SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Dominican University of California has announced that men’s lacrosse will no longer be an NCAA-sponsored sport. The program is also withdrawing from the Western Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (WILA) for the upcoming 2015 season.
Instead, the program will look to join the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association. The MCLA is a national organization of non-NCAA college lacrosse programs. The association currently operates in the United States and Canada with over 200 teams across 10 conferences in two divisions. Dominican intends to join Division I of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League (WCLL), which currently includes Cal, Chico State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Davis, Santa Clara, Sonoma State, and Stanford.
Matt Blamey, who was promoted to interim head coach in May, will remain in place as Dominican’s head coach.
“It’s extremely exciting that smaller-sized schools like Dominican can compete with nationally established programs like Cal and Stanford,” said Blamey. “The local and regional competition, plus postseason structure that the MCLA provides, will allow for less time away from the classroom but will, at the same time, provide a great student-athlete experience. Both the MCLA and WCLL are well-run organizations and we look forward to joining their ranks.”
As a member of the NCAA, Dominican was one of only three NCAA-sponsored programs in the state of California. The Penguins competed in the WILA for four seasons and captured two WILA titles.
