For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been looking for signs of life from Next Collegiate Lacrosse, the collegiate Sixes competition which is chiefly made up with historically-black colleges and university teams.
I had not seen game results or fixtures on their socials, though I had seen some videos with players in updated teamwear.
Well, as it turns out, the three-day Easter weekend, in which today is the midpoint, is the sum total of the competitive matches between the eight men’s and seven women’s teams in the competition. The round-robin league phase is taking place halfway between Baltimore and Washington, at Howard County Community College in Columbia, Md. The four best teams in each gender will return next weekend for the semifinals and final at the St. James complex in Springfield, Va.
The women’s competition, unique in that the teams wear helmets and shoulder pads and use the men’s deep stick pocket, increases from six teams to seven with the addition of the Lincoln University club side. The other teams in the women’s competition are Hampton, Norfolk State, Bowie State, Coppin State, the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, and defending champion Morgan State.
On the men’s side, there are eight teams in the league. One team not in the competition is last year’s champion, the University of South Carolina. The Gamecocks had won every game in their league and playoff run and doubled up Delaware State 26-13 in the final. This year, the South Carolina club side has chosen to focus on its Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association and Southeastern Lacrosse Conference duties. South Carolina had won the league/nationals double in 2019 and 2022.