FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern University President and CEO Dr. George Hanbury, and Director of Athletics/Associate Vice President for Advancement Michael Mominey announced the addition of men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse as its 18th and 19th intercollegiate athletic program offerings. Both sports will begin competition in the 2024-25 academic year.
“The addition of men’s and women’s lacrosse teams will expand NSU’s NCAA intercollegiate sports teams to 19. These athletic programs offer students the opportunity to pursue their passion in sports while achieving premiere education at NSU,” said President and CEO Dr. Hanbury. “We look forward to supporting our student-athletes as they continue to excel both on the field, and in the classroom.”
“We are really excited to welcome both men’s and women’s lacrosse to our portfolio of our robust athletic program.” said Mominey. “The sport of lacrosse is the fastest and largest growing sport in the nation as well in the state of Florida, hence part of the decision to add the programs. We are looking forward to fielding competitive programs that will not only enhance our athletic program, but we feel that this sport will be a value add for our entire university community.”
NSU will become the 9th SSC institution to sponsor men’s and women’s lacrosse. Overall, there are currently 76 men’s and 121 women’s NCAA Division II lacrosse programs. Nova Southeastern joins Tampa, Rollins, Florida Southern, Florida Tech, Lynn, Saint Leo, Palm Beach Atlantic, and Embry-Riddle as Sunshine State universities to sponsor Lacrosse.
A national search will begin to hire head coaches by 2023, who will then recruit student-athletes and develop each program for competition in the 2024-25 academic year.
The lacrosse programs will play their inaugural seasons on the new NSU Soccer and Lacrosse fields in the former Miami Dolphins training complex. The facility will feature full competition and turf practice fields, state-of-the art locker rooms for home and visiting soccer and lacrosse teams and can accommodate up to 2,000 spectators for games.
NSU Athletics is celebrating its 40th Anniversary throughout the 2022-23 school year. NSU athletic teams have won eight team NCAA National Championships and have produced 27 individual NCAA National Champions. Since joining the Sunshine State Conference in 2004-05, the athletic program has earned 40 SSC titles.
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