Willamette University (D3 OR) Adds Women's Lacrosse

SALEM, Ore. – Willamette University Athletics Director Valerie Cleary has announced that the NCAA Division III Bearcats will hire a head coach for women's lacrosse in the spring of 2017 with the goal of competing within the Northwest Conference in the spring of 2019. "

After careful consideration of levels of interest in high school sports, student interest surveys completed on campus last spring, and competition available within the Northwest Conference, lacrosse quickly emerged as the top candidate for Willamette's new women's sport," Cleary said.

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Upper Iowa University (DII) and Central Christian College (KS NAIA) Add Lacrosse

Upper Iowa University and the Athletics Department is proud to announce that women's lacrosse will become the 16th varsity sport for the Peacocks with the first team set to compete in the 2018-19 academic year. A search for a full-time head coach will begin immediately with the position starting early this spring (2017) to establish recruiting, schedules and other day-to-day operations for the new program. The program's first competition will take place in spring 2019.

The team will compete and train at Harms-Eischeid Stadium. "We are excited to add women's lacrosse to our Athletics Department and provide new opportunities to new students looking at Upper Iowa University as their top choice for higher education," said President William R. Duffy II. "The caliber of student-athletes who compete in lacrosse will be an asset for our university, and we look forward to these young women becoming UIU leaders inside and outside of the classroom."

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The Central Christian College Board of Trustees and the President's Cabinet have approved the addition of Men's Lacrosse beginning in the Fall of 2017. The announcement was made late last week by Central Christian Director of Athletics, Steve "Twiggs" Reed. When Reed was hired in the summer of 2015, one of the projects he was tasked with by CCC President, Hal Hoxie, was to begin looking at other NAIA championship sports that could be added to the College's lineup of athletic programs, that would help place in CCC in the national spotlight, and also help to boost enrollment.

In his first year at the helm, Reed added men's wrestling to the docket, and after many months of research the decision was made to start a men's lacrosse program at CCC. Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States and has been gaining popularity here in the central states over the past decade. Currently it is listed as an invitational sport in the NAIA with 30 schools sponsoring a program.

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2016 High School Sponsorship Data Released

From Laxpower.com

Lacrosse at the high school level has grown dramatically since 2001 and continues to expand at a more rapid rate than most other sports. Girls' lacrosse again cracked the top 10 in number of participants, with about 88,000 players at schools covered by the NFHS survey.

Data on school sponsorship and student participation are compiled annually by the National Federation of State High School Associations, and we have created a summary of the NFHS data, which includes both data tables and graphs that present the figures longitudinally.

From 2001 through 2016, the number of high schools sponsoring boys' and girls' lacrosse increased by 193% and 229%, respectively. Over that period, the number of students participating in lacrosse rose by 162% for boys and 172% for girls. For more detailed information, see the full report

Note that the NFHS universe is limited. There are over 1,200 boys' and about 700 girls' lacrosse teams and their participants not included in the totals. In many states, the NFHS umbrella does not include all schools. High schools in states where lacrosse is not officially sanctioned are simply not reflected in NFHS figures.

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St. Ambrose University (NAIA IA) Adds Women's Lacrosse

St. Ambrose University President Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD, announced today the University will add men's and women's varsity swimming & diving and women's varsity lacrosse next academic year. The swimming teams will begin competition in the fall of 2017 and the women's lacrosse team will begin play in the spring of 2018. Additionally, SAU Director of Athletics Ray Shovlain announced the hiring of Garrett Wimberly as the head men's and women's lacrosse coach at St. Ambrose. He will begin his duties on Sept. 1.

Since 2009-10, the University has added men's and women's bowling, men's lacrosse, athletic band, and now men's and women's swimming & diving, and women's lacrosse.

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