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Landmark adds Washington and Jefferson as affiliate in lacrosse

The Landmark Conference and Washington and Jefferson College have agreed to an affiliation in men’s lacrosse beginning in the 2011-12 academic year.

Washington and Jefferson will join the existing six men’s lacrosse programs (Catholic, Drew, Goucher, Scranton, Susquehanna and Merchant Marine) in the Landmark to form a seven-team conference and compete in a round-robin schedule that concludes with a tournament semifinals and finals, with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Championship.

Washington and Jefferson has been competing as an independent in men’s lacrosse since the 2002 season. The Landmark, which has been a Division III conference since 2007-08, sent Goucher to the NCAA championship as the league’s first automatic qualifier after the 2010 season.

The addition also resolves a situation in which Landmark membership in the sport had dropped below the seven-member minimum required for an NCAA automatic bid after Moravian dropped men’s lacrosse as a varsity sport following the 2010 season.

In the new round-robin format, each team will play three home and three road contests during the conference regular season, with all matches played on Saturday to minimize missed class time. The top four teams in the regular-season standings qualify for the Landmark postseason, where the winner earns an NCAA championship bid. Washington and Jefferson’s first match as a member of the Landmark will be on the road against Goucher on March 17, 2012.

Washington and Jefferson becomes the first affiliate member of the Landmark Conference, which consists of eight institutions covering four states and Washington, D.C., in the mid-Atlantic Region. Now in its fourth season, the conference sponsors 20 league championships.