It's Dehuntshigwa'es Showdown Time

UPDATE: Hopkins beat Delaware 8-3 and Duke outlasted Cornell 12-11 to advance to the final at 1 p.m. EST on Memorial Day. More here.

Lacrosse is said to be the fastest growing sport in America.

I don’t know if that’s true, but I have come to look forward to watching the national collegiate championship finals on recent Memorial Day weekends.

Lacrosse was invented by Native North Americans. Its name was dehuntshigwa'es in Onondaga ("men hit a rounded object"), da-nah-wah'uwsdi in Eastern Cherokee ("little war"), tewaarathon in Mohawk ("little brother of war"), and baaga`adowe in Ojibwe ("knocking about of balls"), which certainly gives you a taste of the excitement of this fast-moving game.

The sport was picked up by French settlers and later a small handful of elite East Coast prep schools and colleges. But its popularity began spreading elsewhere in the 1980s and there are now numerous college, scholastic and youth leagues.

This weekend’s championship at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore will have special meaning for me because the University of Delaware, unranked in the tournament, has made it to the semi-finals after upsetting defending national champion University of Virginia and then University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Delaware faces perennial powerhouse John’s Hopkins in one match-up today, with the back-from-the-dead Duke team facing Cornell in the other.

Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN2 beginning at noon EDT.

Photo by Ginger Wall/Wilmington (Del.) News Journal