Two newly announced women’s sports continue PNW track record as a pioneer in student athletics.
Beginning next year, female students will be able to compete in Women’s Flag Football and Women’s Ice Hockey.
PNW is the first public institution in Indiana to add a collegiate Women’s Flag Football team and the second state university to offer Women’s Hockey. Indiana University has a women’s hockey club.
“I am excited to introduce these new sports, as they provide additional opportunities for women to compete,” said Richard Costello, PNW’s athletic director. “These are wonderful additions to the array of sport offerings at PNW and will create plenty of excitement for our students, faculty, staff, alumni and the Northwest Indiana community.”
The Athletic Department reports that Women’s Flag Football is one of the fastest-growing sports in the nation, with strong support from the NFL. Last month the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics recommended adding flag football to the association’s Emerging Sports for Women program. More than 65 NCAA schools offer Women’s Flag Football as a club or varsity sport.
Flag Football will be featured as an official sport in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Women’s Flag Football is a 7-on-7 sport played on a 40-yard by 80-yard field. The inaugural season for the Pride will be in Spring 2026.
The new Women’s Hockey team will compete in Division I of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, the same association as the Men’s DI and DII teams. The inaugural Women’s Ice Hockey season will begin in fall 2026. The women’s team will play at The Kube in Hammond, which is the home rink for all Purdue Northwest hockey programs.
The athletics department is launching nationwide searches for its Women’s Ice Hockey and Flag Football head coaches.
The new sports follow a history of firsts for PNW. In 2020, the university became the first public university to offer Esports. In 2023, it became the first Indiana university to add a varsity STUNT team.
PNW now hosts 23 athletic teams.
