MINNEAPOLIS – By a unanimous vote of its membership, the Upper Midwest Lacrosse Conference (UMLC) is adding Central Michigan to its Division I lineup for the 2022 season.

The addition of the Chippewas comes after the UMLC added Michigan State and Western Michigan earlier this offseason.

“Adding Central Michigan to the UMLC was a no-brainer considering the geographical proximity to our other conference teams in the area,” said UMLC director Derek Daehn. “This year’s race for the UMLC Division I championship is going to be exciting.”

Central Michigan, along with Western Michigan and Michigan State, were former members of the Continental Lacrosse Conference (CLC).

While unofficial, the expected sub-divisional lineup in the UMLC will feature Central Michigan, Indiana, Miami (Ohio), Michigan State, Purdue and Western Michigan in the East with Illinois, Illinois State, Iowa State, Minnesota and Nebraska in the West.

The UMLC will have an automatic qualifying bid to the 2022 MCLA National Championships presented by New Balance.