La Salle University to Add Sports, Including Women's Rugby

La Salle University's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation is adding four varsity sports, including women's rugby, President Daniel J. Allen, Ph.D., and Vice President of Athletics & Recreation and Director of Athletics Ashwin Puri announced today. The school will add women's rugby, women's acrobatics and tumbling, and women's triathlon, and will reinstate baseball, all for the for the 2025-26 school year. La Salle will also bolster its cheerleading and dance squads as well as add a band program to enhance the student experience on campus and the fan experience at athletic competitions. The plan has been endorsed by University leadership and the Board of Trustees, including the Board's Student Experience, Athletics & Recreation Committee. "Over the course of the last several months, La Salle University and the Athletics Department have had the opportunity to re-examine the current climate of intercollegiate athletics and our own position and offerings," Allen said. "Through a careful analysis, the Department determined the conditions that led to eliminating varsity sports in 2020 have changed and that the timing is right to add select varsity sports, enhance our dance and cheerleader squads, and develop a band program." The sports additions bring the number of varsity programs to 23 (nine men's and 14 women's).