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

Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference

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

Frontier Conference

Institution Nickname Location Enrollment
University of Great Falls Argos Great Falls, Montana 2,100
College of Idaho Coyotes Caldwell, Idaho 1,042
Southern Oregon University Red Raiders Ashland, Oregon 6,744
Westminster College [2] Griffins Salt Lake City, Utah 2,887

Appalachian Athletic Conference

Institution Nickname Location Enrollment
Montreat College [3] Cavaliers Montreat, North Carolina 400
Point University [4] SkyHawks West Point, Georgia 1,035
Reinhardt University [5] Eagles Waleska, Georgia 1,057
St. Andrews University [6] Knights Laurinburg, North Carolina 600
Tennessee Wesleyan College [7] Bulldogs Athens, Tennessee 1,000

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

Wolverine–Hoosier Athletic Conference

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

National Women's Lacrosse League

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

Other teams

Institution Nickname Location Enrollment
Montreat College Cavaliers Montreat, North Carolina 400
University of Pikeville [16] Bears Pikeville, Kentucky 1,841
Taylor University Trojans Upland, Indiana 2,500
Westminster College [2] Griffins Salt Lake City, Utah 2,900

See also

References

  1. ↑ "WHAC Adds Two Conference Sports for 2012-13". WHAC. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Westminster College official athletics website". Westminster College. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  3. ↑ Montreat College Athletics website, retrieved January '14
  4. ↑ "Point University to Launch Men's Lacrosse Program, Hires Alumnus Nathan Booker to Lead Team". Point University. February 14, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Reinhardt University official athletics website". Reinhardt University. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  6. ↑ "St. Andrews University (North Carolina) official athletics website". St. Andrews University (North Carolina). Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  7. ↑ "Tennessee Wesleyan College official athletics website". Tennessee Wesleyan College. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  8. ↑ "Dordt College official athletics website". Dordt College. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  9. ↑ http://denver.jwuathletics.com/landing/index. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ "Judson University official athletics website". Judson University. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  11. ↑ "Lindenwood University – Belleville official athletics website". Lindenwood University – Belleville. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
  12. ↑ "Missouri Baptist University official athletics website". Missouri Baptist University. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  13. ↑ Staff (February 8, 2012). "Robert Morris (Ill.) to Add Men's Lacrosse in 2013". Lacrosse Magazine. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Savannah College of Art and Design official athletics website". Savannah College of Art and Design. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
  15. ↑ http://www.ravenathletics.com/article/1009.php. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ↑ "Pennsylvania native to be first Lacrosse coach". University of Pikeville. June 24, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2012.