WALESKA, Ga. -- Reinhardt College has added the sport of women's lacrosse to its athletics program for 2010-11, and Alyson Whitley was chosen to lead the team as its first head coach, President Dr. J. Thomas Isherwood has announced.  

"Athletics plays a vital role to the life of Reinhardt and our over 200 scholarship student-athletes contribute in many ways to our spirit," Isherwood said. "We added men's lacrosse last year, and now we look forward to bringing collegiate-level women's lacrosse to the College. Lacrosse is an exciting and challenging sport that we believe will be of interest to our community."

Women's lacrosse becomes Reinhardt's 15th intercollegiate sport. The College sponsors eight sports for women and seven for men, and all programs offer athletic scholarships. Thirteen of the teams compete as part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC). Presently, however, women's and men's lacrosse are not considered championship sports by either the NAIA or the AAC.

In women's lacrosse, Reinhardt may pursue membership in the Southeastern Women's Lacrosse League (SWLL). The league currently consists of teams from all over the Southeast, including the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. When and if the NAIA sponsors lacrosse, Reinhardt will then look to play at the intercollegiate varsity level.

"The addition of both lacrosse programs brings a new and exciting sport to Reinhardt and will generate interest within our community as most people have only ever seen the sport on television," Reinhardt athletic director Bill Popp said. "Lacrosse is an up-and-coming sport here in the state of Georgia as well as nationally, and we are hoping to tap into the market for student-athletes who would like to stay close to home and play."

Whitley is in charge of Reinhardt's women's lacrosse program and brings much experience in the sport as an administrator, a coach, an instructor and a player. Last June, Whitley started the Southeastern Lacrosse Club out of Atlanta, Ga., and currently serves as its president. She was an assistant varsity girl's lacrosse coach at Kennesaw (Ga.) Mountain High School and has been an instructor at several girls lacrosse camps in the area. As a player, Whitley earned four varsity letters at NCAA Division I Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C. Originally from Marietta, Ga., and a graduate of Harrison High School, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Presbyterian in 2009.

"I'm really excited about starting a program at Reinhardt," Whitley said. "Lacrosse is a big Northeastern sport but it's growing very rapidly in the Southeast. I think it was great for Reinhardt to add both men's and women's lacrosse. We do give out scholarships for athletics as well as academics, so I think we can have a good recruiting class."

Being a spring sport at the collegiate level, the Lady Eagles expect to play their first game in February 2011. Prior to that time, the recruitment of quality student-athletes will take place. In the community, the popularity of lacrosse has grown tremendously within high schools over the past few years.