The Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference (MWLC) is a
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
(NCAA)
Division III women's lacrosse-only college athletic conference
An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...
composed of schools located in the
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...
. All schools are members of other conferences in other sports and formed the MWLC until such time as their existing conferences add lacrosse.
The Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference (MWLC) was founded in 2010 and began play during the spring of 2011. The conference enters its 14th season in the spring of 2024.
The conference comprises NCAA Division III institutions located throughout the Midwest including Augsburg (Minneapolis, Minn.), Cornell (Mt. Vernon, Iowa), Hamline (Saint Paul, Minn.), Lake Forest (Lake Forest, Ill.), Northwestern (St. Paul, Minn.), and Saint Benedict (St. Joseph, Minn.).
Adrian, Albion and Trine left the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference after the 2012 season when the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) began sponsoring women's lacrosse. The CCIW and HCAC institutions left the MWLC after the 2014 season along with Dubuque and Fontbonne.
Cornell, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Wartburg began conference play in the spring of 2015, joining members Aurora, Beloit, Benedictine, Concordia Wisconsin, and Loras. Augsburg and Concordia Chicago joined the spring of 2016, while Hamline and Monmouth joined the MWLC ranks in the spring of 2017. Marian and Northwestern became members in the spring of 2019.
At the conclusion of the 2020 season, the NACC institutions left the MWLC to compete in their core conference. Beloit departed after the 2021 season due to joining the NACC as an affiliate member. Loras also departed after the 2021 season due to suspending its program.
Lake Forest joined the MWLC in 2022 and Saint Benedict in 2023.
Monmouth and Wartburg departed after the 2023 season due to suspending their programs.
"About the Midwest Lacrosse Conference"
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Member schools
See also
* Midwest Lacrosse Conference
The Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) is a men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III lacrosse-only college athletic conference composed of schools located in the Midwestern United States. All schools are members of conf ...
References
External links
Website
{{Lacrosse topics, state=collapsed
College lacrosse leagues in the United States
NCAA Division III conferences
Women's lacrosse competitions in the United States