Division Division I, II Commissioner Owen Blank | Members 25 | |
Association Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association Sports fielded College lacrosse (men's: 25; women's: 0) Region Midwest and Great Lakes | ||
The Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association (CCLA) is a lacrosse-only athletic conference affiliated with the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA). The CCLA incorporates teams in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. The conference is divided into two divisions, Division I and Division II.
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History
The Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association was founded in 1972 as the Big Ten Lacrosse League. In 1999 the Big Ten Lacrosse League began accepting members outside of Big Ten schools. The CCLA is one of the original MCLA conferences and at one point included schools across the Midwestern United States. In 2002, schools from the southwestern portion of the conference left to form the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference. The current CCLA includes 25 teams split into two Divisions with the top programs and larger schools in Division I and smaller schools and programs in Division II.
The CCLA is one of the most competitive MCLA conferences. A number of the member schools are consistently nationally ranked. Michigan won three straight MCLA DI Champions in 2008, 2009, and 2010 while the program was a member of the CCLA. In 2011 the university announced a move to the NCAA Division I level, ending the Wolverines long run of consecutive CCLA conference championships at 11. At the Division II level the CCLA has been represented in the MCLA DII Championship twice in the past three years, in 2008 Grand Valley State lost 17-10 to Westminster College and in 2009 Dayton lost to the University of St. Thomas 11-16. In the 2011 MCLA Division II Championship Davenport defeated St. Thomas 14-9.
Division I
As of 2015 six institutions make up the CCLA Division I. All of the CCLA DI members are members of NCAA Division I except Davenport University. Currently the CCLA DI league includes three teams from the Mid-American Conference, one team from Big Ten Conference, one team from the Big East Conference and one team from the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference.
Division II
Twenty institutions make up the CCLA Division II League. The league has members from various collegiate athletics conferences in both the NCAA and NAIA.