The NCAA D2 offers the fewest opportunities to play college lacrosse, but that doesn’t mean student-athletes should rule out this division. At the heart of D2 colleges is a balance between academic achievements, athletic participations and campus engagement. D2 colleges are located in the Northeast region, with a handful of programs west of the Mississippi River, and range in enrollment size, though 87 percent have fewer than 8,000 students. In most cases, the talent recruited at the D2 level is equal in skill and competitive nature when compared to their D1 counterpart. Partial scholarships are offered at the D2 level, with the option to combination athletics scholarships, academic aid, need-based grants and/or employment earnings.
D2 lacrosse programs are offered at over 70 four-year colleges across 45 US states and Canada. D2 lacrosse schools are organized into eight conferences: CACC, Conference Carolinas, ECC, GLVC, GMAC, Independents, Northeast-10 Conference, RMAC, SAC and SSC.
Athletics is just one aspect of the college selection process that student-athletes take into consideration when picking their perfect fit. To provide student-athletes with a more complete picture of what each school offers, we’ve factored in aspects like location, cost, and academics to determine the best D2 lacrosse colleges in our Power Rankings. The NCAA also produces its own list of top D2 lacrosse schools that is featured on the NCAA website.