SIUC’s Lacrosse Club will carry on a Native American tradition Saturday and Sunday when it hosts the first tournament in club history at the Sam Rinella Fields.

Club treasurer Lance Dennee said lacrosse is the oldest sport in the United States. He said the game was started by Native Americans, who called it baggataway.

The club’s vice president, Mike Tappero said the game originated as a calling of tribes to war.

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The field had no boundaries and no rules, Dennee said.

Today, lacrosse is played on an 110-by-60 field by two teams of ten players each. Three defenders, three mid-fielders, three attackers and a goalie are on the field at the same time. The objective of the game is to put the ball in the opposing team’s net as much as possible in four 15-minute quarters.

While SIUC’s Lacrosse Club is preparing for its home tournament, it is also trying to become a Registered Student Organization and searching for a faculty advisor. Dennee said this helped the team bring the tournament to SIUC.

We had to go through Intramurals, he said. Since we’re working on becoming an RSO they let us hold it on school grounds.

Members of the squad are excited to have the opportunity to play at home this weekend. Dennee said the team hopes SIUC hosting the competition will help increase students’ interest in lacrosse.

We are hoping to get more publicity and school support (for the club), he said. We are trying to show them that we are serious.

Tappero said the team is hoping to recruit more players through playing at home.

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The main thing is next year there might be a lull in the team, he said. We’re trying to get people out there.

Four teams will travel to Carbondale to take part in the tournament. Two of the four squads are school affiliated. Illinois State University and Northern Illinois University are scheduled to play. The remaining two teams, South Side St. Louis and Illinois West, are not university sponsored.

Each team will play three games in the tournament. Play begins at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Dennee said SIUC feels optimistic going into the tournament because of improved play at Northern Illinois University Oct. 14-15. SIUC defeated NIU to finish eighth in a 12-team field.

We’re getting a lot more physical in our play, he said. Our offense is scoring more. We haven’t been shut out this year.

Tappero said although the club is young, its members show improvement after every outing.

A lot of our guys haven’t really played before, he said. They are just getting the fundamentals down.

But, we are definitely better. Every time we play, we see definite improvement.