Fullerton Community College File Photo

California community colleges are taking up lacrosse and it's about to increase opportunity for women at a number of schools. An indicator of growth to come is the Western Women's Lacrosse League. The WWLL started in 1992 before there was much high school lacrosse in the Western United States. Eight California four-year schools joined the inaugural year with rosters made up of east coast transplants and beginners turning out to play something new.  The league took off and is a league for two-year schools and four-year schools alike. The programs have a mix of governance by athletic departments, recreation departments and student life offices that all compete in the WWLL.  A sign of continued growth of the game are all the community college programs.

The community college lacrosse scene is growing by demand. This was expected with 263 California high schools sponsoring the sport in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and 2,878 schools sponsoring lacrosse nationwide. (Source, MaxPreps).  Lacrosse has also moved into the fastest growing sport at youth and high school levels as reported by the Athelo Group.

The Southern California Lacrosse Association has also reported on the fastest growing sport.  See Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in California.

SBCC Women's Lacrosse Club File Photo

With all those California high school programs naturally a good number of lacrosse players factor into the mix of students graduating and staying near home for college for two years.  Now is the time for expansion of the sport of the future at community colleges.  Projections are that over the next five years it will become a sport at the community college level throughout most of Southern California. As in other educational institution areas some colleges will be pioneers and forge ahead while others will play the wait and see game.  The schools with Title IX concerns and a club on their campus demonstrating interest in competing in women's lacrosse are the schools most likely to be the pioneers. 

CCCAA and WWLL member institution Fullerton College is a two-year community college that has been sponsoring their women's lacrosse team since 2018-19. The Hornets compete as a member of the Athletic Department at Fullerton CC and the team has a varsity athlete only P.E. class with a curriculum at the college as well. This is a practice common at community colleges in all their sports.  Even earlier than Fullerton CC being a pioneer for their model Santa Barbara City College had the first community college team in California with the club they fielded in 2007-08. The Vaqueros have had a club compete in thirteen academic years since inception and are back in force for 2022-23 with 33 players signed up.   (Source, SBCC lacrosse website). 

Getting in on the action are Glendale, Golden West, Grossmont, Moorpark, Saddleback and Santa Monica all fielding some level of club or team this year or next year. Joining Fullerton CC as Athletic Department or P.E. Department teams for 2023-24 are Glendale, Golden West and Grossmont. Saddleback is planning for 2024-25. Currently operating as student life teams are Moorpark, Santa Monica and SBCC but the Moorpark club advisor is athletic director Matt Crater. The clubs at Moopark have a spot on the Moorpark Athletic Department website so there's some apparent inclusion there for the Raiders.

Click here for known community college women's lacrosse clubs & teams. Additional club and team information may be sent to devo@wwll.com.