User:Momzlilpolak03

The Stanford Hurling Team is athletic student organization at Stanford University. The team was the first collegiate hurling team in the United States. The team competes under the California Colllegiate Gaelic Athletic Association (CCGAA), and in 2009 became the first team to win a collegiate cup competition in North America when it beat UC-Berkeley in a two-game aggregate series.

History and Founding
The initial idea for a university hurling team came from student John Mulrow in 2006, after meeting then-San Francisco GAA chairman Eamonn Gormley. Gormley led a few intorductory sessions for Mulrow (then a sophomore) and some friends, and interest began to grow. However, Mulrow took a year off to work for FORGE in Zambia, and the effort lost momentum.

Mulrow returned to campus for the 2007-08 school year, and joined up with a small group of freshmen who had taken an interest in the game. By the end of the year (again, with help from Gormley and the SFGAA), the hurlers had made enough headway to become an official organization.

First official year and the CCGAA Cup
The next year was one of rapid growth for the team, as it grew from about six members to about 20 by the end of the 2008-09 school year. The 08-09 year also brought more good news, as UC-Berkeley- inspired by their cross-Bay rivals- organized a team at the beginning of the school year. This led to the formation of the CCGAA, in order to govern matches between the two schools.

The two teams played a challenge match at Stanford on January 31st, 2009, making history by playing in the first collegiate hurling match in North American history. After a back and forth battle, Berkeley ended up taking the exhibition 3-10 to 3-9. The teams then took part in the first ever US collegiate hurling cup competetion- a two game aggregate series, with both games played at Pairc na nGael on Treasure Island. Stanford won the historic competetion-and the inauguaral Gary Duffin Memorial Cup- beating Cal 2-10 to 1-7 on February 21, 2009 and then winning the second match 6-9 to 1-11 on April 18, 2009.