CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Fans of Austin Peay State University sports will have a new team to root for beginning in 2026.
In 2024, then-athletic director Gerald Harrison and university President Michael Licari revealed that women’s lacrosse would be coming to the university. The sport is Austin Peay’s 17th athletic program and 11th women’s program, and will begin its inaugural season in February.
“As always, it is a great day to be a Gov, and we are thrilled to announce the addition of a women’s lacrosse program at Austin Peay,” said Harrison at the time. “Lacrosse is the fastest-growing women’s sport in the NCAA, and we are excited to have the first Division I women’s lacrosse program at a public university in the state of Tennessee!”
As Harrison mentioned, Austin Peay is the first public school in Tennessee to offer women’s lacrosse at the Division I level. Vanderbilt, a private school, also has a women’s lacrosse team. The newborn Govs lacrosse team beat Vanderbilt 18-3 in a pre-season scrimmage on Oct. 17, 2025.
Selecting lacrosse coach Melissa Rausch
The university launched a nationwide search for the program’s first head coach, and Melissa Rausch was hired for the role in the summer of 2024.
Rausch comes to Clarksville with six years of collegiate head coaching experience. The coach led the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs from 2022 to 2024. In that time, Rausch led the Mountain Lions to 22 wins and three straight trips to the RMAC Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
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Rausch explained that Harrison and interim director of athletics Jordan Harmon are the reasons she was sold on the Austin Peay job.
“Honestly, Gerald and Jordan are the reason I’m here,” Rausch said. “I was incredibly happy at UCCS. … I loved Colorado Springs. But hearing the way they talked about Austin Peay, about Clarksville-Montgomery County … it was obviously impossible to say no.”
Creating a Govs lacrosse program
Building a program from scratch is never easy, but Rausch is excited for the challenge. The inaugural roster features 18 freshmen, but also has one graduate student, one senior, one junior, and seven sophomores.
Rausch wants the people of Clarksville to know that her team plays a “fun, fast-paced” style of lacrosse.
“We are fast-paced. We hunt the ball. We want to make sure that every team that plays us has to be in the best shape in order to compete with us,” Rausch said.
What to expect in Govs lacrosse
If you aren’t familiar with the sport of lacrosse, Rausch explained that there are plenty of similarities to other sports.
“The beauty of lacrosse is, tactically, it’s much like basketball. If you like the offensive action in basketball, you will love lacrosse,” the coach said. “We set up on the field similarly to soccer, but we’re much faster-paced, so if you like soccer, you will like lacrosse.”
While team success is obviously a goal of the program, the hope is also to get the local community involved. In partnership with the Clarksville Lacrosse Club and Montgomery County Lacrosse, Austin Peay is hosting a free lacrosse clinic on Jan. 24 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Jenkins Family Fieldhouse on campus.
Rausch’s team will kick off its inaugural season at home on Feb. 7 against Gardner-Webb. All home games will be free to attend and will take place at Morgan Bros. Fields.
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