Prev | Pause | Next

-Select School- CCSU Fairleigh Dickinson Long Island Monmouth Mount St. Mary's Quinnipiac Robert Morris Sacred Heart St. Francis (NY) St. Francis (PA) Wagner Bryant -Associate Members- -Bowling- -------------- Adelphi Kutztown New Jersey City Saint Peter's -Football- -------------- Albany Duquesne -Field Hockey- -------------- Lock Haven Rider Siena

- Select Sport - - Fall Sports - - Football -       Team by Team       Composite - Field Hockey -       Team by Team       Composite - Men's Soccer -       Team by Team       Composite - Women's Soccer -       Team by Team       Composite - Volleyball -       Team by Team       Composite - Winter Sports - - Men's Basketball -       Team by Team       Composite - Women's Basketball -       Team by Team       Composite - Spring Sports - - Baseball -       Team by Team       Composite - Softball -       Team by Team       Composite - Men's Lacrosse -       Team by Team       Composite - Women's Lacrosse -       Team by Team       Composite

	Name: Email:

Northeast Conference History
When the Northeast Conference (NEC) was first established as the ECAC-Metro Conference back in 1981, the league’s founders had one goal in mind: to create a competitive NCAA Division I men’s basketball conference for unaffiliated schools on the Eastern seaboard. A single-sport entity at its inception, the NEC has grown far beyond expectations over the past three decades, having transformed itself into a burgeoning 12-member, 23-sport conference. To mark the NEC’s 30th Anniversary season in 2010-11, the Conference will proudly celebrate its heritage as its builds toward a promising future.

The NEC and its member institutions are committed to providing opportunities for student-athletes to achieve their fullest potential both in athletic competition and in the classroom. Likewise, the Conference continually strives to be an NCAA Division I leader for athletic success, academic achievement and integrity, sportsmanship, equity and diversity, community partnership and national engagement.

The remarkable success story of the conference began to unfold in 1985, when the league began sponsoring additional sports. Three years later, a change of name was in order and the Northeast Conference as we know it today was born. With membership and sport sponsorship continuing to grow over the next 25 years, the NEC now enjoys qualification or play-in access to 14 different NCAA Championships (baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s tennis and women’s volleyball).

Though the NEC has featured various incarnations since its inception, charter members Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island, Robert Morris, St. Francis (NY), Saint Francis (PA) and Wagner remain part of the current 12-school alignment. They are joined by Monmouth (admitted in 1985), Mount St. Mary’s (1989), Central Connecticut State (1997), Quinnipiac (1998) and Sacred Heart (1999). NEC expansion continues with the addition of Bryant University in 2012 as the league’s 12th member, which will give the league a six-state geographic footprint with access to such major media markets as New York City, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Hartford and Providence.

NEC member institutions now compete in 23 championship sports: baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, women’s bowling, men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball.

Northeast Conference Website/Television
More widely-recognized than ever, the NEC continues to expand its new media initiatives to cater to a growing fan base.

The Conference has embraced social media with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages, all of which have attracted loyal followings. The NEC also provides its fans with NEC On The Run podcast segments, weekly NEC Notebook spots (that also air on Sports Radio 66 WFAN in New York City and ESPN Radio 1250 in Pittsburgh) and video blogs. To further enhance its multimedia efforts, the league launched satellite website, www.northeastconference.tv, last fall. The site serves as the league’s webcast hub and offers an event archive dating back two years. A women’s basketball regular season Game of the Week along with ten conference championships (men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, volleyball, women’s basketball, women’s bowling, men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball and baseball) made up the 2009-10 webcast package. The Conference also plans a summer relaunch of its official website, www.northeastconference.org.

To supplement one of the premier regional basketball television packages in the country, the conference also produces a football package and a preseason basketball show entitled NEC Countdown to Tipoff. Over the last five years, the Conference has televised nearly 150 events, as the league’s coverage area expanded to over 50 million homes. Along with flagship station MSG Network, other regional television partners include MSG Plus, FSN-Pittsburgh, MASN, NESN, Fox College Sports, Cox Cable and the Connecticut Sports Network. In 2010, ESPN broadcast the men’s basketball championship game for the 23rd straight year, while ESPNU carried the women’s championship game, marking the third year in a row the women’s contest reached a nationwide audience.

Academic Success
The Northeast Conference’s commitment to academic excellence led to national recognition for both individual student-athletes and the league’s member institutions as a whole in 2009-10. NEC student-athletes graduated at an 84.7 percent rate, which is well above the national average of 79 percent according to NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) data. Likewise, a total of 19 NEC teams garnered public recognition from the NCAA for their latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. The league placed 33 representatives on ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District teams, one of whom - Monmouth men’s soccer player Daniel Bostock - went on to garner Academic All-America Honors. On a conference-wide level, more than 2,200 student-athletes qualified for the NEC Academic Honor Roll, a 13 percent increase from the previous year, while nearly 500 were named to the Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll with GPAs of 3.75 or higher. Student-athletes at Fairleigh Dickinson and Saint Francis (PA) posted combined GPAs of 3.24 to share the NEC Institutional Academic Award.

Athletic Achievement
The NEC’s exposure was widened on a national basis as the Conference sent representatives to NCAA Championship events in 13 different team sports in 2009-10, while NEC student-athletes individually qualified to compete for an NCAA title in women’s tennis, along with men’s and women’s golf.

