Stephanie Carlson ‘21
Associate Editor and Sports Editor
In October 2019, the Lake Forest College Athletics Department announced that they would be adding men’s and women’s lacrosse to the varsity athletics program from the 2021 – 2022 academic year. At the time of the announcement, both the men’s and women’s teams were accepted into the Midwest Lacrosse Conference and the Midwest Women’s Lacrosse Conference, respectively.
In 2007, the men’s club team was resurrected, and the women’s club team restarted in the spring of 2011. Owing to the success of the men’s and women’s club lacrosse programs, Vice President for Career Advancement and Athletics Jackie Slaats was more than excited to announce the elevation of the program to varsity status.
Stentor staff spoke with Slaats to get updates on the program in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and information about what the new program will look like for student-athletes.
Stentor: Has the department hired lacrosse coaches yet?
Slaats: “We have not hired coaches yet, but we did place position advertisements last Friday for a head coach for each program.”
Stentor: When is the new program set to begin?
Slaats: “The plan is to hire our head men’s and women’s coaches this summer to begin recruiting and planning for the 2021-2022 academic year/2022 seasons, which will be our first year of varsity intercollegiate competition.”
Stentor: What will the new program look like?
Slaats: “We envision both programs to have full rosters and to be similar to our other sports programs in terms of bright and talented student-athletes with whom embody the NCAA Division III philosophy and consistently display excellence in the classroom, competition, within our community, and in career planning and preparation – all signature aspects of the Tradition of Excellence the athletic department points to with pride. The current plan is to compete in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) and Midwest Lacrosse Conference for Women (MWLC). The teams will practice and play most of their home contests on a newly developed artificial turf field located behind the ice rink. The field construction is set to begin around May 1 and be completed by August 15th.”
Stentor: How has COVID-19 affected the new program?
Slaats: “Thankfully, COVID-19 has not impacted the College’s plans, other than a slight delay in the permit process with the City of Lake Forest, to move forward with the implementation of varsity lacrosse. The funds for the new field were previously donated, so that was certainly a positive aspect for both the planning and decision to move forward.”
Stentor: Are there any students already committed to the program?
Slaats: There are no official recruits for the varsity program yet since is it a full academic year away and we do not yet have varsity coaches (who will ultimately assess program talent), but there has definitely been a ramped-up effort in our admissions and athletic marketing efforts for our club lacrosse program and that has been positive for the College’s overall recruitment efforts.”
