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Marquette to add men’s and women’s lacrosse

Marquette has announced it will add men’s and women’s lacrosse, with competition to begin in spring 2013.

Lacrosse will be the eighth men’s and eighth women’s team to be added, bringing the total number of Golden Eagle sports to 16.

“Lacrosse is a thrilling sport, loved by fans and participants, and a natural fit for Marquette,” said Athletics Director Steve Cottingham. “The national growth of lacrosse and Marquette’s membership in the Big East make this exactly the right time for us to move forward. We are confident we can build programs that compete successfully at the national level.”

Cottingham will hire coaches in advance of the 2011-12 academic year to allow coaches to begin recruiting. The Golden Eagles lacrosse teams will be independent for one season before joining the Big East in 2013-14. Marquette will be just the third university in its immediate five-state region to sponsor men’s lacrosse (joining Notre Dame and Detroit) and the fourth to sponsor women’s lacrosse (Notre Dame, Detroit and Northwestern).

Former Loyola (Maryland) and Maryland head coach Dave Cottle will serve as a consultant during the addition of the sports.

Marquette committed to funding both teams with the maximum number of scholarships (12.6 equivalencies for men’s and 12 equivalencies for women) and coaches (three for men’s and three for women’s) allowed by the NCAA. The school is studying facilities needs.