The first intercollegiate game in the United States was played on November 22, 1877 between New York University and Manhattan College.

[2] The first intercollegiate lacrosse tournament was held in 1881, with Harvard beating Princeton, 3–0, in the championship game.

[2] From this point through 1931, collegiate lacrosse associations chose an annual champion based on season records.

[2] In 1894, the Inter-University Lacrosse League (IULL) began play using slightly different rules.

[2] In 1912, the USILL established Northern and Southern Divisions and began conducting a post-season playoff.

[2][5] The USILL was replaced by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association in March, 1926, as an open-membership governing body.

[2] In 1936, an award was established in the memory of a Baltimore sportswriter to recognize annually the most outstanding teams.

[6] All college teams were placed in one of the three divisions, dependent upon their records, schedules, and success for the preceding five years, and a point system was created.

The team that achieved the highest point total each year, however, was not guaranteed a solo national championship.

The system served as guidance to the USILA executive board, who chose co-champions on frequent occasions.

[6] At its 1969 annual meeting in Baltimore, the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association voted for its first playoff tournament to determine a national champion.

Michael Brown, LSM/D, holds record for attending every NJCAA school besides for Onondaga CC.

Across both men’s and women’s collegiate athletic programs, lacrosse experienced greater growth in the number of teams than any other sport.

[15] This model is different than a head-count sport, where every member of the team is guaranteed a full-ride scholarship.

From 1936 through 1970 the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) selected the Wingate Memorial Trophy winners as national champions based on regular season records.

[2] Beginning in 1971, the National Collegiate Athletic Association began holding an annual championship tournament.

[27] The last previous change was announced during the 2022 NCAA tournament, when the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) made official its widely-rumored[28] sponsorship of men's lacrosse effective in the 2023 season.

[34] As noted earlier, Lindenwood dropped men's lacrosse after the 2024 season (along with eight other NCAA sports).

[35] In September 2018 the NCAA rules committee implemented an 80-second shot clock that begins upon possession.

The Division II men’s lacrosse championship bracket expanded from four to eight teams starting with the 2013 season.

On December 2, 2014; the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) announced the addition of men's and women's lacrosse programs.

With the impending collapse of the Pac-12 as a backdrop, the Big 12 Conference announced it would start sponsoring women's lacrosse in the spring 2025 season.

The Big 12 reached the six sponsoring schools required for an automatic NCAA tournament bid by bringing in three affiliates: Florida, previously a women's lacrosse member of the American Athletic Conference (The American); and San Diego State and UC Davis, which had previously been Pac-12 affiliates.

All will compete in their current all-sports homes—Charlotte[47] and South Florida[48] in The American, and Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

[50] Since then, the Division II level has been dominated, much like its men's counterpart, by Adelphi University with nine national championships, most recently in 2019.

During this phase of recognition, teams compete to participate in a post season championship called the NAIA National Invitational.

The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the primary governing body of community college athletic programs in the USA and currently oversees 21 men's and 11 women's lacrosse programs predominately in the Northeastern United States.

The MCLA was created by the MDIA Board of Directors and its creation was announced by US Lacrosse on August 24, 2006.

The MCLA oversees play and conducts national championships for 184 non-NCAA men's lacrosse programs in 10 conferences and in two divisions throughout the country.

The association regulates different aspects of the teams, including minimum number of games played.