Lacrosse to be a Varsity Sport at DePauw Beginning in 2012-13

August 17, 2011

August 17, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Lacrosse will be added as a men's and women's varsity sport at DePauw University effective with the 2012-13 academic year, President Brian W. Casey announced today. DePauw students have been playing club lacrosse, and will continue to do so through the coming academic year.

The addition of lacrosse as a varsity sport is made possible by a generous gift of one million dollars from trustee Steve Trulaske '79, and by leadership gifts from James K. Baker '53 and Joe and Nancy Hollingsworth '71 & '72. Their gifts will fund start-up costs and the initial operational expenses of the two teams.

"Interest in lacrosse has been increasing among our students for some time, and we're also hearing from more prospective students who are interested in participating in the sport at the varsity level in college," notes Page Cotton, director of athletics at DePauw. "Also, lacrosse is a popular sport in our new conference [DePauw joins the North Coast Athletic Conference this fall], with six colleges offering men's lacrosse and seven fielding women's lacrosse teams."

A national search is under way for lacrosse coaches, who will work with DePauw's lacrosse participants as they continue to play a club schedule in the Spring of 2012.

"This is an exciting moment in the history of our proud athletics program," says President Casey. "I hope you share my optimism that lacrosse will continue the DePauw tradition of excellence on the field in the years ahead."

Learn more about DePauw's current 21 varsity athletic teams here.

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