College of Saint Benedict (D3 MN) Adds Women's Lacrosse

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – As it strives to create more opportunities for women and continue to grow as one of the top departments in the MIAC and within the NCAA, the College of Saint Benedict athletic department is taking another step forward as it announces the addition of varsity lacrosse. Starting in the 2022-23 school year, Saint Benedict will house one of four NCAA Division III varsity lacrosse programs in Minnesota. The addition of lacrosse brings the department up to 12 varsity sport programs. 

"Our goal at the College of Saint Benedict is to provide the premier Division III student-athlete experience for women in the country," Saint Benedict transitional president Laurie Hamen said. "Lacrosse is an exciting addition, especially at a time of growth in the sport in the Midwest."

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Posted in: Division III,Minnesota

University of Bridgeport (D2 CT) Adds Men's Lacrosse, St. Thomas University (NAIA FL) Adds Women's Lacrosse

Bridgeport, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport (UB) today announced it plans to add ten new sports, which would bring the total number of varsity sports on campus to 17 along with the addition club sports offerings. In the Fall '22 semester, UB seeks to begin adding sports including NCAA Division II men's lacrosse, women's and men's indoor and outdoor track and field, and an eSports club team. 

Over the next few years, the University will also add new club sports
including men's and women's rugby and women's bowling. Bridgeport also anticipates fielding a Sprint Football team as early as the Fall '23 semester. UB is starting the process of hiring coaches for these new teams so that they may begin recruiting student-athletes. In accordance with NCAA rules, athletic scholarships will be available for men's and women's track and field athletes as well as men's lacrosse athletes beginning with the Fall '22 semester.

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (October 5, 2021) – St. Thomas University (STU) Director of Athletics, Bill Rychel, announces the addition of Women's Lacrosse to the athletic roster. The Bobcats Women's Lacrosse inaugural team will be set to compete in the 2022-23 school year.

"I am excited to provide another opportunity for women to compete at St Thomas," said Rychel. "Lacrosse has continued to grow throughout the country and will be a great addition to our athletic department. I look forward to working with Coach [Candace] Walker to identify our first head coach and launch the program in 2022." "It's exciting to see lacrosse grow throughout the country at all levels, and the NAIA has experienced rapid growth in the last seven years," stated Brandon Davis, representative of Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA). 

"The state of Florida has shown over and over that it can produce quality programs that can compete on the national stage in a short period of time. We can't wait to see what the program at St Thomas can bring to the table and add to the strong stable of NAIA programs!"

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Posted in: Connecticut,Division II,Florida,NAIA

UW-Stout (D3 WI) Adds Women's Lacrosse

MENOMONIE (September 22, 2021) – The fastest growing collegiate sport will be coming to UW-Stout when the Blue Devils introduce women's lacrosse to the sports module. UW-Stout will immediately begin a national search for a coach to develop the program with the intent to begin competition in the spring of 2023. Lacrosse becomes the 19th NCAA varsity sport in the UW-Stout sports module and the 11th NCAA varsity sport for women. The lacrosse team will play their home games at Nelson Field. Esports, a non-NCAA sport, became a varsity program during the 2020-21 school year.

The fast-paced sport of lacrosse is growing collegiately not only nationwide - 26 NCAA schools added lacrosse in 2020 - but among schools in the area. UW-River Falls was the first conference school to play lacrosse, beginning in the 2018-19 school year. The Falcons earned an NCAA playoff bid this past spring. UW-La Crosse began their women's program in 2020 and UW-Eau Claire played their first games in 2021. In addition to the three WIAC schools, seven colleges and universities in Wisconsin offer Division III women's programs. Nearby Augsburg University, Hamline University and the University of Northwestern in St. Paul offer Division III women's lacrosse programs. With the start of the 2020-21 season, there were 293 NCAA Division III women's lacrosse programs.

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Posted in: Division III,Wisconsin

Augustana University (D2 SD) Adds Women's Lacrosse

 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Continuing with Augustana University's strategic plan — Viking Bold: The Journey to 2030 — of providing students opportunities and to help fuel enrollment growth, Augustana Athletics is proud to announce the addition of women's lacrosse beginning in the 2023-24 academic year. Augustana will house the first collegiate lacrosse program in South Dakota, regardless of division or affiliation. The Vikings will compete at the NCAA
Division II level.

"We are excited to add this fast-growing, dynamic sport at Augustana," Augustana Director of Athletics Josh Morton said. "This is a natural fit for our campus, community and region and, once again, we are able to find ways to grow and differentiate ourselves." There has been strong growth of the sport in the NCAA, including nine new programs at the NCAA Division II level since January 2020. In total, there are currently 114 programs competing at the Division II level across 10 conferences. Across all three divisions, there are 524 women's teams.

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Posted in: Division II,South Dakota

University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy (NAIA MO) Adds Lacrosse

In addition to its efforts to improve the student experience, the University will also build a foundation of aggressive recruiting and student support for extracurricular and intercollegiate athletics participation through its existing sports teams, and create new teams and programs as part of the Eutectics Forward plan. "Over the years, UHSP's student-athletes have continued to lift the academic caliber of our
institution, and we've seen very high retention rates among our first-year student-athletes," Allen noted. "With these factors in mind, we will be partnering new and existing athletic teams with our new academic programs in an effort to bolster enrollment and provide student-athletes with new ways to grow and learn with us." 

New athletic teams that will begin recruiting students for fall 2022 include: 
Baseball
Men's and Women's Bowling
Competitive Cheer
Competitive Dance
Men's and Women's Golf
Men's and Women's Lacrosse
Men's Rugby
Men's and Women's Wrestling

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Posted in: Missouri,NAIA