On a team in Southern California, more than 2,500 miles from the center of lacrosse’s universe on the Eastern Seaboard, Kyle Harrison no longer feels unsettled.

For many years and on numerous teams Harrison, regarded by many as perhaps the greatest midfielder in lacrosse’s history, was “the only pair of brown legs on the field,” a rare black player in a sport that is overwhelmingly white. But for the last few years, Harrison has caught a glimpse of what he hopes is lacrosse’s future: a racial balance that will eliminate the uneasiness that he and other minority players say they have felt to varying degrees in their careers.

“Half my team is black,” said Harrison, who plays for Team STX on the LXM Pro Tour. “I was proud as hell the first time I walked on the field with those guys. I knew we had all been through the same thing, and we’ve all been the only guy on a lacrosse team before. When you start getting in those situations where you’re not the only one, you’re not the token black lacrosse player on a team, you start to feel more comfortable.”

As the popularity and the visibility of lacrosse increase, the diversity in the sport lags behind. Just 1.9 percent of Division I men’s lacrosse players are black, according to the most recent N.C.A.A. study. One of the teams (Duke) in this weekend’s men’s Final Four in Philadelphia has one black player, while another (Cornell) has none.