The Great Western Lacrosse League, also known as the GWLL, was an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I men's

college lacrosse College lacrosse is played by student-athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played at both the varsity and club levels. College lacrosse in Canada is ...

athletic conference that existed from 1994 to 2009. The conference was created when the

instituted automatic qualifiers to the NCAA championship tournament; in so doing, it eliminated the "western region" bid. The GWLL ceased operations in 2010, as a result of Notre Dame's 2008 decision to leave the conference for the newly established

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

lacrosse conference in 2010; the remaining GWLL schools, including the

Air Force Academy An air force academy or air academy is a national institution that provides initial officer training, possibly including undergraduate level education, to air force officer cadets who are preparing to be commissioned officers in a national air forc ...

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

The Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University () is a private university in Hamden, Connecticut. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, School of C ...

, and

Bellarmine University Bellarmine University (BU; ) is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It opened on October 3, 1950, as Bellarmine College, established by Archbishop John A. Floersh of the Archdiocese of Louisville and named after Saint Rober ...

, joined the ECAC, as a five-team GWLL would no longer have been eligible to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA championship tournament under the rule requiring conferences to have at least six members to qualify for the bid.

History

The GWLL was established in 1994. The original members were

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Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

, Notre Dame, and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Just prior to the 1997 season, Michigan State left the conference after the school dropped varsity lacrosse, leaving the league with five clubs. The NCAA requires a conference to have six members in order to be eligible for an automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament. As a result, Fairfield was added as a sixth member. Fairfield later left the conference to join the ECAC and was replaced by Quinnipiac. Later,

left the GWLL when its athletic department dropped several sports programs including men's lacrosse in January 2007. Bellarmine was added to the conference in 2007 after the school began competing in Division I men's lacrosse in 2005. In 2008, the GWLL held its first championship tournament. Previously, the GWLL champion was determined by regular-season results. Notre Dame won the championship with a 9-2 victory over Ohio State, earning an automatic bid to the

2008 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The 2008 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament was held from May 10 through May 26, 2008. This was the 38th annual Division I NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament. Sixteen NCAA Division I college men's lacrosse teams met after having ...

. In addition to Notre Dame's automatic bid, Ohio State and Denver also received "at-large" bids to the NCAA tournament, giving the GWLL three teams in the tournament. The following year, in 2009, Notre Dame again won the GWLL championship, defeating Ohio State 16-7 in the conference's last tournament.

Former members

Champions

Regular Season Champions

Playoff Champions

Annual Awards

Player of the Year Newcomer of the Year Coach of the Year

References

{{reflist

External links

Great Western Lacrosse League Website
Defunct NCAA Division I conferences College lacrosse leagues in the United States 1994 establishments in the United States 2009 disestablishments in the United States Sports leagues established in 1994 Sports leagues disestablished in 2009