HAWAI'I HOMEGROWN REPORT
Mililani grad Burke sticks it to his foes
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Adam Burke is unique among the more than 800 student-athletes from Hawai'i at Mainland colleges.
Burke family photo
Burke, a 2000 Mililani High graduate, is an all-star lacrosse player.
Adam Burke (8) averaged more than three points a game.
Burke plays midfield for Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., one hour south of Seattle. He was selected second team All-Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League, chosen a lacrosse Academic All-American, and played in the league's all-star game on May 17 at Seahawk Stadium in Seattle.
Although there are about 100 adult lacrosse players in Hawai'i, Burke — who did not play the game before college — is the only one currently on a collegiate roster, according to Nick Masciangelo of Island Lacrosse Equipment.
Burke said he had "burned out playing soccer before high school" and passed on official interscholastic sports to play on Mililani's Western U.S. champion roller hockey team.
At Pacific Lutheran, "I was looking for something new" and found it in the lacrosse club. "I love the physical aspects of the game," he said. "It has a lot of the same elements as hockey. I think I lead the team in penalty minutes."
Penalty minutes are not in the team statistics, but Burke is PLU's leading midfield scorer and third on the entire team with 39 points (22 goals, 17 assists) and was elected co-captain for 2004 by his teammates.
"He's one of our go-to guys," coach Jason Stockton said. "We give him the ball and have him beat his guy and create a scoring opportunity. He averaged over three points a game."
"I think I lead the team in penalty minutes," Adam Burke said.
Burke says that the stick skills in lacrosse were "nothing like I've ever done before" even though he used a hockey stick in roller hockey. "Throwing and catching is the hardest thing to do," he said.
"The best thing is the great friendships I've made. There are a lot of cool guys on the team."
Burke has a 3.55 grade-point average in education and after earning bachelor's and master's degrees, plans to teach in South America, "and eventually come home to Hawai'i," he said.
STICK IT: Though the game remains popular in the East (37,944 watched this year's NCAA Division I men's championship), many colleges have dropped their men's lacrosse teams from varsity to club status in order to meet gender equity quotas. The 160 club teams in nine leagues of the U.S. Lacrosse Intercollegiate Associates are largely self-funded with no athletic scholarships. Colorado State beat UC-Santa Barbara 6-4 for this year's national club championship . . . The 14 teams in the Pacific Northwest league come from very large (Washington, Oregon, Washington State and Oregon State) to small (Linfield, Willamette) colleges. Simon Fraser of Burnaby, B.C., usually wins, PLU coach Jason Stockton said. "A lot of our kids played football or soccer in high school and get hooked on lacrosse," he said. . . . Lacrosse derives from an Iriquois Indian game called "Little Men of War" that was taught to French settlers, according to Nick Masciangelo. . . . He said there are 60 to 80 youth players on six teams, 30 women and 60 to 70 men on five teams playing lacrosse in Hawai'i. The major event is the Hawai'i Lacrosse Invitational each November. . . . Le Jardin School in Kailua has a summer lacrosse program and might become the first high school to field a team, Masciangelo said.
