INDIANAPOLIS – Roosevelt University advanced to the third year of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division II provisional membership process, the organization announced Thursday with a phone call to Roosevelt officials.

The phone call is another important stepping stone for Roosevelt Athletics on its road to active NCAA Division II membership. The department matriculated into the final of three stages in the provisional membership process designed to help transitioning schools integrate into Division II seamlessly.

"This is another mile marker in our matriculation to active NCAA Division II membership, and concurrently a moment to recognize and celebrate the commitment and dedication showcased by the entire university to get to this point," said Vice President of Athletics and Student-Athlete Success Michael Cassidy. "I am proud of the way our department represented itself this past year. We met the moment in taking a big step up in competition and compliance, while continuing our commitment to academic success."

The past year featured many firsts for the Lakers on and off the field after officially joining the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last July. Roosevelt played a full NCAA Division II schedule, and qualified for the conference tournament in five sports. The year was highlighted by the men's soccer program winning a share of the GLIAC Championship and hosting the conference tournament at Morris Field.

In the classroom, the Lakers continued to display their commitment to academics with a sizable number of student-athletes honored for their academic success. At the conference level, Roosevelt had 127 student-athletes honored as Academic All-GLIAC team members, including 52 who obtained a 3.5 GPA or better. Roosevelt had its first recipient of the prestigious GLIAC Commissioner's Award in senior defender Gabriel Koenig from the men's soccer team.

Koenig also led the Lakers' national academic honors by being named a second-team Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators, becoming the third Lakers athlete to earn the honor. Roosevelt had 32 total Academic All-District honorees from CSC, the second consecutive year the university had at least 30 student-athletes honored by the program.

Roosevelt is proud to be Chicago's only competing NCAA Division II institution as it begins its second year in the GLIAC. The Lakers' first home competition of the new academic year will be September 4 when the women's soccer team hosts Lewis at Morris Field. On September 6, the football team kicks off its 2025 season against Quincy at 1 p.m. in Arlington Heights.