Sports sponsorship: Pacific University (Oregon) will field a women's lacrosse team beginning with the 2007 season, making it the second Division III member in Oregon to sponsor the sport. It will be Pacific's 20th varsity program. "More and more high-school students and collegiate athletes are becoming familiar with lacrosse," said Athletics Director Ken Schumann. "With its increasing popularity in Oregon, we are excited to be able to offer students a local college option where they can continue their competitive career. We have the potential to grow the sport at Pacific very quickly and provide a high-quality and highly competitive product." Currently, 22 high schools in the state sponsor varsity girls' lacrosse programs, including 17 in the Portland area. Pacific joins Oregon Division III member Linfield College in sponsoring the sport and also becomes the third member of the Northwest Conference to play women's lacrosse, joining the University of Puget Sound. Three other league schools currently have club programs in the sport, and Schumann said he hopes those schools eventually will elevate the teams to varsity status, leading to establishment of a conference championship.

Miscellaneous: Keene State College has been named the Eastern College Athletic Conference's 2005 ECAC Jostens Institution of the Year. The award is presented annually to the ECAC member that best exemplifies the highest standards of collegiate academic and athletic performance. Keene State, which competes in the Little East Conference, is the third Division III institution to be honored in the award's 10-year history, joining four-time honoree Williams College (1995, 1999, 2001 and 2004) and Middlebury College (1997). "To reach this level has taken a great deal of work by a remarkable group of coaches and hundreds of dedicated student-athletes, not to mention the many behind-the-scenes participants who give so much to the program," said Keene State President Helen Giles-Gee. "We're honored to join the distinguished sports programs who have won this award in the past, an honor that recognizes exemplary academic and athletics achievement." In addition to the Division III recipients, honorees include two-time selection Princeton University; Georgetown University; the University of Maryland, College Park; and Harvard University. "Since moving to Division III, Keene State has strived to have one of the top athletics programs in the country," said Athletics Director John Ratliff. "The fact that we are receiving an award of such stature proves we are headed in the right direction." During the past year, 16 of Keene State's 18 varsity teams qualified for postseason competition, including 10 that qualified for NCAA championships.

-- Compiled by Jack Copeland