Southwestern University - Athletics

Athletics

Southwestern is a member of the NCAA Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). Southwestern competes in 18 sports, including basketball, cross country, track & field, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, men's baseball, men's lacrosse, women's volleyball and women's softball. Intramural sports on campus include handball, rock climbing, ultimate frisbee, and equestrian activities. The school mascot is the pirate.

The men's lacrosse team became a varsity sport in 2009 after offering lacrosse as a club sport for 25 years. The men's lacrosse team won the Lonestar Alliance Division II Championship for four consecutive years prior to becoming a varsity sport. The women's team is currently non-varsity and is affiliated with the Texas Women's Lacrosse League, although the university plans to field a varsity team in 2014. The women's team won a division championships in 2007.

In addition to lacrosse, Southwestern has a nationally ranked handball team that won the Division II National Collegiate Championship in 2007.

Southwestern plans to reinstate football in 2013 after a 62 year hiatus. The university previously fielded football teams from 1908 to 1951, reaching national prominence during World War II when the university's participation in the Navy's V-12 College Training Program enlisted talented players from other schools. Southwestern was a founding member of the Southwest Conference and won the Sun Bowl in 1944 and 1945.