History

[dmsaban]

I think this is a great website...however what I was looking for, but couldn't find was history or background information on the uslia:

when did you form, what is your mission, what do all the acromyms flying around mean...

[tamu33]

Most of the information that you have requested was lost when the website was hacked into and destroyed.

Really it is a division developed by previously seperate leagues who wanted to form one national body with a set of standards. Very similar to the way the NCAA governs their sports. USL-MDIA governs any college lacrosse program that adheres to their regulations. If I remember correctly, USLIA became official in 1997 but grew tremendously around 1999-2000. Before the USLIA, NIRSA and NCLL were the primary governing bodies.

As for acronyms, most of them are schools.. such as
University of California - Santa Barabra (UCSB)
Colorado State Univeristy - CSU
Sonoma State - SSU
Brigham Young - BYU

others are conferences and associations
U.S. Lacrosse Mens Division Intercollegiate Associates - USL-MDIA formerly USLIA (thus the website) and sometimes shortened to MDIA.

Lone Star Alliance - LSA
Wester Collegiate Lacrosse League - WCLL
SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference - SELC

hope this helps and please ... everyone chime in if i blantly got something wrong.

[deesh123]

Really it is a division developed by previously seperate leagues who wanted to form one national body with a set of standards.

What are the names of the original 'previously seperate leagues' that formed to make the USL-MDIA?

[Sonny]

What are the names of the original 'previously seperate leagues' that formed to make the USL-MDIA?

The original 6 USILA which came together to form the first ever USILA Collegiate Club National Champioship (Spring, '97) were:
1. Western Collegiate Lacrosse League (WCLL)
2. Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Lacrosse League, now known as the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference
3. Lone Star Alliance (LSA)
4. SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference (SELC)
5. Pacific NW Collegiate Lacrosse League (PNCLL)
6. Big Ten League, now known as the CCLA

The six leagues agreed to certain minimum eligibility requirements and agreed to send their conference champions to the new national championship in St. Louis. The leagues all kept up their own organizations, identites, records, and structures.

[CSmizzle]

That's neat stuff. When did the GRLC and PCLL come aboard?

[bste_lax]

GRLC came along before the 2001-2002 season. CCLA blew up with teams wanting to join so the CCLA split between Indiana/Illinois border with those on the east staying in the CCLA and those west becoming the GRLC.

Prior to that, the CCLA would have spread from Kansas to Buffalo and that is pretty far.

[Sonny]

After the success of the championships & the growth of the MDIA, two other geographically independent collegiate club conferences join the MDIA over the years.

The Upper Midwest League (MN and Iowa) joined for the spring of 2000, if I recall correctly.

National Championship appearances by UMLL teams thru the years:
Minnesota State Mankato - 2000
Minnesota-Duluth 2001 - 2004
Minnesota - 2005

I think 2001 was the first year for the Pioneer League to join the MDIA. National Championship appearances by Pioneer League teams
UNH - 2001
UNH - 2002
URI - 2003
BC - 2004
Northeastern - 2005

[Gregg Pathiakis]

That's neat stuff. When did the GRLC and PCLL come aboard?

I believe this coming season will be the 6th or 7th season the PCLL has been a member of the MDIA. Prior to that, they were an independent league.

[CSmizzle]

So the whole operation has really come together in the past 10 years? That's really cool - I thought that the umbrella USLIA/USL-MDIA league had been around much longer than that.

What prompted the 'original six' to form the championship? Was it a full league back then or just a tournament? Given the amount of hard work that had to go into setting this up, I'm now curious what the motivation was.

On the other side, how do the leagues plan to grow? In reading these pages it doesn't look like any additional leagues are candidates to join. I would imagine that more clubs will form and join as the game grows west of the Mississippi River, but what about areas that might already have their fill of clubs? B-teams/B-league? Any conferences have any more good prospects on teams after the great set of additions this fall?

[Gregg Pathiakis]

Here in the Northeast, we actually set up a committee whose sole purpose is to promote the growth of the PCLL. The committee is currently looking at adding teams in our "dead zones" between New Hampshire and Univ. of Rochester and between New Hampshire and Univ. of Maine. Also looking to grow into New Jersey and NYC, and into eastern PA. Once we hit NYC, we are dealing with teams already in the NCLL so in order to get them all, we have to start by getting at least one. It will happen, though.

[CSmizzle]

A committee - that's pretty cool to have a group pretty much dedicated to helping grow the league. From what you've said it looks like you'll need the combined efforts of that group to get NCLL teams to make the upgrade together. Best of luck moving southward and northward!

Anyone else see anything on the horizon? I'm always impressed that just when the conferences seem to have expanded to the max they find some more clubs willing to step up to MDIA's level of club ball.

[Sonny]

A brief history of the MDIA has been added to the new FAQ:
http://www.uslia.com/faq.php

[CATLAX MAN]

This is a good start, but I think it would be great if there was a place on this site where you could look back at archived data, especially the past tournament games scores, stats, records & results.

I know that this would be a big job, but a lot of the data is out there as it is incorproated in the tourney program each year. Any chance of this happening?

[Sonny]

This is a good start, but I think it would be great if there was a place on this site where you could look back at archived data, especially the past tournament games scores, stats, records & results.

I know that this would be a big job, but a lot of the data is out there as it is incorproated in the tourney program each year. Any chance of this happening?

This is still on the "to-do" list. Just need more time and more money.

[wldctlax]

are the pictures from the old website saved on a harddrive somewhere? there were some good photos that i'd like to purchase from the "glory days" if they are retrievable.