The Michigan Wolverines women's lacrosse team is the intercollegiate women's lacrosse program representing the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. The school competes in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA). The Wolverines play their home games in

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

, primarily at

Michigan Stadium Michigan Stadium, nicknamed "The Big House," is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the largest stadium in the United States and the Western Hemisphere, the third largest stadium in the world, and the ...

with the indoor Oosterbaan Field House as a secondary option. Women's lacrosse was established as a varsity sport in 2014, and the team played in the

American Lacrosse Conference The American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) was a women's lacrosse-only college athletic conference whose members competed at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). All of the ALC's members throughout its histo ...

during its inaugural season before joining the Big Ten in 2015. The team is currently coached by

Hannah Nielsen Hannah Nielsen (born 28 November 1987 in Adelaide, Australia) is the current head coach of the University of Michigan women’s lacrosse team. She was formerly the first women's lacrosse assistant coach at the University of Colorado. Originally ...

History

Prior to the establishment of its varsity program, women's lacrosse was a club sport at the University of Michigan. In 2011, the club team compiled a record of 15–6 under the direction of head coach Jen Dunbar. On May 25, 2011, Michigan officially promoted its women's lacrosse team to varsity status, the same day that the school's varsity men's program was announced. Unlike the men's team, the women's team was not originally scheduled to begin play until 2013. In May 2011, the most pressing priorities for the new women's program were the search for its first head coach and its application for membership in the

, which counted among its members other Big Ten schools such as Northwestern,

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, and Penn State, as well as more distant institutions such as

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

, and Vanderbilt. In 2014, Michigan played its inaugural varsity season as a member of the American Lacrosse Conference under head coach Jennifer Ulehla. Prior to being named head coach on September 8, 2011, Uleha had been an assistant coach at Florida and with the U.S. National Elite Team as well as an assistant coach at

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

and

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...

. The program's first official varsity game was at Villanova on February 22, while its home opener was against Marquette on February 28 at Oosterbaan Field House. On June 3, 2013, the

announced that it would begin sponsoring women's lacrosse in 2015; together with men's lacrosse, which would debut the same season, they would respectively be the conference's 27th and 28th official sports. Alongside Michigan, the five other teams competing in the new conference included

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, and

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

. As of 2015, head coach Uleha's coaching staff consists of assistant coaches Becca Block and Alyssa Murray.

Coaching staff

Season results

The following is a list of Michigan's season results as an NCAA Division I program: {, class="wikitable" , - align="center" †NCAA canceled 2020 collegiate activities due to the COVID-19 virus.

Stadium

Michigan plays its home games at both

and Oosterbaan Field House. For both the 2014 and 2015 seasons, the team scheduled its first two games of the year at Oosterbaan, and then played the remainder of its home schedule (six games, in both cases) at Michigan Stadium. Oosterbaan Field House, which was built in 1970, has a total capacity of 1,000 and a FieldTurf playing surface. Michigan Stadium boasts a capacity of 107,601 and was built for the Michigan football team in 1927; however, it did not host a varsity lacrosse game until 2012, when the Michigan men's lacrosse program played its first game there. The women's team played its first game at Michigan Stadium on March 20, 2014, losing to Winthrop, 14–12.

References

External links

* {{Big Ten Conference women's lacrosse navbox College women's lacrosse teams in the United States Lacrosse teams in Michigan 2014 establishments in Michigan Lacrosse clubs established in 2014 Women's sports in Michigan