California Lutheran University added the Regals Lacrosse team last year, however, the university has not yet created a men’s lacrosse team.

In a Zoom interview, Laura McIntyre, Regals Lacrosse head coach said there are multiple barriers that prevent Cal Lutheran from starting a men’s lacrosse team. These barriers include the need to comply with Title IX requirements to have an equal number of competitive sports for men and women and the lack of financial support for the creation of the team.

However, complying with Title IX and a lack of finances aren’t the biggest barrier to starting a lacrosse team at Cal Lutheran, McIntyre said.

“I think the biggest barrier, truthfully, would be the competition that they would play. There’s not a lot of men’s college lacrosse programs for [NCAA] division three out here currently,” McIntyre said.

Although Cal Lutheran does not currently have a sanctioned men’s lacrosse team, the university does have a lacrosse club that students can join.

In a Zoom interview, Cal Lutheran junior and vice president of the Knights Lacrosse Club, Christopher Noji, agreed that the biggest obstacle to starting a team is the lack of participation at the NCAA division three level.

Cal Lutheran senior and President of the Knights Lacrosse Club, Jeremy Ackmann, echoed that he believes one of the biggest barriers to creating a team is the lack of interest in creating a team and joining the MCLA at Cal Lutheran.

“As the club president for the third year and being in the club for four years, the most people I have seen at a meeting or practice was five people, including myself,” Ackmann said.

To be a competing team in the MCLA, Ackmann said each person would need to pay somewhere between $1,200 and $3,000 to cover food, referees, jerseys and field time.

“With no coaches, extremely limited field availability, cost for equipment, and little participation, it is hard to get anything going,” Ackmann said.

Ackmann and Noji both said COVID-19 has stalled any possibility of starting a team or expanding the Lacrosse Club.

“If anyone was going to start something this fall or try and get something going at least, then obviously we can’t try to do that anymore,” Noji said.

Ackmann said even though COVID-19 has stunted the growth of lacrosse on campus, he is hopeful that Cal Lutheran will start a men’s lacrosse team in the future.

“From not being able to do much as a club to possibly even less people going to CLU, it’s yet another challenge, but I have faith that there will be a team at some point down the line,” Ackmann said.