NAIA lacrosse
There are numerous men's and women's college lacrosse teams at schools that are members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which is an alternate athletic organization for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The vast majority of these lacrosse programs participate either in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) for men or the Women's Collegiate Lacrosse Associates (WCLA) for women.
Both the MCLA and WCLA were specifically founded to organize lacrosse clubs that lacked varsity teams that officially represent the college or university and that generally receive direct school funding. However, because the NAIA does not currently organize the sport of lacrosse for its member institutions, many of their schools have begun organizing new varsity lacrosse teams through the MCLA or WCLA instead, where the school administers the program through their athletic department. Typically, these varsity programs, like their NCAA counterparts, provide athletic scholarships to some of their players, often after a public ceremony that includes an official "letter of intent" signing by the new recruit and official publicity from the school about the event. Further, the official school athletic department usually hires and fires the coaching staff and provides uniforms, equipment and covers travel expenses, among other things. They also generally pay the MCLA or WCLA dues for the team as an expense of the athletic department.
This has become somewhat controversial within both the MCLA and WCLA, because these varsity teams seem to have unfair advantages over student-run and financed club teams. Generally, it's obvious when an NAIA team is "varsity" or college or university-run, because it appears on the official athletics website for the school alongside other varsity programs for basketball or track & field, for example. Club teams typically are not included at all on official school athletics websites or are clearly labeled as "club" teams, often for liability purposes. See the references below for documentation of this phenomenon.
The organization of lacrosse as an official sport within the NAIA has begun—the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) announced on January 27, 2012, that it is making history by adding lacrosse for both men and women as conference sports effective the fall of 2012. The WHAC is the first conference in the NAIA to offer lacrosse as a conference championship sport.[1] An earlier step in this direction was the establishment in September 2010 of the National Women's Lacrosse League, which is a lacrosse-only women's NAIA conference.
Men's programs
Institution |
Nickname |
Location |
Enrollment |
Aquinas College |
Saints |
Grand Rapids, Michigan |
2,100 |
Davenport University |
Panthers |
Grand Rapids, Michigan |
12,471 |
Indiana Institute of Technology |
Warriors |
Fort Wayne, Indiana |
3,500 |
Lawrence Technological University |
Blue Devils |
Southfield, Michigan |
4,000 |
Lourdes University |
Grey Wolves |
Sylvania, Ohio |
2,500 |
Marygrove College |
Mustangs |
Detroit, Michigan |
4,100 |
University of Michigan–Dearborn |
Wolves |
Dearborn, Michigan |
8,635 |
Siena Heights University |
Saints |
Adrian, Michigan |
2,307 |
Independent
Institution |
Nickname |
Location |
Enrollment |
Asbury University |
Eagles |
Wilmore, Kentucky |
1,600 |
Dordt College [8] |
Defenders |
Sioux Center, Iowa |
1,300 |
Johnson & Wales University [9] |
Wildcats |
Denver, Colorado |
1,600 |
Judson University [10] |
Eagles |
Elgin, Illinois |
1,132 |
Lindenwood University – Belleville [11] |
Lynx |
Belleville, Illinois |
2,600 |
Missouri Baptist University [12] |
Spartans |
St. Louis, Missouri |
4,614 |
Robert Morris University [13] |
Eagles |
Chicago, Illinois |
7,000 |
Savannah College of Art and Design [14] |
Bees |
Savannah, Georgia |
11,897 |
Benedictine College [15] |
Ravens |
Atchison, Kansas |
1,850 |
Club teams
Institution |
Nickname |
Location |
Enrollment |
Biola University |
Eagles |
La Mirada, California |
3,924 |
University of California, Merced |
Bobcats |
Merced, California |
4,381 |
Concordia University–Irvine |
Eagles |
Irvine, California |
1,453 |
Holy Cross College |
Saints |
Notre Dame, Indiana |
492 |
Marymount California University |
Mariners |
Rancho Palos Verdes, California |
800 |
Northwestern College |
Red Raiders |
Orange City, Iowa |
1,206 |
Taylor University |
Trojans |
Upland, Indiana |
2,333 |
William Jessup University |
Warriors |
Rocklin, California |
1,016 |
Women's programs
Institution |
Nickname |
Location |
Enrollment |
Aquinas College |
Saints |
Grand Rapids, Michigan |
2,100 |
Davenport University |
Panthers |
Grand Rapids, Michigan |
11,733 |
Indiana Institute of Technology |
Warriors |
Fort Wayne, Indiana |
3,500 |
Lawrence Technological University |
Blue Devils |
Southfield, Michigan |
4,000 |
Lourdes University |
Grey Wolves |
Sylvania, Ohio |
2,500 |
Siena Heights University |
Saints |
Adrian, Michigan |
2,307 |
Institution |
Nickname |
Location |
Enrollment |
Asbury University |
Eagles |
Wilmore, Kentucky |
1,600 |
Ave Maria University |
Gyrenes |
Ave Maria, Florida |
1,200 |
Columbia College (SC) |
Fighting Koalas |
Columbia, South Carolina |
1,200 |
Georgetown College |
Tigers |
Georgetown, Kentucky |
1,200 |
Lindenwood University – Belleville |
Lynx |
Belleville, Illinois |
2,600 |
Midland University |
Warriors |
Fremont, Nebraska |
2,000 |
Missouri Baptist University |
Spartans |
St. Louis, Missouri |
4,500 |
Oklahoma Baptist University |
Bison |
Shawnee, Oklahoma |
1,800 |
Point University |
Skyhawks |
West Point, Georgia |
1,000 |
Reinhardt University |
Eagles |
Waleska, Georgia |
1,057 |
Robert Morris University |
Eagles |
Chicago, Illinois |
7,000 |
St. Andrews University |
Knights |
Laurinburg, North Carolina |
600 |
Savannah College of Art and Design |
Bees |
Savannah, Georgia |
8,478 |
Tennessee Wesleyan College |
Bulldogs |
Athens, Tennessee |
1,000 |
Truett–McConnell College |
Bears |
Cleveland, Georgia |
1,000 |
- Oklahoma Baptist — reclassifying to NCAA D-II.
Other teams
See also
References
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