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UNC UMBC Lacrosse Rob Berkenbit
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Top 25 Other Colleges And Universities: Do They Offer Lacrosse?

We’ve looked at the Top 25 football schools as to whether or not they offer NCAA lacrosse.  Most don’t.  We looked at the Top 25 Academic Schools and asked the same question.  And around half of the schools DID offer lax.  So now let’s take a look at a more random smattering of schools and see if they are taking the Academics’ approach, or the football approach.  Interesting stuff!

Top 12 Regional Universities according to US News

The Top 12 Regional Universities are broken down into four categories: North, South, West, and Midwest.  Each Region has a 1, 2, 3 ranking.  So the schools will be listed in the order of all the 1s first, then the 2s, etc.

1 Villanova University– Offers NCAA D1 Lacrosse.  And they’re darn good too!  Brian Karalunas is a recent ‘Nova alum, and CJ Greene of the Salt Shakerz graduated from there in 2001.  Great school with great sports.

villanova_brian_20karalunas
Karalunas back at Nova!

1 Rollins College – Offers NCAA D2 lacrosse.  The school is right on a lake in Orlando, FL.  I know a kid who played soccer there.  He said it was like going to college at a country club.  Could be a Southern D2 program on the rise for that very reason!

1 Creighton University – CU has a middle of the road MCLA D2 team.  With all the growth in the midwest lacrosse wise, it could happen.  They could have an NCAA lacrosse team.  But this one could be a little ways off.

1 Trinity University (TX) – Middle of the road MCLA D2 team.  As Texas lacrosse keeps growing though, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see a school like Trinity add NCAA lacrosse.  Gotta keep the good athletes near home for schools like this!

2 Fairfield University – Offers NCAA D1 Lacrosse.  They’re right in the heart of lax mad CT.  The school is on the water.  Done deal.

2 Elon University – Top 10 MCLA D2 Lacrosse team.  This North Carolina school could definitely add NCAA lacrosse.  The question is when?

2 Butler University – Used to offer NCAA D1 Lacrosse.  Can’t talk about this anymore.  Makes me too sad.

2 Santa Clara University – Has a good MCLA D1 Lacrosse team.  There has been some talent at SC, and if the lax boom ever truly makes it out West, I could see SC adding a team.  It would fit in well with their student body overall.

3 Loyola University Maryland – Offers NCAA D1 Lacrosse.  The greyhounds are good and have been for years.

3 Stetson University – There is something going at Stetson, but I’m not sure what it is.  They might play MCLA, they might just play men’s club.  Anyone with more info?

3 Drake University – Pretty sure Drake’s club team finished up their first year in 2011.  If so, congrats!  Not established, but growing is great!

3 Gonzaga University – middle of the road MCLA D2 team.  Some college out in the Pacific Northwest needs to offer NCAA lacrosse soon.  And if mighty Oregon won’t do it, Gonzaga should.  They can attract regional students with ease, and their sports programs are pretty darn good when they want them to be.  Lax is a great fit for the Zags.

Top 7 Up and Coming Schools via US News  

I guess these schools have potential!  Again, it’s just another way to look at a broader swatch of highly-rated US Colleges and Universities.

1 University of Maryland Baltimore County– Offers NCAA D1 Lacrosse.  Drew Westervelt and Brendan Mundorf played at UMBC.  And there have been a lot of other good players from UMBC both recently, and in the past.

UNC UMBC Lacrosse Rob Berkenbit
UMBC photo courtesy Rob Berkenbit

2 George Mason University – NCLL team.  Good school, seems ripe for lacrosse on the men’s side but you never know.  This is the kind of school where athletics budget monies are definitely a major issue to expansion.

3 Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis – That was a mouthful.  I don’t even know what this means.

4 Clemson University – Up and comer in the MCLA D1 world.  With enough other big time athletics schools adding lax, Clemson could definitely follow suit.  If the MCLA program operates to perfection, it could be sooner.

4 University of Central Florida – MCLA team.  Good sports, and one of the football coaches has two sons who play at Maryland right now.  I could see it happen!

6 Drexel University – Offers NCAA D1 lacrosse.  Great school, with a unique approach to learning and working, and very good lax.

6 Tulane University – MCLA D2 team.  Could they ever have an NCAA team?  Maybe.  Basically, their football team would just have to be awful for 10 more years, and suffer some major scandal.  AND lax would have to continue to boom in the gulf coast.  If those two things happen, it’s possible.  Otherwise?  A little more doubtful.  Although laxers do love to party, and Tulane is in New Orleans.

Top 6 A+ Options For B Students Schools via US News

This is an interesting list that US News put together, and I included it because it includes a number of really good schools that may get overlooked by these “Top 25” lists.

1 Fordham University – located right in New York City.  Club lax team right now, but lacrosse seems like a sport they should offer considering all the good HSs in the surrounding areas (Westchester, NJ, LI, CT) have programs.

2 Pepperdine University – Go to cali, stand on a bluff over looking the Pacific Ocean and play some MCLA lacrosse.  Ok.

3 University of Connecticut – Club team.  Why there isn’t a D1 team at CT (but the recently added football to the 1a level) is beyond me.  Lacrosse is a sport they could have won a National Championship in.  Football?  Don’t make me laugh.  Oh, and when you add in the in-state players they could have brought in for lacrosse, the decision only gets even more confusing.

4 Purdue University – West Lafayette – how many Purdues are there?  Jeez.  Club ball for now.

5 Southern Methodist University – Club ball.  Could take a while for SMU to pick up lax… but then again, they know they’ll never be great at football again, so why not?

6 Syracuse University – NCAA D1 Lax legends.  All of them.  Cuse baby!

So even out of this list, SEVEN schools offer NCAA lacrosse.  And SIX of those seven are D1, with Rollins being the lone D2 school in the bunch.  That’s way more than the ONE school Top 25 football schools can offer us (Michigan).  Not quite as many as the Top 25 Academic Schools list, but a pretty good chunk!  Keep playing and supporting the sport, and lax will keep growing.