Tuesday, June 21, 2022
MARIETTA, Ga. ---- Life University Director of Athletics Jayme Pendergast announced the addition of women's flag football and men's lacrosse for the 2023-24 season Wednesday afternoon. With the growth of new sports within the NAIA, Life University has remained one of the most innovative schools in the country. Women's flag has been identified as an emerging championship sport, while men's lacrosse will soon begin a transition from an invitational to a championship sport. The women's flag football team will join immediately as a member of the Sun Conference.
Pendergast expressed her excitement stating, "We are really excited to add two more sports to the department. There is a lot of due diligence that goes into adding a new sport, so this plan has been in the works and I'm thrilled to be able to make it official. With the new turfed upper field and REP Center, these two sports will have the facilities and field space they need to be successful. In addition, as sports, they both fit well within our current offerings. Flag Football is a relatively new sport, but I anticipate seeing it take off similar to women's wrestling. I've paid attention to its growth at the local high school level and collegiately across the southeast. With it moving to invitational sport status in the NAIA we are looking forward to being an early adopter of the sport and laying the foundation for long-term success. Similarly, men's lacrosse is huge in our backyard and right on the verge of championship status with the NAIA. With women's lacrosse getting off to such a successful start I anticipate the same on the men's side. Again, we have secured some great facilities and already have some talented lacrosse athletes using our fields from our partnership with Thunder Lacrosse. When we start new sport programs, we want to ensure that the opportunity can lead to championship experiences for our student-athletes and I'm optimistic we can accomplish that with both of these great opportunities."
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