National Lacrosse Association Eliminates Women’s Junior College Lacrosse Programs

For the last 21 seasons, excluding two years for COVID, Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) head women’s lacrosse coach Jim Griffiths prepared his talented teams for the rigors of the season of facing small four-year colleges and junior college teams from the lacrosse hotbeds of upstate New York.

Instead of passing and shooting drills this year, AACC’s practice fields are eerily quiet as the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) made the difficult decision last summer to halt the women’s lacrosse program nationwide.

“We never want to discontinue a sport,” NJCAA Assistant Vice President for Sports Governance Rod Lovett stated in a press release. “Unfortunately, we were not seeing growth in women’s lacrosse, and we are disappointed to curtail this sport.”

AACC Athletic Director Duane Herr said, “Because many four-year colleges were adding women’s lacrosse programs and recruiting the pool of players who may have attended junior colleges, many junior colleges stopped their programs, and we were having fewer and fewer teams to play.”

For comparison, in 2018, AACC played 19 regular season games plus a four-game postseason tournament. In 2024, AACC played nine regular season games while facing only three NJCAA opponents, playing home and away series, and one NCAA Division III team.

“It’s disappointing that the NJCAA is no longer sponsoring women’s lacrosse, however, it was inevitable,” Griffiths said.

Griffiths began coaching in 2004 when the NJCAA recognized women’s lacrosse as a championship sport with regional and national tournaments. Since then, AACC has had an overall record of 215-68 and has celebrated three national championships.

Those national titles were in 2006, 2007 and 2023. The college appeared in 15 national tournaments during those years, the most of any program in the country.

Broadneck graduate Jenn Gappert Phelps played on the first team led by Griffiths and then returned to coach at AACC from 2007-2018.

“It’s definitely an end of an outstanding era,” Phelps said. “Many of us didn’t receive scholarships coming out of high school, but by playing four-year schools and getting exposure to college scouts, we were able to secure scholarships to continue playing and get a degree.”

AACC scheduled games against numerous four-year colleges during their regular season. Those opponents included Pfeiffer University, Iona University, Presbyterian College, Lycoming College, Guilford College and Southern Connecticut State University.

Phelps was a JUCO All-American at AACC in two sports, soccer and lacrosse, and she played lacrosse at Pfeiffer University in North Carolina.

“Playing for coach Griffiths had a huge impact on my life, and he elevated my game to the next level so I could be offered a scholarship,” Phelps said. “I know two of my Broadneck teammates, Kristen Kibler and Jenny Deans, were also given scholarships to Pfeiffer after playing at AACC.”

Griffiths will miss coaching lacrosse and seeing his players go on to four-year schools, get their degrees and become successful adults.

“The great aspect of junior colleges is that it gives the student-athlete a chance to continue playing the sport they love and gain recognition from four-year schools that may offer them a scholarship,” Griffiths said. “Many players did not have the resources for an out-of-state tuition, but by playing a high-level of competition and national tournaments, they were noticed by numerous four-year schools.”

Griffiths also taught physical education and health at Bates Middle School for 37 years and continues to be AACC’s head women’s soccer coach.

“As I think back on all those seasons and the terrific and talented players I had, I recall the fun memories of the long bus rides, dinners and hotel stays, which bonded the players together,” Griffiths said. “For many of those road trips, we used the college’s large vans, and you sat very close to one another, so they told stories about their childhoods, played word games and had a constant flow of laughter.”

Phelps echoed those sentiments by stating, “I made lifelong friends at AACC, and I think about the bad facilities we played at during the early days, like playing on a baseball outfield at a junior college in New York. It was an amazing time.”

The players still have get-togethers and invite Griffiths so he can remain in touch with his players.

“It’s so good to see my players married, having families and being successful,” Griffiths said. “We won many national championships, but seeing my players happy is the biggest joy I receive.”

AACC has added two sports, women’s golf and women’s cross country, to try to offset the loss of lacrosse and to provide more opportunities for female student-athletes.