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Friday, December 3, 2004 PRESBYTERIAN
COLLEGE TO JOIN DEEP SOUTH CONFERENCE ROCK
HILL, SC -
Presbyterian College, in Clinton, S.C., has been
accepted as a member of the Deep South Conference
beginning with the 2005-06 school year, Conference
Commissioner Doug Echols announced. The
Deep South Conference is an NCAA Division II league of
schools which compete in the sport of men's lacrosse.
Presbyterian will become the ninth member of the league.
"Our
coaches, athletic administrators and presidents were all
enthusiastic about the prospect of adding a fine
institution such as Presbyterian into our
conference," Echols said. "We know they will
be a proud addition." Presbyterian
will be fielding its first lacrosse team this spring as
a club team, under the direction of Patrick Lynch.
Lynch
has been instrumental in the development of lacrosse in
the state of South Carolina from founding the first
youth lacrosse programs in the city of Columbia at local
YMCAs to founding the first men's and women's high
school lacrosse programs at Ridge View High School. In
addition, he helped bring the first lacrosse camp to
Columbia through the sponsorship of Shamrock Lacrosse,
Inc. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors
of United States Lacrosse in South Carolina which helps
to develop the sport as a whole and serves as a liaison
between the Board of Director of US Lacrosse and the
South Carolina High School League. Lynch
previously served as the varsity girl's head coach at
Ridge View High School, a post he held for the previous
last three years. In addition, he is still active as a
player as a member of the Charleston Hurricane Club
team. He started his career in coaching at Canisius
College in Buffalo, New York as an assistant coach
with the men's lacrosse program from 1990-91. He
began playing lacrosse at the collegiate level in 1986
as a member of the Canton Tech Junior College in Canton,
New York. He played for two seasons and scored 99 goals
while being named to the NJCAA All-Region team in 1988.
After spending one season at Potsdam College in Potsdam,
New York in 1988, Lynch transferred to Canisius College
from 1989-1990. He started at attack for the Golden
Griffins and became the only player in program history
to score 50+ goals in their career and holds the
single-season mark for goals scored in a single-season.
He finished his senior year ranked 13th in the country
in points per game average. The
Deep South Conference is nationally-recognized as one of
the best lacrosse conferences in the country. Limestone
won the D-II championship in 2000 and 2002, while
finishing runner-up in 2001, 2003 and 2004. Also,
Wingate and St. Andrews have participated in NCAA
playoffs. Presbyterian
will immediately be eligible for the conference
championship and all conference awards when it begins
competing at the varsity level in the spring of 2006. The
Deep South Conference is in its tenth year as a lacrosse
league and fifth as a fully sanctioned NCAA DII
Conference. Along with Presbyterian, the league consists
of Catawba College (Salisbury, N.C.), Lees-McRae College
(Banner Elk, N.C.), Limestone College (Gaffney, S.C.),
Mars Hill College (Mars Hill, N.C.), Pfeiffer University
(Misenheimer, N.C.), Queens University (Charlotte,
N.C.); St. Andrews Presbyterian College (Laurinburg,
N.C.), and Wingate University (Wingate, N.C.). The
Deep South Conference is a premier lacrosse league in
the South and dedicated to the highest quality of
competition and sportsmanship.
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