National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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May 14, 2010 8:36:31 AM

Coastal Carolina will make women's lacrosse the school's 18th varsity sport when a new team begins play during the 2012-13 academic year.

The Chanticleers will hire a new head coach at the start of the 2011-12 academic year so that person can create the program and begin recruiting. An assistant coach will come on board sometime that school year. The team will participate in its first collegiate season in spring 2013.

Coastal Carolina is a member of the Big South Conference, which does not sponsor women's lacrosse. Three other Big South members field women's lacrosse teams: Liberty, High Point and Presbyterian. All three participate in the National Lacrosse Conference. Liberty played its first women's lacrosse season in 2010. High Point will begin play in 2011.

"This is a great opportunity for us to continue to expand and grow our successful athletics program while also meeting the needs and interests of our female student body," said Coastal Carolina Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek. "Delaying the start of this for two years will give us the opportunity to raise the funds to properly support this program."

The addition of women's lacrosse will help address Title IX compliance within Coastal Carolina athletics. An institutional release noted that the sport is popular regionally and among the female student body at the school.