Stonehill Second in NE-10 Presidents’ Cup Standings Following Fall Season

Skyhawks ahead of the pace from 2009-10 winning campaign

EASTON, Mass. (December 16, 2010) -Stonehill College is ranked second in the Northeast-10 Conference Presidents' Cup Standings through the fall season. The defending Presidents’ Cup Champions are ahead of last year’s winning pace in which the Skyhawks were third following the fall season in 2009-10.

Stonehill has compiled 71 points after a successful fall season which saw five Skyhawk teams reach postseason play with the women’s cross country team capturing its second-straight NE-10 Championship. The field hockey and men’s cross country teams finished second, while the volleyball and men’s soccer teams reached the postseason this season after narrowly missing out the year before.

Stonehill trails Presidents’ Cup leaders American International College (74 points) by just three points heading into the winter season. The University of Massachusetts Lowell is third (69), Bentley University (68) and Southern Connecticut State University (66) round out a very tightly packed top five.

Stonehill is coming off perhaps its most successful overall athletic performance in the College’s history during the 2009-10 academic year, culminating with the College’s second Presidents’ Cup Trophy and a 20th place finish in the Learfield Sports Directors Cup Standings which recognizes overall athletic achievement in NCAA sports. Stonehill was also recently ranked second in the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) Power Rankings used to assess the academic and athletic standards of all NCAA and NAIA athletic programs and earned a 98-percent Academic Success Rating from the NCAA – good for second among NE-10 schools and fourth nationally in Division II.

Stonehill captured the Presidents' Cup for the first time in 2005-06 and have finished in the top three each of the last six years. The Presidents' Cup is presented annually to signify overall athletic excellence in the Northeast-10 Conference and is awarded to the institution that compiles the most points based on the placement at the conclusion of the regular season of each of its programs which compete in league championships. Points for men's and women's cross country, men's and women's swimming & diving, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track & field and men's golf are awarded based on placement in respective conference championships.