I am really excited to see him across the sidelines next week coaching for his alma mater,” Farrell said of Keenan. “But both BenU and NCC are NCAA qualifying teams so there is business to be had on the field.”
Keenan agrees it will be exciting to be on the field against his mentor. “I would be lying if I said there weren’t emotions associated with returning to Benedictine and this being my first game back or competing against a mentor and great friend,” Keenan said. “But I take a lot of pride in my ability to not let emotions get the best of me and stay very even keeled on the sideline. But as an extremely competitive person, winning is always the goal regardless of who the opponent is.”
Throughout the years, the rivalry between the schools has been likened to a sibling-type relationship.
“North Central has had an immense amount of success on the national level and Benedictine has as well, but not to the record-breaking success of North Central,” Keenan commented. “Being so close, many recruits and families visit both campuses when in town. I would definitely say many times Benedictine gets overlooked and underestimated when it comes to the two. We definitely have a chip on our shoulder.”
While many of those recruits initially came from the greater Chicago area, an increasing number are coming for outside the region. Benedictine’s 2023 roster has players from as far away as California and Florida, while North Central has attracted talent from Texas and Utah.
“I think Chicago has a lot to do with it,” admits Farrell. “We have a great city that can provide great opportunities for people after college, and have fantastic high school and club programs helping to grow the youth market for lacrosse. It’s a great place for guys to come play lacrosse and live. It’s attractive and accessible for guys from out west in places like California, Colorado, Utah and others but also familiar to those looking at east coast lacrosse universities.”
As for the rivalry and this season’s game, North Central has won the previous two matches in the series, a 16-11 win last season at Benedictine, and a 15-8 triumph at home in 2021. The Cardinals return a majority of their team from a year ago, but will need to fend off strong CCIW competition Illinois Wesleyan, the coaches’ pre-season favorite, Carthage, and newcomer Transylvania.
“We will do everything in our control to prepare and be ready to take on any challenges to our team goals. We have to stay healthy, and continue to improve every day. While we have the majority of our team returning, other teams in conference will continue to get better as well and we want to stay ahead of that by focusing on ourselves and always improving,” Farrell said.
For Keenan, the 2023 campaign involves some rebuilding as the team lost 260 of the team’s 447 points from 2022.
“People will assume you will have a down year or two. That is far from our mentality. We return some amazing weapons and leadership all over the field. We return a plethora of players who now know what it takes to win a championship and we will use all of these tools as we strive for our goal, which year in and year out is to win a NACC championship,” Keenan said.
Indeed, the NACC coaches picked Benedictine for third in 2023, with Aurora University in first. Benedictine edged Aurora, 6-5, in last season’s NACC title game.
Friday night’s Battle for the Chicago Maple Avenue Cup gets underway at 5:30 pm CT and will be streamed on the NCC website: https://northcentralcardinals.com/watch/?Live=582&type=Live
Two of those schools quietly making a name for themselves reside on the same street, separated by just two miles. This Friday, February 24, North Central College hosts Benedictine University in the annual Chicago Maple Avenue Cup. Both teams won their conferences in 2022 and competed in the NCAA Tournament.
Located in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, North Central is at the west end of Chicago Avenue, which, when traveling east, turns into Maple Avenue in the town of Lisle, home to Benedictine.
“In our eyes, the winner of the game gets to claim the whole road as their own,” said Jay Farrell, coach at North Central.
Farrell knows the rivalry well. He started the Cardinals program in 2017 after serving as head coach at Benedictine from 2013-15. During his time with the Eagles, Farrell coached Blake Keenan as a player. Keenan would follow Farrell to North Central before becoming a head coach at Earlham College in Indiana. This summer, Keenan returned to his alma mater and will line up against his mentor on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
“I am really excited to see him across the sidelines next week coaching for his alma mater,” Farrell said of Keenan. “But both BenU and NCC are NCAA qualifying teams so there is business to be had on the field.”
Keenan agrees it will be exciting to be on the field against his mentor. “I would be lying if I said there weren’t emotions associated with returning to Benedictine and this being my first game back or competing against a mentor and great friend,” Keenan said. “But I take a lot of pride in my ability to not let emotions get the best of me and stay very even keeled on the sideline. But as an extremely competitive person, winning is always the goal regardless of who the opponent is.”
Throughout the years, the rivalry between the schools has been likened to a sibling-type relationship.
“North Central has had an immense amount of success on the national level and Benedictine has as well, but not to the record-breaking success of North Central,” Keenan commented. “Being so close, many recruits and families visit both campuses when in town. I would definitely say many times Benedictine gets overlooked and underestimated when it comes to the two. We definitely have a chip on our shoulder.”
While many of those recruits initially came from the greater Chicago area, an increasing number are coming for outside the region. Benedictine’s 2023 roster has players from as far away as California and Florida, while North Central has attracted talent from Texas and Utah.
“I think Chicago has a lot to do with it,” admits Farrell. “We have a great city that can provide great opportunities for people after college, and have fantastic high school and club programs helping to grow the youth market for lacrosse. It’s a great place for guys to come play lacrosse and live. It’s attractive and accessible for guys from out west in places like California, Colorado, Utah and others but also familiar to those looking at east coast lacrosse universities.”
As for the rivalry and this season’s game, North Central has won the previous two matches in the series, a 16-11 win last season at Benedictine, and a 15-8 triumph at home in 2021. The Cardinals return a majority of their team from a year ago, but will need to fend off strong CCIW competition Illinois Wesleyan, the coaches’ pre-season favorite, Carthage, and newcomer Transylvania.
“We will do everything in our control to prepare and be ready to take on any challenges to our team goals. We have to stay healthy, and continue to improve every day. While we have the majority of our team returning, other teams in conference will continue to get better as well and we want to stay ahead of that by focusing on ourselves and always improving,” Farrell said.
For Keenan, the 2023 campaign involves some rebuilding as the team lost 260 of the team’s 447 points from 2022.
“People will assume you will have a down year or two. That is far from our mentality. We return some amazing weapons and leadership all over the field. We return a plethora of players who now know what it takes to win a championship and we will use all of these tools as we strive for our goal, which year in and year out is to win a NACC championship,” Keenan said.
Indeed, the NACC coaches picked Benedictine for third in 2023, with Aurora University in first. Benedictine edged Aurora, 6-5, in last season’s NACC title game.
Friday night’s Battle for the Chicago Maple Avenue Cup gets underway at 5:30 pm CT and will be streamed on the NCC website: https://northcentralcardinals.com/watch/?Live=582&type=Live