Great Lakes Lacrosse League

The Great Lakes Lacrosse League (GLLL) is a regional organization of non-varsity men's Club Lacrosse programs in the Midwestern United States. The GLLL was founded in 2003 to provide a competitive league for teams in the upper Midwest who want to play in a well organized league outside of NCAA restrictions and without the expense of being a 'virtual varsity.' The GLLL focuses on "playing more and paying less" in each Lacrosse season. The GLLL is a national recognized independent collegiate conference. The GLLL has grown to encompass over 25 teams, from 4 different states including Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, culminating each year with the Madison tournament in Wisconsin which names the champion of the GLLL for that respective year. The league comprises 25 teams from Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Michigan. The close proximity of teams is with the purpose to minimize travel costs. Members of the GLLL strive to find a greater balance between athletics, personal life and academics.

History

The GLLL originally formed with 7 teams in 2003. The founding teams were the University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Loyola University Chicago, Carleton University, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Madison Area Technical, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, Northern Michigan and the Mad Cow Lacrosse Club.

2009 teams by Division

Central Division: Northern Illinois | Benedictine | UW Madison (Red) | UW Madison (White) | UW Madison (Black) | UW Whitewater | Western Illinois

East Division: College Lacrosse | Mad Cow | Michigan Tech | | Ripon | St Norberts | UW Oshkosh

South Division: Columbia | Southern Illinois | Holy Cross | Lake Forest Coll. | Loyola | Northwestern | Univ. Chicago

West Division: Gustavus Adolphus | St Mary's | UW Lacrosse | UW Platteville |UW River Falls| UW Stout | North DAKOTA | Winona State

2010 Division Changes

NCLL Division UW Madison (Red) | Loyola | Lake Forest | UW Whitewater | Northern Illinois | Northwestern | UW Madison (Black)

West Division Gustavus | UW-LaCrosse | Winona | St Mary | UW-Stout | UW-River Falls | North Dakota | DBLC | UW-Platteville

Central Division

East Division

Central Division

East Division

South Division

West Division

League Play

The GLLL is dedicated to providing a great schedule of games while keeping expenses and travel time to a minimum. Scheduling is performed centrally, shortly after the annual league meeting, where teams indicate their travel and availability preferences. This benefits member teams significantly, so that they coordinate their entire season schedules with all of their opponents. The GLLL functions democratically and with transparency; at the league meeting (and throughout the season) each team has a voice to suggest and ratify any changes to our operating rules.

GLLL League play consists of several mini-tourneys per season where multiple teams play each other at one site. Playing two games in a day allows teams to get their regular season schedule of about eight games done in four or five days over five weekends in the spring. The season culminates in the championship tournament weekend in which all teams participate and are seeded by regional rankings.

The GLLL is grouped into four regions. Each regional champion receives a plaque for their season and the top two teams from each region compete for the championship title while the remaining teams compete in a consolation bracket. Trophies are awarded for first through third in both championship and consolation brackets. This format allows both strong teams and developing programs a more competitive experience.

External links

• Great Lakes Lacrosse League Statistics and Rankings

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