In April, California Lutheran University announced it would be cutting the varsity women’s lacrosse team due to a lack of interest compared to other women’s sports programs. But, after advocacy from student-athletes and community members, the school has reversed course and will reinstate the program.
According to News Cal Lutheran, the reinstatement is effective immediately. The lacrosse community pulled together to promise broad support, and gave Cal Lutheran confidence that it could field a full, competitive team. Student-athletes created a petition that received over 3,700 signatures in the first several days and gained further attention from there.
“Coach McDonough’s work has always been exemplary, and the discontinuance was never a reflection of that,” said Howard Davis, Cal Lutheran associate vice president and athletic director. “We are reinstating the program with even greater support and additional efforts to recruit and retain lacrosse student-athletes.”
Cal Lutheran’s women’s lacrosse team competed in its first season in 2020, and held a 15-73 record across five and a half seasons. When the program was cut in April, Davis told The Echo that women’s lacrosse had always been a low-roster sport, fielding just 15 student-athletes in 2026. Across the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference, most other women’s lacrosse teams have recruited an average of 26 student-athletes.
The cut and reinstatement dance in college athletics is not unique to Cal Lutheran. In the past few months, AB has covered similar stories at Marshall University and University of Arkansas as department leaders seek to caught low- or non-revenue sports but are met with opposition from student-athletes and alumni. While these cuts occur for myriad reasons — low roster numbers, budget short falls, Title IX compliance — one common thread remains: broad community support.
At the University of Arkansas, donors raised $5 million to reinstate the tennis program, and a lawsuit against Marshall University forced the Bison to reverse course on cutting the women’s swim and dive team.
In the midst of fighting for its reinstatement, women’s lacrosse team members at Cal Lutheran told The Echo, “In a time where women, especially women’s sports, are facing the kind of issues that they are, to just cut a women’s team from the school instead of shaving off budgets in numerous places, I think is incredibly disrespectful. I think the way it was handled has been really poor.”
