The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship.
The Mid-American Conference announced in late 2019 that women's lacrosse would be added as a sponsored sport for the 2021 season.
At that time of the announcement, only two full members of the conference had women's lacrosse teams, with Central Michigan starting play in 2016 and Kent State in 2019.
Akron had started scrimmaging in September 2019 and began formal competition the following February, while Eastern Michigan had announced plans in November 2019 to have a team by 2022.
[1][2] Later, in June 2020, the conference announced that Robert Morris, who was also in the process of becoming a full member of the Horizon League, would join as an affiliate for the inaugural 2021 season, for a total of six teams.