The George Washington Revolutionaries are the athletic teams of

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The Revolutionaries compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) as members of the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

for most sports. They were formerly known as the George Washington Colonials. On June 15, 2022, the board of trustees announced that George Washington University would drop the "Colonials" nickname because it "no longer does the work that a moniker should—namely, unifying the campus behind our academic and athletic institutional aspirations." Potential new nicknames were initially narrowed down to “Ambassadors”, “Blue Fog”, “Revolutionaries”, and “Sentinels”, with the new name being announced as the Revolutionaries on May 24, 2023. While most teams play their home games in D.C., some teams, including GW baseball, call neighboring

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

home due to the small size and urban nature of GW's campus.

Sports sponsored

Baseball

The GW Revolutionaries baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of George Washington University. The team is a member of the

, which is part of the

's Division I. The team plays its home games at Tucker Field in Barcroft Park,

. The Revolutionaries are coached by

Gregg Ritchie Gregory Allen Ritchie (born January 25, 1964) is an American baseball player and coach. He is the head coach of the George Washington Colonials baseball team. He played for the Brother Elephants in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 19 ...

. George Washington's first baseball team was fielded in 1891.

Men's basketball

The GW Revolutionaries men's basketball team plays its home games in the

Charles E. Smith Center The Charles E. Smith Center is a 5,000-seat multipurpose arena in Washington, D.C. Opened on November 17, 1975, it is home to the George Washington Revolutionaries men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the university's swimming, water po ...

, which is also shared with other GW Revolutionaries athletic programs. The team competes in the

. It qualified for the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

in 2014 for the first time since

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and won the NIT Tournament Championship in 2016. The Revolutionaries' head coach is Chris Caputo. The Revolutionaries are cheered on by the GW First Ladies and GW Cheer Team.

Women's lacrosse

The George Washington Revolutionaries women's lacrosse team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of George Washington University. The team is a member of the

, which is part of the

's Division I. George Washington's first women's lacrosse team was fielded in 2002. As part of a new athletic funding plan passed on June 15, 1998 by the George Washington University Board of Trustees, women's lacrosse was added as a varsity sport. George Washington played its first women's lacrosse season in 2002, finishing with a 4-12 record. The team played its first game in program history on March 3, 2002, defeating the

Marist Red Foxes The Red Foxes are the athletic teams of Marist University. The Marist Red Foxes compete in NCAA Division I athletics as a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) the only exception being football, a member of the Pioneer Football L ...

10-3. The Revolutionaries have never won an Atlantic 10 tournament championship or qualified for the NCAA tournament. George Washington's best record in team history came in the 2005 season under head coach

Chrissy Lombard Chrissy is a given name or nickname for males and females, short for Christina, Chris, Christian (given name), Christian, Christopher, Christine (name), Christine, Christen, Christmas, Christos, etc. that may refer to: People Female * Chrissy Amphl ...

when the team finished 13-5 overall and 5-2 in conference. The 2005 season ended in a 13-10 loss to the

Duquesne Dukes The Duquesne Dukes are the athletic teams of Duquesne University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Dukes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Football and bowling, however ...

in the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals. In 2007, George Washington went 11-7 overall and 6-1 in conference play and was Atlantic 10 regular season champions alongside the

Richmond Spiders The Richmond Spiders represent the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia. The Spiders compete in the Division I FCS of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. The Spider ...

. Richmond would go on to defeat George Washington in the Atlantic 10 tournament finals on May 6, 2007 and win the 2007 Atlantic 10 conference championship.

Soccer

The GW Revolutionaries men's soccer team competes in

NCAA Division 1 NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

Men's Soccer in the A10 (

) along with 13 other teams. The program began in 1967 and has earned two A10 Championships in 2002 and 2004 and two regular-season A10 titles in 1992 and 2011. The team made it to the NCAA Tournament 3 times, including the Round of Sweet 16 in 1989. The GW Revolutionaries men's soccer team has won the DC College Cup twice, in 2007 and 2008. The cup is a competition between four

universities, including George Mason University,

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

, and

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

Women's gymnastics

The women's gymnastics team is coached by Margie Foster Cunningham and assisted by both Barry Kistler and Jeff Richards.

Men's and Women's Cross Country/Track and Field

The Men's and Women's track and field program is coached by Terry Weir, and assisted by, Matthew Lange. George Washington competes in the Atlantic-10 conference. The Women's Cross Country team finished runner-up in the 2019 Atlantic 10 team championship. They have been represented at the NCAA National Championship five times since 2009: Megan Hogan twice in cross country (2009, 2010), Suzanne Dannheim in cross country (2019) and outdoor track (2019), Carter Day in outdoor track (2018), and Matthew Lange in outdoor track (2018).

Other sports

The gymnastics team competes as a member of the

East Atlantic Gymnastics League The East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) is a college athletics, collegiate women's gymnastics college athletic conference, conference competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I level. The league ...

. The men's water polo team compete as members of the

Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference The Collegiate Water Polo Association is a conference of colleges and universities in the Eastern United States that sponsor 19 men's teams and 17 women's teams that compete in varsity water polo. The winners of the conference tournaments earn on ...

Discontinued teams

In July 2020, George Washington University announced plans to drop seven sports to help offset an estimated $200 million budget shortfall amid economic fallout due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Three NCAA-sponsored sports (men’s indoor track, men’s tennis, and women’s water polo), and four non-NCAA sponsored sports (men’s rowing, men’s and women’s squash, and sailing) were discontinued.

Football

George Washington University's football program ran from 1881 to 1966. The final George Washington game came on

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

in 1966, when the team lost to Villanova, 16–7. GW ended the season with a 4–6 record (conference: 4–3) and Jim Camp was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year. On January 19, 1967, the board of trustees voted to end the football program. Poor game attendance and the expense of the program contributed to the decision. A former GW player, Harry Ledford, believed that most people were unwilling to commute into

, which did not have a metro rail at the time, on Friday nights to

RFK Stadium Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, commonly known as RFK Stadium and originally known as District of Columbia Stadium, is a defunct multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D.C. located on East Capitol Street near the Anacostia River. Opened in 1 ...

. Additionally, the nearby football teams of the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

were nationally competitive, and drew potential suburban spectators away from GW.When we played football: the GW boys of fall, 1890-1966
, ''

The GW Hatchet ''The GW Hatchet'' is the student newspaper of the George Washington University. Founded in 1904, The Hatchet is the second-oldest continuously running newspaper in Washington, D.C., only behind ''The Washington Post''. The Hatchet is often rank ...

'', August 30, 1999.

Facilities

''Source''

References

External links

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