In Duke Rape Case Shadow, a Lacrosse Crusader Carries On

May 30, 2006 — -- After a rape investigation that has linked Duke University with North Carolina Central University -- the school where the alleged victim is a student -- it would seem like the last word anyone at NCCU would want to hear is "lacrosse."

But it's quite the contrary: At least one NCCU student wants lacrosse to be part of everyday life -- on the playing field, instead of in the newspaper.

That student is junior Lyle Burnham. And he won't let anything -- even the Duke Lacrosse scandal -- stop his dream of starting an NCCU lacrosse team.

He's off to a good start: Thirty students signed up and ready to play. Five of the 30 are young women -- not enough for a separate team, so they'll have to use the equipment and play by the notoriously rough rules of men's lacrosse.

Before an NCCU student accused three Duke lacrosse players of sexually assaulting her at a party the night of March 13, many NCCU students had only the vaguest idea of what the sport was about. Even fewer had ever held a lacrosse stick.

"Nobody knew what lacrosse was when I first got here," Burnham told ABC News. "I tell them it's like a mix of basketball, football, hockey. That's lacrosse."

Burnham believes he'll have a lacrosse program running by the time he graduates. A criminal justice major, he sees himself joining the Durham police force someday, serving as an assistant coach of the future NCCU lacrosse team in his spare time.

Burhnam explains that the Duke lacrosse rape allegations rattled nerves at NCCU, but the case has not led to any backlash against the sport or the people who play it on campus.

"Of course, people are angry," he said. "But they're not angry at lacrosse players in general. People realize it's not a lacrosse team. This is something that happened with a few individuals, and you can't judge the whole sport."

More importantly, he said, there has been no decline in interest in the lacrosse club he started or the official team he hopes will come from it.