Association | NCAA |
---|---|
Founded | 2001 |
Ceased | 2014 |
Sports fielded |
|
Division | Division I |
No. of teams | 7 (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.
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]