NSU and Barry University starting women's lacrosse programs for the 2027 season
There are approximately 935 NCAA lacrosse teams – 538 for women and 397 for men. There are also at least 200 club programs and an unspecified number that compete in the junior-college and NAIA ranks.
Indeed, lacrosse is considered the NCAA's fastest-growing sport as the number of schools competing has doubled over the past 20 years.
In addition, lacrosse will make its return as an Olympic sport in the 2028 Los Angeles Games. It will be the first time since 1908 that lacrosse will be an Olympic-medal sport.
Also, Florida State added women's lacrosse for the spring of 2026.
Locally, the Sunshine State Conference will now have 10 of their 11 schools playing women's lacrosse, starting in the spring of 2027. That includes Barry and NSU.
As for men's lacrosse, there will be nine schools playing the sport once Barry begins action in 2027. NSU has no current plans for men's lacrosse.
Here's a closer look at how NSU and Barry are handling lacrosse:
▪ NSU last week announced the hiring of Heather Coppola as its new women's lacrosse coach.
By the way, she's no relation to Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola – 'I wish,' she said.
Heather Coppola comes to NSU after five years at another NCAA Division II team, the University of Mount Olive in North Carolina. In those five years, Mount Olive went 68-23 overall, including 42-1 in conference play.
Given that success, why start all over again at NSU?
'We have all the tools here to be successful,' Coppola said of NSU. 'There's a championship standard here, and a recipe for success.
'I can't find a negative at NSU.'
Coppola, a 35-year-old native of the Syracuse (N.Y.) area, previously served as an assistant at the Division I level at Robert Morris. But she said Division II is the perfect fit for her.
Since being hired on July 7, Coppola has been recruiting some of the hottest areas in the country for lacrosse talent – Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
'Players want to come to where it's warm,' Coppola said of her recruiting strategy. 'We're also in a major metropolitan area.'
Coppola said an average college lacrosse roster has between 27 and 35 players, and she plans to be in that range. She is recruiting freshmen from the Class of 2026, and she will be active in the transfer portal, too.
And Coppola won't limit herself to the U.S. Australia, New Zealand, England and Canada are other hotspots she will recruit.
Coppola, who has already secured a Fort Lauderdale apartment, will also soon hired one full-time and one part-time assistant coach.
▪ Dr. Scott Smith, Barry's athletic director, said he is hoping to hire lacrosse coaches by January. Recruiting will start once the coaches are hired, and the players will be enrolled by the fall of 2026.
Barry said the lacrosse programs will have lofty goals.
'We want to bring a lacrosse national championship to South Florida,' Smith said. 'By the fourth or fifth year, we want to be competitively nationally.'
Smith also said that since 2023 Barry has added 10 sports, including men's volleyball and women's beach volleyball. The other eight sports are: lacrosse, swimming, cross-country and track (both men and women for each).
'Our student-athlete enrollment has more than doubled,' Smith said. 'But it's not just about enrollment. The quality and the caliber of the student-athletes that we bring in – they retain well, they persist in their graduation rates.
'Our academic-success rate over the past 10 years is 90 percent or better among student-athletes. And our student-athletes overall have grade-point averages that are higher than the regular student population.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Ledecky wins 22nd world title as Popovici savours 'scary' gold
Katie Ledecky won the 22nd world title of her legendary career on Tuesday to close in on Michael Phelps's record as Olympic champions David Popovici and Kaylee McKeown also struck gold. American great Ledecky cruised to a dominant 1,500m freestyle gold, touching the wall in 15min 26.44sec, having threatened her own world record of 15:20.48. The masterful win in Singapore moved Ledecky four short of Phelps's career tally of 26 world gold medals. "Growing up it was very inspiring to watch world championships, Olympic Games that Michael was in, trying to learn from the very best," said Ledecky, 28. "I was always a student of the sport." Ledecky's dominant win gave her the sixth world 1,500m freestyle title of her career. She is also a nine-time Olympic gold medallist. Second was Simona Quadarella of Italy in 15:31.79 and third Australia's Lani Pallister in 15:41.18. Ledecky was the red-hot favourite going into the race, having qualified for the final over 10 seconds faster than nearest challenger Pallister. She also went into the race owning the top 24 1,500m freestyle times ever, and set the second-fastest time in history in April behind her own record. Pallister pushed her with a fast early tempo and Ledecky was on world record pace until late in the race. In the end she fell short of the mark but still clocked the fifth-fastest time ever. "Lani took it out there. I knew she would be out fast and I just wanted to get out fast, but comfortable enough that I could go from there," said Ledecky. "I'm happy with the time and happy with the swim." It is Ledecky's first gold medal of the championships, after picking up a bronze behind Summer McIntosh in the 400m freestyle on Sunday's opening night in Singapore. Ledecky is set to go head-to-head with Canadian phenomenon McIntosh again in the 800m freestyle. Popovici claimed a thrilling 200m freestyle gold -- then revealed he had very nearly pulled out. The 20-year-old Romanian reeled in US rival Luke Hobson to take the title in 1:43.53, with Hobson settling for silver (1:43.84) and Japan's 18-year-old Tatsuya Murasa taking bronze (1:44.54). Popovici said afterwards that he had seriously considered withdrawing from the competition before it started, even going as far as looking at flights home. "It was a mental thing and it had to do with the fear of seeing my real potential," said Popovici, who reclaimed his world crown from 2022. "That's very scary. And so I'm really glad I didn't quit." - 'Nerve-wracking' - Australia's McKeown beat nerves and old rival Regan Smith of the United States to win the 100m backstroke gold, narrowly missing the world record. McKeown powered to the wall in a championship record 57.16sec, with Smith having to once more settle for second, just 0.19sec behind. Katharine Berkoff, also of the United States, took bronze. McKeown's victory underlines her status as the undisputed force in women's backstroke. "It's always very nerve-wracking, especially off the back of the Olympics," said the 24-year-old, who won the 100-200m backstroke double at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. "I was probably a bit more nervous than I would like to have been tonight." Germany's Anna Elendt won the first world title of her career in the women's 100m breaststroke, coming home in 1:05.19. American Kate Douglass was second in 1:05.27, with China's Tang Qianting third in 1:05.64. South Africa's Pieter Coetze won the men's 100m backstroke in 51.85sec in a surprise, ahead of Italy's Thomas Ceccon (51.90) and France's Yohann Ndoye-Brouard. amk/pst


USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
USC offensive lineman DJ Wingfield files lawsuit against NCAA over eligibility issue
A few weeks ago, it was revealed that USC offensive lineman DJ Wingfield still has not yet been ruled eligible for the 2025 season. Now, it appears Wingfield is taking the NCAA to court. On Monday, it was reported that Wingfield has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA. The amount in the suit is reportedly $210,000, which is what USC had offered him to play the 2025 season. "Wingfield's collegiate career began in 2019 at El Camino College, a junior college in Torrance," Ryan Kartje of The Los Angeles Times wrote. "He left El Camino during the 2020 season due to the pandemic, as Wingfield was tasked with taking care of his mother. "He played at El Camino in 2021 before transferring to New Mexico in the spring of 2022. Before completing a single game with the Lobos, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, ending his season. He returned to play in nine games in 2023 before entering the transfer portal. "Wingfield transferred to Purdue where he earned a starting job in 2024, five years after he first started his college football career." Wingfield's assumption that he would be able to play another year of college football in 2025 was presumably based on Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia's successful lawsuit against the NCAA last fall, in which a court ruled that years spent at the junior college level do not count towards a player's NCAA eligibility. USC cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson took advantage of the ruling to return to the Trojans in 2025. To date, however, Wingfield's eligibility waiver has yet to be granted. "Wingfield is seeking to challenge the lawfulness of the NCAA's 'Five-Year Rule', which contends that players are eligible to play four seasons of competition across five years," Kartje wrote. "Both USC and Wingfield believed, according to the complaint, that his waiver would be approved, considering recent rulings in the cases of Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia and Rutgers' Jett Elad, each of whom won the right in court to play an additional season. "But the waiver was denied, robbing Wingfield, he claims, of what could have been a 'once-in-a-lifetime' NIL payday as well as an opportunity to 'enhance his career and reputation' by playing at USC." Losing a potential starter on the offensive line prior to the start of the season would be a brutal blow for the Trojans. USC will certainly be pulling hard for Wingfield in his legal fight with the NCAA.

NBC Sports
2 hours ago
- NBC Sports
Katie Ledecky wins 1500m free at swim worlds on 15-year streak, breaks ties with Phelps, Lochte
Katie Ledecky extended her 15-year win streak in the 1500m freestyle and broke career medal ties with Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte at the World Swimming Championships on Tuesday. Ledecky earned her sixth title in the 1500m free and 22nd world title overall. She clocked 15 minutes, 26.44 seconds in Singapore, comfortably prevailing by 5.35 seconds over Italian Simona Quadarella. 'Each one has meaning, and I love every race that I've had at worlds over the years,' Ledecky said on Peacock. SWIMMING WORLDS: Results | Broadcast Schedule It was actually Ledecky's closest 1500m free at an Olympics or worlds since her first title in 2013. Credit Quadarella, who became the second-fastest woman in history in the event by 7.09 seconds over Dane Lotte Friis' silver medal time from 2013. Ledecky entered the race with the top 24 times in history. She swam the fifth-best time ever Tuesday but leaves with the top 11 times with Quadarella now slotting at No. 12. Ledecky last lost a 1500m free at the 2010 Potomac Valley Championships in her native Maryland — as a 13-year-old to a 17-year-old Kaitlin Pawlowicz. '(Ledecky) was leading and her cap came off,' Pawlowicz said in 2016, according to Yahoo Sports. Ledecky earned her 28th world medal of any color, breaking her tie with Ryan Lochte for second all-time behind Michael Phelps' 33. She won a 21st individual medal, breaking her tie with Phelps for second all-time behind Swede Sarah Sjostrom's 23. Ledecky has two events left at these worlds: the 4x200m free relay on Thursday and the 800m free, the most anticipated race of the meet due to a likely showdown with Canadian Summer McIntosh. That final is Saturday. Also Tuesday, Australian Kaylee McKeown swam the second-fastest women's 100m backstroke in history — 57.16 seconds — to overtake American Regan Smith. Fellow American Katharine Berkoff took bronze in a repeat of the Paris Olympic podium. Smith, the world record holder at 57.13, and McKeown combine to own the top 25 times in history. Romanian David Popovici rallied past American Luke Hobson in the last 50 meters to win the 200m free in 1:43.53. Hobson took silver in 1:43.84, one year after earning bronze behind gold medalist Popovici at the Olympics. Olympic 200m breaststroke gold medalist Kate Douglass gave the U.S. a third silver of the session. She finished runner-up to German Anna Elendt in the 100m breast. Pieter Coetze of South Africa rallied from third at the 50 to take the men's 100m back in 51.85. Coetze matched the third-best time in history in relegating Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon of Italy to silver. Worlds continue all week with preliminary heats at 10 p.m. ET and finals at 7 a.m., live on Peacock. Wednesday's finals feature Olympic champion Bobby Finke in the men's 800m freestyle. Nick Zaccardi, David Popovici of Romania touched the wall just 0.31 seconds ahead of U.S. swimmer Luke Hobson to secure the gold medal in the men's 200m freestyle at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.