American Lacrosse Conference

Last updated
American Lacrosse Conference
American Lacrosse Conference logo.png
AssociationNCAA
Founded2001
Ceased2014
Sports fielded
  • 1
    • men's: 0
    • women's: 1
Division Division I
No. of teams7 (final), 9 (total)
Headquarters Erie, Pennsylvania
Region Eastern 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.

Contents

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:

InstitutionNicknameLocationFoundedAffiliationEnrollmentNew lacrosse conferenceCurrent lacrosse conference
University of Florida Gators Gainesville, Florida 1853Public51,413 Big East The American
Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays Baltimore, Maryland 1876Private6,025 Independent Big Ten
University of Michigan [8] Wolverines Ann Arbor, Michigan 1817Public37,197 Big Ten
Northwestern University Wildcats Evanston, Illinois 1851Private13,407 Big Ten
Ohio State University Buckeyes Columbus, Ohio 1870Public51,818 Big Ten
Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions State College, Pennsylvania 1855Public41,289 Big Ten
Vanderbilt University Commodores Nashville, Tennessee 1873Private11,500 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 CollegeAmerican Lacrosse Conference

Championship history

YearRegular seasonRecordTournament championship
2002Vanderbilt6–0not held
2003Ohio State / Penn State5–1not held
2004Vanderbilt / Northwestern5–1not held
2005Northwestern6–0not held
2006Northwestern5–0not held
2007Northwestern4–0Northwestern 22, Johns Hopkins 6
2008Northwestern4–0Northwestern 14, Vanderbilt 3
2009Northwestern4–0Northwestern 13, Penn State 3
2010Northwestern5–0Northwestern 23, Vanderbilt 14
2011Florida5–0Northwestern 10, Florida 9
2012Florida5–0Florida 14, Northwestern 7
2013Florida / Northwestern / Penn State4–1Northwestern 8, Florida 3
2014Florida6–0Florida 9, Northwestern 8

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References

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