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Lacrosse is gaining interest in Tucson and nationally, offering football players a full-contact spring sport.

Three high schools have varsity lacrosse club teams through the Arizona Youth Lacrosse League, and two junior varsity teams are starting up.

The Salpointe Catholic lacrosse program will begin its third season in March at the same time as baseball and other spring sports. Lacrosse isn't an official high school sport in Arizona, but some schools plan to push for it in a couple of years, said team administrator Mel Greenberg.

The Salpointe team was undefeated in its first year. Last year, it made it to the semifinals before losing to Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep.

Sabino won the state contest last year and took second place the year before.

Catalina Foothills also has a club team, and JV teams are forming at Ironwood Ridge and in the Marana area.

Nationwide, lacrosse participation was up 14 percent from a year ago, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Startup costs for players can be prohibitive.

"I'm from back east and I'm very familiar with the sport and it's kind of good that it's been growing this way. It's a really fun sport to play. The issue is that to really play the sport, you need the equipment. … You're looking at $300 to $600 to get outfitted," said Diego Morales, who runs The Shop, a soccer — and now lacrosse — store near Campbell Avenue and Glenn Street.

In football, most schools provide equipment for players.

Coach Dean Greenberg at Salpointe, and others, have been donating equipment to help launch programs. For more information on joining a lacrosse club team, visit azlax.com.

Three Tucson-area high school soccer stars are part of the Northern Arizona women's soccer Big Sky Championship team.

NAU (12-6-3) is the only Arizona school headed to the NCAA tournament in Portland, Ore. It's the college's first appearance in the tourney.

The three are forward Sam Monahan (Catalina Foothills), forward Brandy Carr (Sabino) and defender Chanice Kittrell (Sahuaro).

● The Charger Classic boys soccer tournament scheduled for mid-December has been canceled. Cholla has yet to hire a soccer coach to run the team and the tournament.

● Santa Rita wants to start a baseball tournament, to be called the Golden Eagle Classic, in mid-March.

The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association is giving Desert Christian athletic director Cindy Riley the Distinguished Service Award for her outstanding contributions to interscholastic athletics.

She will be honored Dec. 15 in San Diego during the National Conference of High School Directors of Athletics.

She has been the Desert Christian athletic director since 1986, and has been the Arizona Interscholastic Association's Ethics and Sportsmanship Committee chairwoman since 2005.

Riley was inducted as an athlete into the Flowing Wells High School Sports Hall of Fame in September.