Report of the
NCAA Division I Women’s
LACROSSE Committee
ACTION ITEMS.
1. Automatic
Qualification.
a. Recommendation.
That the following conferences
receive automatic qualification for the 2008 NCAA Division I Women’s
Lacrosse Championship:
American Lacrosse Conference
Big East Conference
Colonial Athletic Association
Ivy Group
b. Rationale.
A total of ten eligible conferences
have applied for automatic qualification to the 2008 championship; eight automatic
qualification berths have been allotted.
The six conferences above are being recommended for automatic
qualification with the final two berths being awarded via play-in games. The following four conferences will
compete in two play-in games: the America East Conference representative will
host the Northeast Conference representative and the Patriot League
representative will host the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference representative. Participants in the 2008 play-in game
were identified based on the final conference Rating Percentage Index ranking
for the 2007 season.
c. Estimated
Budget Impact. None.
d. Student-Athlete Impact. None.
2. Championships
Competition - Statistics.
a. Recommendation.
That host institutions be
required to use a computerized statistics program (i.e., StatCrew) for all
championship games.
b. Rationale.
The committee currently requires
host institutions to provide halftime and postgame statistics to both coaching
staffs during all NCAA championship games.
The committee believes requiring use of a computerized statistics
program will standardize the statistics kept by all hosts, ensure that halftime
statistics are supplied to both coaching staffs in a timely manner and deter
institutions from providing hand-written statistics, which is not appropriate
at this level.
c. Estimated
Budget Impact. Institutional
expense of $350 for new users and $125 for institutions purchasing upgrades.
d. Student-Athlete
Impact. None.
3. Committee
Chair.
a. Recommendation.
That
b. Rationale. Ms. Backus is an experienced member of
the committee and has demonstrated good leadership skills during her tenure.
c. Estimated
Budget Impact. None.
d. Student-Athlete
Impact. None.
4. Officials
– Flexibility in Use of Approved Flights.
a. Recommendation.
To have the ability to use the
approved number of flights for officials during any round of the championship
rather than a defined amount per round.
b. Rationale.
Currently, the committee has the
ability to fly three officials per round (a total of nine flights) of the
championship. The need for flights
for officials fluctuates between rounds and the committee has had to request
flexibility in use of flights by-round over the past three to four years.
c. Estimated
Budget Impact. $1,800.
d. Student-Athlete Impact. None.
5. Officials
– Increase in Number of Flights.
a. Recommendation.
To increase the number of flights
allowed for officials’
b. Rationale.
While the sponsorship of
women’s lacrosse programs is expanding both to the West and the South, the
base of championship-level officials continues to remain in the Mid-Atlantic and
Northeast regions. It is the hope
of the committee that with the formation of the NCAA Umpire Improvement
Program, the identification and cultivation of umpires will expand out of those
regions in the future. However, the
majority of flights used for championship competition are used to staff
preliminary-round games held in the
c. Estimated
Budget Impact. $1,800.
d. Student-Athlete Impact. None.
6. Squad
Size.
a. Recommendation.
That the squad size be
increased from 28 to 32.
b. Rationale.
An increase in the squad size would
allow institutions the ability to
c. Estimated
Budget Impact. $56,800. (Attachment)
d. Student-Athlete Impact. None.