The Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association ( MCLA ) was established out of a desire to unite the many college virtual varsity teams and conferences nationally into a unified organization with unified rules and eligibility requirements. A secondary goal originally was to go further by enabling conferences across the country to be able to compete against one another and crown champions in the form of a national championship tournament.
The association was formed from the US Lacrosse Men’s Division Intercollegiate Associates or USL MDIA in 2006. Taking a step away from US Lacrosse has given the new group an opportunity to focus on growing the association, and I think most agree that it has been a very positive move.
The organization today represents the persistant march of Lacrosse across the US and Canada and truly around the world, and clearly is the most exciting development in college lacrosse in a long time. It has positioned itself as the premier college club virtual varsity (non NCAA) organization, and it is giving the many under funded clubs exposure and a venue to market their games and conferences nationally. I think this can only grow interest and exposure as the opportunity for marketing and media coverage is greatly enhanced by the more appealing product package.
10 conferences and 213 teams form the MCLA. They are separated into two divisions: Division I for the bigger schools. Division II gives the smaller clubs a shot at their own national title.
