Southeastern Conference (SEC) News

December 30, 2006

SEC rules require four member schools to sponsor women's lacrosse in order for a conference championship to be conducted. At present Vanderbilt; and most recently Florida and South Carolina have established programs.

We have confirmed that several conference schools are expected to announce the addition of Varsity lacrosse for the 2009 season including Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Currently 75 of the 80 Division I schools that compete in women's lacrosse are located in the southern or eastern United States.

The Southeastern Conference consists of:

Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State University
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt

October 11, 2006
Florida Joins the American Lacrosse Conference

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The University of Florida is the newest member of the American Lacrosse Conference, the ALC announced today. Dr. Peggy Pruitt, the ALC Commissioner, extended the invitation to UF late this summer and the Gator program has signed the memorandum of agreement with the league.

"We are very pleased to have the University of Florida join the conference. They will provide an excellent women's lacrosse program and we believe the institution and athletics association fit well with our other institutions," stated Dr. Pruitt.

Florida announced in June that lacrosse will be added to its varsity sports offerings, with the inaugural season targeted for the spring of 2010. Too few Southeastern Conference programs currently offer the sport to sponsor a league championship, so Florida pursued an affiliate membership in an established women's lacrosse league.

Florida joins Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Ohio University, Ohio State, Penn State and Vanderbilt as the seventh member of the ALC. Northwestern, the two-time defending NCAA champion, claimed the 2006 ALC team title. The ALC has been in existence since the 2002 season.

Starting in 2007, the ALC will sponsor a conference tournament. Florida will be eligible for the title with their inaugural season.

Florida will be the first Division I program in the state of Florida to offer women's lacrosse. Of the 80 Division I NCAA schools offering women's lacrosse for the 2006 season, 75 are in the southern or eastern United States. South Carolina announced in late August that it will add women's lacrosse and expects that 2009 will be its first season of competition.

September 2006

University of South Carolina to add women's lacrosse to varsity roster

USC will add women's lacrosse to its varsity sports roster, Athletics Director Eric Hyman announced August 29. The addition will bring the number of varsity sports offered at USC to 21, including 12 women's sports.

"We considered several sports and women's lacrosse consistently came out on top in our list of criteria," said Hyman. "Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. Our research indicates that there is a very high level of interest in the sport among high school girls in this part of the country. Lacrosse is very popular in North Carolina and Virginia, along with the Northeast United States, which will help us as we recruit student-athletes to compete in this sport. We also have a club team on campus which can provide the nucleus to the varsity team," added Hyman.

The Gamecocks will begin a national search for a head coach in the spring of 2007 and expect to begin competition in the spring of 2009 at the earliest. The average roster size for women's lacrosse is 27 players with a maximum number of scholarships set at 15.

"We want to give our new coach an ample amount of time to put the building blocks in place to form a solid foundation for the program and also have enough time to recruit prospective student-athletes to field a competitive team," noted Hyman.

Vanderbilt, which has had a women's lacrosse team since 1996 and reached the NCAA semifinals in 2004, is the only SEC school that currently sponsors women's varsity lacrosse. However, Florida announced recently that it has added the program and will begin competition in the spring of 2010. Other SEC schools are also considering adding the sport. If four SEC members sponsor the sport, the league will conduct a conference championship. There is also a possibility that USC could join another conference for lacrosse in the interim. Currently 75 of the 80 Division I schools that compete in women's lacrosse are located in the southern or eastern United States.

Recent figures indicate that lacrosse is the 12th most popular sport among Division I women's programs. In 2005-06, the NCAA offered championships in 20 women's Division I sports. The NCAA has sponsored a national collegiate championship (one champion for all divisions) for women's lacrosse since 1982. 2001 was the first year for the Division I NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship.
 

June 14, 2006


GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The University of Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley announced Wednesday that the Gators' athletic program will add women's lacrosse. The inaugural season is targeted for the spring of 2010.

The official announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon (June 14) after it was approved by the UF Athletic Board of Directors. The Gators' athletics program will now have 21 varsity sports.

Florida currently has a club women's lacrosse team that is a member of the US Lacrosse Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates (WDIA). A University of Florida media relations official clarified Wednesday that this announcement is for a new women's lacrosse team and not the elevation of the current club team. The status of the club team once the varsity team is in place has not yet been determined.

Five days ago the U.S. Naval Academy elevated its club team to varsity status with the Midshipmen beginning their season in 2008.

The Gators are the second Southeastern Conference school to field a women's lacrosse team, the other is Vanderbilt.

The Florida club team has made fourth consecutive trips to the US Lacrosse WDIA National Championships where they have made it to two semifinals (2004, 2005) and two quarterfinals (2003, 2006). The Gators tournament record is 4-4.

June 14, 2006

The University of Florida announced Wednesday the addition of women's lacrosse as a varsity sport.

Women's lacrosse will be added to the Gator athletic program, University of Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley announced Wednesday. The University of Florida Athletic Board of Directors approved Wednesday afternoon the addition of women's lacrosse, which will bring the number of varsity sports offered by the Gator athletics program to 21. The inaugural season is targeted for the spring of 2010.

The addition of lacrosse brings the number of women's sports offered by UF to 12. The last two sports added to Florida's program were soccer (started play in 1995) and softball (started play in 1997). The site where the UF lacrosse team will compete is still being explored and will be announced at a later date.

“Obviously, it is a very exciting day for our program. Anytime you can add a sport, it is exciting. To have the opportunity to start a program from scratch and build it and hopefully achieve a great deal of success down the road, that is why we do what we do,” Foley said. “This University has always had a tremendous amount of pride in our women’s athletic programs. I think this University has always shown a tremendous commitment to women’s athletics and I think today is another statement along those lines.”

Florida will be the second Southeastern Conference school to field a women's lacrosse team. Vanderbilt has sponsored a women's lacrosse team since 1996 (reaching the 2004 NCAA semifinals). The UAA will seek an affiliate membership in a league based on the east coast since the SEC does not offer a women's lacrosse championship. Florida will be the first Division I program in the state of Florida to offer women's lacrosse. Of the 80 Division I NCAA schools offering women's lacrosse for the 2006 season, 75 are in the southern or eastern United States.

UF Athletics Director Jeremy Foley and Associate Athletics Director Lynda Tealer take questions from the media on the addition of women's lacrosse to the Gator athletics program.

“We spent several years really looking at women’s sports programs and trying to decide what program would be the best fit here at UF. We looked at a lot of factors,” UF Associate Athletics Director Lynda Tealer said. “Primarily we focused on things like who would we recruit, who would we compete against, are there opportunities to win championships and of course, just bringing in a sport that would really add to our program. We feel like lacrosse fits every one of those areas.”

Currently, lacrosse is the 12th most popular sport among Division I women's programs. In 2005-06, the NCAA offered championships in 20 women's Division I sports (including the co-ed sports of fencing, rifle, skiing). The NCAA has sponsored a national collegiate championship (one champion for all divisions) for women's lacrosse since 1982. 2001 was the first year for the Division I NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship. In the state of Florida, 43 high schools offered the sport during the 2004-05 season. Nationally, lacrosse is the 13th most popular sport among female high school students, with 38,885 participants in 2002-03.

 

University of Florida Women's Lacrosse Timeline 2005-06 Identify needs (funding, facility, scheduling, staff) 2006-07 Fundraising Facility Planning Secure league affiliation Construct offices for coaches 2007-08 Hire coaching staff Facility construction Recruiting Purchase lacrosse equipment 2008-09 Complete facility Complete inaugural season schedule Recruit and sign student-athletes 2009-10 Gator lacrosse makes its premiere (teams play not more than five exhibition matches during fall. Spring season consists of 17 dates beginning in February)