In the league’s highest profile event of the year - played before the largest crowd in conference history at the TD Bank Sports Center - Robert Morris defeated Quinnipiac, 52-50, to become the first men’s basketball program since the mid-90’s to repeat as NEC champion; RMU then captivated a nationwide audience with a near upset of #2 seed Villanova in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Less than a month later, the Conference drew headlines as Fairleigh Dickinson won the NCAA Women’s Bowling championship with a thrilling 4-3 win over Nebraska in the title match televised live by ESPN. The championship was historical in nature as it marked the first such title for a Northeast Conference institution in a league-sponsored sport. In just its second year sponsoring the sport, the NEC featured six teams ranked in the top-15 of the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) poll during the 2009-10 campaign.

The Monmouth men’s soccer program and Long Island softball team also found success on the national stage. After winning its fifth consecutive regular season crown, Monmouth went on to capture the NEC Tournament title and earned the opportunity to host #12 UConn on the Great Lawn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Before a sellout crowd, the Hawks advanced past the Huskies in penalty kicks. The Hawks ranked as high as fifth and finished the season ranked 13th nationally in the NSCAA/adidas poll. Long Island softball completed an unprecedented season on the diamond by becoming the first team in NEC history to reach an NCAA Regional final in the sport. The Blackbirds defeated #21 UMass and Boston University before falling to #13 Arizona State.

In football, Central Connecticut State won its first NEC football crown since 2005 and represented the Conference in the fourth Gridiron Classic. The Long Island women’s volleyball program continued its dominance with a sixth straight Northeast Conference championship last fall. It marks the longest active title streak in the conference in any sport. In its first season of competition, NEC newcomer Bryant ran away with the baseball regular season title. The stage was also set for the official launch of men’s lacrosse in 2010-11 as Mount St. Mary’s advanced to the NCAA Tournament after capturing the MAAC Championship. Bryant claimed the biggest win of the season with a 9-7 conquest of #9 Yale in April and Robert Morris reached as high as #19 in the USILA national poll.

Individually, six NEC student-athletes received All-America honors in their respective sports. Monmouth senior attacker Ryan Kinne was named a first team NSCAA/adidas All-American in men’s soccer, while his teammate, senior defender Daniel Bostock, was tabbed to the second team. Two members of the FDU national champion women’s bowling team - Sara Litteral and Erica Perez - were named All-Americans by the National Tenpin Coaches Association. For Perez, it marked her fourth consecutive honor, while Litteral was recognized for the second straight year. CCSU baseball star Sean Allaire was tabbed a third team ABCA and Louisville Slugger All-American and Blue Devil running back James Mallory was named to the Associated Press and AFCA All-American teams, and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the outstanding college football player at the FCS level. Bryant catcher Jeff Vigurs (Cubs) and Sacred Heart’s Mike Drowne (Dodgers) were selected in the 2010 MLB Draft.

Sacred Heart captured its third straight Brenda Weare Commissioner’s Cup. The Pioneers also claimed a fourth straight Joan Martin Women’s Commissioner’s Cup. The Men’s Cup was won by Monmouth for the eighth time in the last nine years.

On Campus/In The Community
The NEC welcomed the class of 2013 to campus last summer with a Freshman Orientation gift bag promotion, the first step in a new outreach program developed as a by-product of the NEC Strategic Plan. Over 10,000 freshmen students across the membership were introduced to the Conference with promotional items, including an informative NEC Fan Guide.

The NEC also participated in the NCAA’s Respect Campaign, an effort to promote an environment of respect and integrity at Conference events. The marketing campaign included co-branded NEC/NCAA banners, logos and print ads, along with public address announcements and personalized spots that ran during institutional radio and webcasts.

The NEC, its member institutions and student-athletes have made community involvement an important piece of its mission. In 2009-10, the NEC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee made its annual visit to the Cancer Recovery Foundation in Hershey, PA in February. The SAAC coordinated a leaguewide “Penny Wars” fundraiser that resulted in a significant donation to the organization. NEC field hockey programs participated in a Be the Match Challenge, which helped facilitate matches for potential bone marrow donors. The drive resulted in more than 650 people signing up for the national Be The Match Registry. To assist in raising breast cancer awareness, NEC women’s volleyball teams supported "Dig Pink" for the first time on a conference basis this season, while women’s basketball teams also participated in the WBCA’s "Pink Zone" promotion. Additionally, the Sacred Heart SAAC was the recipient of the 2010 NCAA SAAC Award of Excellence.

Evolving and Expanding
In recent years, the NEC has taken aim at upgrading the caliber of the league’s championship sports and enhancing the opportunities and experiences for the more than 4,000 student-athletes that compete in the conference. The Conference will contest its first men’s lacrosse championship this year and has upgraded its women’s swimming and diving championship venue with its move to MIT in 2011. This fall, the NEC will gain automatic access to the Division I Football Championship for the first time, making football the 14th team sport in which NEC student-athletes are guaranteed a chance to compete for an NCAA crown. Set to embark on a number of new initiatives as part of the league’s Strategic Plan - including the creation of an NEC Athletic Hall of Fame - the NEC and its member institutions are committed to the future growth of the Conference.