American Lacrosse Conference

The American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) was a group of colleges and universities in the eastern half of the United States that played NCAA Division I women's lacrosse against one another each season. Women's lacrosse was the only sport that this conference ever played—all members were (and still are) in other conferences for other sports. The conference champion earned a spot in the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament.

The ALC was founded in 2001 by seven schools, with play starting in 2002. Nine schools were members at one time or another, but no more than seven played in any season. The conference folded after the 2014 season, mainly because the Big Ten Conference, home to four of the ALC's final seven members, planned to start a women's lacrosse league in the 2015 season.

Members

Nine schools were members of the ALC during its history.

Note that because NCAA women's lacrosse is a spring sport, the year of joining is the year before the first season of play.

School Location Founded Type
(affiliation)
Nickname Joined Left Current lacrosse conference
Davidson College Davidson, North Carolina 1837 Private (Presbyterian) Wildcats 2001 2006 Atlantic 10 Conference
University of Florida Gainesville, Florida 1853 Public Gators 2009 2014 American Athletic Conference[a]
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 1876 Private (nonsectarian) Blue Jays 2001 2014 Big Ten Conference[b]
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 1817 Public Wolverines 2013 2014 Big Ten Conference
Northwestern University Evanston, Illinois 1851 Private (nonsectarian) Wildcats 2001 2014 Big Ten Conference
Ohio University Athens, Ohio 1804 Public Bobcats 2001 2007 – (dropped women's lacrosse)
Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 1870 Public Buckeyes 2001 2014 Big Ten Conference
Pennsylvania State University State College, Pennsylvania 1855 Public/private hybrid Nittany Lions 2001 2014 Big Ten Conference
Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tennessee 1873 Private (nonsectarian) Commodores 2001 2014 American Athletic Conference[a]
Notes
  1. 1.0 1.1 After the demise of the ALC, Florida and Vanderbilt (both full-time members of the Southeastern Conference, which does not sponsor lacrosse) joined the Big East Conference for women's lacrosse. The schools moved together to The American when it launched its women's lacrosse conference in the 2019 season (2018–19 school year).
  2. After the demise of the ALC, Johns Hopkins played two seasons as an independent before joining the Big Ten in women's lacrosse in 2016.

References

  • "Atlantic Hockey". americanlacrosseconference.org. Archived from the original on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2012-02-17.