The High Point University women's lacrosse team continues its preparation to begin varsity play in 2011. Head coach
Lyndsey Boswell and assistant coach
Whitney Michele have completed recruiting for next season, and the schedule is taking shape.
High Point University will play in the National Lacrosse Conference (NLC), which will be in its third year in the spring of 2011. Detroit, Howard, Longwood and Presbyterian began National Lacrosse Conference play in 2009. In 2010, Davidson, Jacksonville and Liberty joined the league. When HPU joins in 2011, the NLC will have eight teams.
Longwood won both the 2009 and 2010 National Lacrosse Conference tournament titles, this season with a 17-9 win over Davidson. Currently, the league does not produce an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, so conference members will still have to qualify through an at-large bid.
"It will be a challenge, but think we can be competitive in the conference in our first year," said Boswell. "With our out of conference games, I think we have scheduled teams that we can learn from but also be competitive with."
"Every team makes it to the conference tournament," Boswell added. "Our goal is to make it to the semifinals and hopefully the finals next year."
The Panthers' 2011 non-conference opponents include Cincinnati, Mount St. Mary's, Wagner, Robert Morris and Binghamton at home and Navy and Virginia Tech on the road. Navy qualified for the 2011 NCAA Tournament, which begins on May 15.
HPU will have exhibition games on the road in the fall. The spring will kick off with exhibition games at the South of the Border Tournament hosted by North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Feb. 6. The Panthers will open the regular season at Vert Stadium on Feb. 18 or Feb. 20 and play a total of 17 regular-season games.
| 2010 NLC Standings |
| Rank |
Team (Overall, NLC record) |
| 1. |
Longwood (10-8, 6-0 NLC) |
| 2. |
Davidson (9-9, 5-1 NLC) |
| 3. |
Jacksonville (7-11, 4-2 NLC) |
| 4. |
Detroit (7-11, 3-3 NLC) |
| 5. |
Presbyterian (4-13, 2-4 NLC) |
| 6. |
Liberty (1-13, 1-5 NLC) |
| 7. |
Howard (3-14, 0-6 NLC) |
| Tournament Champion: Longwood |