Culver-Stockton College will have another women’s sport in 2020, if recruiting a coach and student-athletes goes well.  According to Pat Atwell, Director of Athletics, C-SC president Kelly Thompson asked Atwell last year to put together a white paper regarding the possibility of adding women’s lacrosse.

Atwell found that lacrosse had the second largest growth for female students in the past 15 years, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.  He found that 71 high schools in Illinois offer lacrosse, while 39 schools in Missouri do so.

Atwell’s research also found that collegiate participation for women has increased 29.9% with 126 colleges adding this growing sport from 2010-2016.   At the end of the 2017 school year there were 37 NAIA schools offering women’s lacrosse, according to a US Lacrosse survey.

Four other schools play women’s lacrosse in the Heart of America conference:  Benedictine, Clarke, William Penn and Missouri Valley.

Atwell says “We hope to have a coach on board in November so they can begin recruiting for the upcoming season. Our goal is to play in the spring of 2020 with at least 16 student-athletes on the team.  We are excited about the possibility of this new team.”

The benefits for Culver-Stockton College are easy to spot, according to Atwell.  “It is always exciting for the entire campus when a new sport is added. It brings new students to C-SC who would not otherwise have considered our school as an option as their college of choice.”