Lehigh Laxfest Tourney Review

We hit four tournaments this summer and unfortunately the summer has been busy enough that I haven't had a chance to post reviews. So I'm going to try to get through them soon.

First up is Lehigh Laxfest. This was my second time at this tournament.

Lehigh Laxfest does a lacrosse tournament about as well as any I have seen. We had horrendous weather this year but we can't blame that on the organizers.

The facility at Lehigh is really good. Some of the fields are a little sloped but few places have so many fields available within a short walk. Obviously, the rain didn't help the conditions of the fields at all but again that cannot be helped.

Traffic is a definite problem at Lehigh though. You will sit in some traffic on the way in and the way out. There just aren't many roads in or out of the place.

I love the play format of Lehigh Laxfest. For each division, the organizers make a bracket and your opponent is based upon the result of your games thus far. Winners play winners and losers play losers so you'll be playing a team with your same record most of the day. It seems to me that they organize the teams based upon geography so that you won't be playing a neighboring team right away. The great part about this format is that by the third game or so, you are pretty much guaranteed to be playing an appropriate opponent for your team regardless of how strong or weak you are. The last two teams at 4-0 play an extra game at the end of the day for the tournament championship but almost everyone ends up at 3-1, 2-2, or 1-3.

Game format was 20-minute halves and run by horns. Excellent format. Works fine. I have one criticism which is that they went to Braveheart for overtime. I am a big fan of Lineheart instead.

The level of play was pretty high but with the tournament format any team will end up playing appropriate teams by the afternoon.

The concessions were pretty good and varied. Since grills were allowed, we did a tailgate instead. This is a big issue for me. I seriously doubt that I ever will give a tournament a grade above a B+ unless grills are allowed.

I would give the tournament an A- overall. Adopt Lineheart next year and there is a good chance this becomes an A.