Towson to Host Historic 2027 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championships at Johnny Unitas Stadium
Towson University and the Baltimore area will once again take center stage in the lacrosse world.
The NCAA announced Wednesday that Towson University will host the 2027 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championships at Johnny Unitas Stadium from May 28-30, 2027, bringing the nation’s biggest collegiate women’s lacrosse weekend back to Maryland.
The event will be especially significant because, for the first time, the Division I, Division II and Division III women’s lacrosse championships will all be held at the same final site.
That means Towson will not simply host the Division I Final Four. The campus will become the center of the entire NCAA women’s lacrosse championship weekend.
A historic championship weekend
The 2027 format will create three straight days of championship-level lacrosse at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
The Division I semifinals will be played Friday, May 28. The Division II and Division III national championship games will take place Saturday, May 29, followed by the Division I national championship game Sunday, May 30.
The decision came after members of the Division I Women’s Lacrosse Oversight Committee and the Division II and Division III Women’s Lacrosse Committees discussed the potential benefits of bringing all three championship levels together at one location. The committees ultimately agreed that the format could help showcase and grow the sport.
The NCAA plans to continue the combined championship format in 2028 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Subaru Park had originally been selected to host the 2027 Division I championship, but a scheduling conflict made the venue unavailable. The NCAA then shifted the 2027 event to Towson and will use Subaru Park in 2028.
Towson has a strong history as an NCAA host
This will not be Towson’s first time hosting the highest level of women’s college lacrosse.
Towson previously hosted the Division I women’s lacrosse semifinals and championship game in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2021.
The 2014 championship weekend was particularly successful.
Johnny Unitas Stadium drew 10,311 fans for the Division I championship game, which was a record at the time. The entire 2014 championship weekend attracted 18,567 fans, also a then-record total.
That history was one of the reasons Towson emerged as a logical replacement when the NCAA needed a new host for 2027.
Johnny Unitas Stadium seats approximately 11,198 fans, providing a large on-campus venue in one of the strongest lacrosse markets in the country.
Towson Vice President of Athletics Dr. Steven Eigenbrot called hosting the championships a major opportunity for both the university and Greater Baltimore.
Eigenbrot said Towson looks forward to welcoming the nation’s top teams and fans while showcasing the school, its campus and the Baltimore region’s deep lacrosse tradition.
Baltimore’s lacrosse tradition gets another major showcase
Bringing the championships to Towson also keeps one of college lacrosse’s biggest events in a region closely connected to the sport.
Maryland has long been one of the country’s strongest lacrosse areas, from youth and high school programs to college lacrosse and professional teams.
Towson itself has a long history in the sport, while other programs around the state including Maryland, Loyola Maryland, Johns Hopkins and Navy have helped make the Baltimore-Washington area one of the most recognizable lacrosse regions in the country.
The 2027 championship weekend will give local fans the rare opportunity to watch national championship games from all three NCAA divisions at one venue.
It could also provide significant exposure for Towson University itself.
Thousands of players, coaches, families and fans will be expected to visit the area throughout the weekend, while national television coverage will put Johnny Unitas Stadium and the university in front of a much larger audience.
A major step for women’s lacrosse
The combined championship concept also represents an important development for women’s college lacrosse.
The Division I women’s lacrosse championship has been contested since the 1981-82 academic year, the first year the NCAA sponsored women’s championships. Division III began crowning an NCAA women’s lacrosse champion in 1985, while Division II began its championship in 2001.
Until now, those championships have not all culminated at the same location.
That changes in Towson.
The NCAA committees overseeing all three divisions said the combined event provides an opportunity to create a larger celebration around women’s lacrosse while exposing fans to championship competition across every NCAA level.
The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association also supported the move, with executive director Liz Robertshaw describing the opportunity to showcase all three divisions in Baltimore and Philadelphia as a significant moment for the continued growth of the sport.
Towson women’s lacrosse continues to build its profile
Hosting the event will also give Towson women’s lacrosse additional visibility.
The Tigers reached the 2026 Coastal Athletic Association championship game before falling to nationally ranked Stony Brook. Towson finished the season 8-11 overall and 5-2 in conference play, making its first CAA championship appearance in three years.
While there is no guarantee the Tigers themselves will be part of the 2027 NCAA tournament field, having the championships on campus adds another layer of excitement around the program.
Towson players will practice and compete throughout the season knowing the national championship weekend will eventually arrive at their home stadium.
MSB Take
This is a major win for Towson University and for Maryland lacrosse.
Baltimore and the surrounding region have always treated lacrosse differently than most parts of the country. The sport is deeply embedded in the area’s high schools, colleges and local communities, which makes Johnny Unitas Stadium a natural place to hold an event of this magnitude.
The biggest part of this announcement is not simply that Towson is getting another Division I Final Four.
It is that Towson will host the first combined Division I, Division II and Division III NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship weekend in history.
That gives the event a much larger feel.
Fans will be able to watch the best programs from three different levels of college lacrosse compete for national championships over one weekend, and Towson will be the backdrop for all of it.
The attendance numbers from 2014 already showed that Maryland can support a major women’s lacrosse championship. More than a decade later, the sport has continued to grow, which gives the 2027 event the potential to be even bigger.
For Towson, this is also an opportunity to show that Johnny Unitas Stadium can remain one of the premier lacrosse championship venues in the country.
For Baltimore, it is another chance to reinforce something local fans have known for a long time:
Maryland remains one of the true homes of lacrosse.
Specific ticket information and a more detailed event schedule will be released by the NCAA at a later date.
