EAST COAST SPORT GOES WESTWARD HO TWO ALL-STARS ON LOCAL LACROSSE TEAM.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

SAUGUS - At the end of its third full season, the Saugus High lacrosse team is still struggling to win games - it was 2-7 this year - but the conventionally East Coast sport has taken root in the valley, according to head coach Steve Tyson.

Throughout Greater Los Angeles, the number of high school lacrosse teams nearly doubled to more than 20 this year, and Tyson hopes the game will continue to grow in the Santa Clarita Valley as well.

He has founded a club team for middle school students to try to hook kids at a younger age in order to develop interest and talent. ``You've got to feed your programs from the bottom up, or else they're going to disappear. It's a great sport, and it's probably one of the fastest growing sports in the nation,'' he said.

``It's just like soccer was back in the '70s. There was no way that soccer was going to take hold in the United States trying to entice a 35-year-old,'' Tyler said. Then youth soccer leagues were organized.

This season's Saugus High Centurions lacrosse team of 16 players includes two, Greg Brown and Cory Sabotin, who will play in the regional all-star game on May 26 in Culver City.

``This was a good building year, and Steve is working hard with the middle school teams to build a good foundation, so our future should be great,'' said Brown, 18, who founded the team three years ago and will attend the University of California, Santa Barbara, next year. He will play on UCSB's national-champion club lacrosse team.

Brown, the Saugus team's MVP, moved to Santa Clarita from Virginia, where lacrosse is a popular collegiate sport. He is confident that if children start playing at a younger age in Santa Clarita, lacrosse will get a grip on the valley.

``There's so many different sports out there for guys to play that it's tough to get all the athletes that you need,'' Brown said. ``It's important to get students before they go to high school. If kids find an (early) interest in it, they'll be interested in it throughout high school.''

Culver City High School Coach Casey Chabola agrees. But getting middle schools to adopt lacrosse programs is difficult, he said, because the sport gets no funding from the California Interscholastic Federation, so it must be supported by volunteer fund-raising.

``This is our fifth year in Culver City. Our first year, we had to travel down to Orange County to play. This year we had 13 varsity teams (in Los Angeles) to play, and that's made a huge difference,'' Chabola said. ``It's going to continue to grow as middle schools pick it up and those kids move into high schools.''

Brown's forecast is getting a boost from Tyson's plans to continue coaching lacrosse at Saugus High and as a club sport for middle school students. Tyson, a father of three, would also like to see women's lacrosse in the valley.

``I have a 9-year-old daughter who wants to play lacrosse, but there's no girls team here. That's the next order of business.''

The league all-star game will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Culver City High School. For information about Santa Clarita lacrosse, visit Tyson's Web site at www.scvlacrosse.com.

Nicholas Grudin, [phone]

nicholas.grudin(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Saugus High lacrosse coach Steve Tyson is a man with a mission: to popularize the sport, especially among preteens, in Santa Clarita.

David Crane/Staff Photographer