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
- ↑ 1.0 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).
- ↑ 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.