For the first time in College of DuPage history, a women’s lacrosse team has been added to the list of sports offered. 

This new team will be led by head coach Gary Cope and assistant coach David Smietanski. Cope previously helped Lockport High School establish a women’s lacrosse team, and he is now looking forward to doing it again on a larger scale. 

“Finding out that they were going to start a brand new [women’s lacrosse] program at College of DuPage really interested me,” Cope said. “To be able to do this on a high school level and then have an opportunity to do it again on a college level really interested me.” 

The addition of a women’s lacrosse team at College of DuPage gives women who played another chance to continue after high school. COD student Skylar Jollette plans on trying out, as it gives her an opportunity to further her understanding and love of the sport. 

“Sometimes letting go of sports after high school is hard,” she said, “but having the chance to play at the college level will attract more women to join the team.”

As more colleges start to add women’s lacrosse as an offered sport, the more opportunities female athletes will get to continue their sport after high school. Cope believes that this new team will help give women an outlet to keep playing despite any other obstacles that could be in the way. 

“They might still have that athletic desire to play, but they might not have had an opportunity to,” Cope said. “(The new team) gives them that opportunity here at College of DuPage to be able to fill that athletic desire that they might still have. They can get a chance to play on a college level, play some good competition and maybe transfer to a four-year university and play there as well.”

The first season will be during the 2023-2024 school year, and tryouts will be hosted Oct. 7 starting at 4 p.m. on the COD soccer fields. Any questions about tryouts may be directed to [email protected].