Notre Dame to play Denver in men’s lacrosse at Orange Coast College

Back in 2014, Corona del Mar High boys’ lacrosse coach G.W. Mix capitalized on an opportunity to bring his son, Ryan, home for spring break.

His son was a senior on the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team at the time. For Mix, a phone call from Fighting Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan provided the chance he needed to bring top-flight lacrosse to Southern California.

Notre Dame was due to host Denver over Spring Break, but no one was going to be in town to watch the premier matchup. Corrigan told Mix that if he could cover the air travel, hotel stay and meals, he would move the game to Southern California and let Ryan come home.

Mix made it happen, and it has turned into one of the biggest promotions of lacrosse in the state. Now in its sixth year, the Pacific Coast Shootout has been a labor of love for Mix and his wife, Mary. They have organized and promoted the event, which raises funds to bring Division 1 matchups out here.

Over the years, the series has seen Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and Cornell also come out west.

This year’s Pacific Coast Shootout will feature the original matchup, as No. 8-ranked Denver (4-1) and No. 10 Notre Dame (2-1) will square off in a regular-season game at Orange Coast College at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

“The whole idea behind it, sort of our slogan behind it is, ‘Show the game to grow the game,’” Mix said. “We just really felt that with all the development of lacrosse on the west coast, the best way for these kids to develop their skills is to see the game played at its highest level.”

Mix played for and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. He served as the head coach of the program for the Quakers from 1991 to 1994.

Lacrosse continues to grow in Southern California. Mix expects the Pacific Coast Shootout to draw a near-capacity crowd for the 6,800-seat stadium at Orange Coast College, most of which will be high school and club teams taking advantage of the opportunity to see the game at its best up close.

Mix pointed out that Denver used to be one of the closest Division 1 programs to California before Utah, which is in its inaugural season.

“You can go watch the Lakers play, the Angels or the Dodgers, the Kings,” Mix added. “You get to see the games being played at their highest levels.

“We really wanted to bring the game to [California], and a lot of my friends here with these schools have been very gracious in doing so.”

The game will feature a number of Orange County athletes, including two CdM alumni from the class of 2015. Brett Greenlee is a senior long-stick midfielder for Denver, and Hugh Crance is a senior defenseman for Notre Dame.

Tickets for Saturday’s game start at $27.50. Discounts are offered for groups of 20 or more.

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner