American Lacrosse Conference
AssociationNCAA
Founded2001
Ceased2014
Sports fielded
  • 1
    • men's: 0
    • women's: 1
DivisionDivision I
No. of teams7 (final), 9 (total)
HeadquartersErie, Pennsylvania
RegionEastern United States

The American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) was a women's lacrosse-only college athletic conference whose members competed at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). All of the ALC's members throughout its history were located in the eastern half of the United States. The conference was founded in 2001 in advance of the 2002 NCAA lacrosse season with seven members; nine schools were members at one time or another during its history.

In 2009–10, two more Southeastern Conference universities joined the ALC: South Carolina[1] and Florida.[2] The South Carolina program was eventually delayed with no timetable to begin play.[3] In 2011 it was announced that the conference would add Michigan as the seventh member.[4] The Wolverines began NCAA competition in 2013–14, after transitioning the program from club to varsity status.[5]

Starting with the 2015 season, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Northwestern joined Maryland and Rutgers in the new Big Ten women's lacrosse league, and Johns Hopkins' women's lacrosse team went independent.[6] In April 2014 it was announced that the two remaining programs, Florida and Vanderbilt, would be joining the Big East Conference as affiliate members in 2015, leaving the 2014 season as the last in American Lacrosse Conference history.[7]

Final members

In its final season, the ALC had seven members in the Eastern United States:

Institution Nickname Location Founded Affiliation Enrollment New lacrosse conference Current lacrosse conference
University of Florida Gators Gainesville, Florida 1853 Public 51,413 Big East The American
Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays Baltimore, Maryland 1876 Private 6,025 Independent Big Ten
University of Michigan[8] Wolverines Ann Arbor, Michigan 1817 Public 37,197 Big Ten
Northwestern University Wildcats Evanston, Illinois 1851 Private 13,407 Big Ten
Ohio State University Buckeyes Columbus, Ohio 1870 Public 51,818 Big Ten
Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions State College, Pennsylvania 1855 Public 41,289 Big Ten
Vanderbilt University Commodores Nashville, Tennessee 1873 Private 11,500 Big East The American

Former members

Schools that left the ALC before 2014 include Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina and Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Davidson later moved to the National Lacrosse Conference, still later became an associate member of the Big South Conference, and now houses its women's lacrosse team with most of its other sports in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Ohio University exited the ALC when the OU Athletics Department decided to drop several sports programs including women's lacrosse in January 2007.[9]

Membership timeline

Years listed in this timeline are lacrosse seasons. Since NCAA lacrosse for both men and women is a spring sport, the year of joining is the calendar year before the first season.

Big Ten ConferenceUniversity of MichiganAmerican Athletic ConferenceBig East ConferenceUniversity of FloridaAmerican Athletic ConferenceBig East ConferenceVanderbilt UniversityBig Ten ConferencePennsylvania State UniversityBig Ten ConferenceOhio State UniversityOhio UniversityBig Ten ConferenceNorthwestern UniversityBig Ten ConferenceJohns Hopkins UniversityAtlantic 10 ConferenceBig South ConferenceNational Lacrosse ConferenceDavidson College

Championship history

Year Regular season Record Tournament championship
2002 Vanderbilt 6–0 not held
2003 Ohio State / Penn State 5–1 not held
2004 Vanderbilt / Northwestern 5–1 not held
2005 Northwestern 6–0 not held
2006 Northwestern 5–0 not held
2007 Northwestern 4–0 Northwestern 22, Johns Hopkins 6
2008 Northwestern 4–0 Northwestern 14, Vanderbilt 3
2009 Northwestern 4–0 Northwestern 13, Penn State 3
2010 Northwestern 5–0 Northwestern 23, Vanderbilt 14
2011 Florida 5–0 Northwestern 10, Florida 9
2012 Florida 5–0 Florida 14, Northwestern 7
2013 Florida / Northwestern / Penn State 4–1 Northwestern 8, Florida 3
2014 Florida 6–0 Florida 9, Northwestern 8

References

  1. ^ "Gamecock Women's Lacrosse Program to Begin Play in 2010". University of South Carolina. 2007-09-06. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  2. ^ "Gators Newest Member of American Lacrosse Conference". University of Florida. 2006-10-11. Archived from the original on 30 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
  3. ^ "Lacrosse Program Delayed". University of South Carolina. November 25, 2008. Archived from the original on December 8, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
  4. ^ "American Lacrosse Conf. Welcomes Michigan". LaxPower.com. June 16, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
  5. ^ "U-M Athletics Announces Men's and Women's Lacrosse as Varsity Sports". University of Michigan. May 25, 2011. Archived from the original on 17 June 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
  6. ^ "Big Ten Announces Institution of Men's and Women's Lacrosse..." June 3, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-07-10. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  7. ^ "WD1 Notebook: Vanderbilt, Florida to join Big East | Lacrosse Magazine". Archived from the original on 2014-05-28. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  8. ^ "Ulehla Selected as Michigan's First Varsity Women's Lacrosse Coach," MGoBlue.com (September 8, 2011). Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  9. ^ "Ohio Athletics Announces Changes to Sport Program Offerings". Ohio University. 2007-01-25. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
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