News

For Immediate Release:
2-23-23

To cultivate growth and to promote excellence in collegiate women’s club lacrosse has been the mission for the Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Organization (WCLO) since its inception in 2022. With the players and teams who comprise collegiate club lacrosse being the central focus, finding a way to make this transition into a new league smooth has been of the utmost importance.

One way the WCLO is combating this split is by allowing crossover games between teams within the WCLO and the WCLA to count towards a teams minimum game requirements. The WCLO Leadership hopes to take the burden off of the teams and allow teams to play within whichever league they feel suits their needs best at this time. 

Several teams have taken this opportunity to play teams across leagues, including University of Maine. Maine took on the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth this past weekend and while they didn’t come out on top, they shared their feelings on the WCLO allowing these crossover competitions. 

“Since transitioning to the WCLO, our team has been able to grow not only its schedule but networks across the league. The WCLO has opened doors for us that have previously been shut. Being self-run by a president and vice president, having that open line of communication has been vital in making our season a reality. We don’t have the numbers that most of our other competitors do or the funds so having that quick access to the board to help with any solutions we need has been extremely helpful. 

We were very nervous about joining a brand new league as that can be very intimidating for a team run solely by the players. We were worried about getting in over our heads, and not having the contacts or resources that we would need in order to be successful. Now being a couple weeks into the season, we continue to be pleasantly surprised at how smooth the transition has been. We have had an amazing start to the season with easier formatting on the WCLO website, as well as ample online resources and group chats that have allowed us to stay in contact and get answers whenever we have needed. It truly feels like the league is putting the teams first and creating a welcoming environment for all competition. 

Since we are located far north compared to our competitors, the WCLO allowing cross over games with the WCLA has been vital for our team to stay competitive. We just had our first two games of the season against two WCLA teams which has allowed us to get our 8 game minimum in. I also appreciate that these do not count towards our standing in the WCLO. Having the ranking for the national tournament stay within the WCLO teams is something that our team feels allows for a competitive playing field and overall the incentive to win is that much greater when kept within the league.”

The WCLO is committed to supporting and empowering our teams and creating a competitive college athletic experience. If your team is interested in learning more about the WCLO and how to get involved, please reach out to us at wcloboard@gmail.com.  

For a full list of games and match-ups please see the  WCLO Schedule Page or visit us at  wclo.us

Photo provided by University of Maine, IG: @umainewlax