PAINESVILLE, Ohio (November 25, 2008) – In a recent announcement, the East Coast Conference (ECC) accepted the Lake Erie College men’s and women’s lacrosse teams into the league for the Storm’s first year of varsity competition during the 2009-10 academic year. The ECC is an NCAA Division II conference which sponsors a total of 14 sports. Membership is comprised of 10 schools with additional associate members such as Lake Erie. Associate members participate in selected sports.

On the women’s side, the ECC will have a total of 11 schools compete in the sport of lacrosse, including Adelphi University, the University of Bridgeport, CW-Post/Long Island University, Dowling College, Mercy College, Molloy College, New Haven, Philadelphia University, Seton Hill University and St. Thomas Aquinas College.

For the men, 10 schools participate, including Adelphi, CW-Post, Dominican College, Dowling, Mercy, Mercyhurst College, Molloy, New York Institute of Technology and Seton Hill.

Storm women’s head coach Laura Maness and men’s head coach Greg Stocks are looking forward to the college’s first year of competition, especially since receiving news of the programs’ acceptance into the ECC.

“The ECC is a very established conference in the sport of lacrosse, which will ensure a very competitive schedule in our inaugural season,” said Maness.

“To be able to play in the best conference that Division II has to offer will only help our program,” said Stocks. “The competition is going to be extremely challenging, but it will ultimately help the growth of our program.”

For more information on the ECC, log on to www.wccsports.org.