College confirms commitment to NEWHA for one year later due to COVID-19 related NCAA Division I recruiting restrictions
EASTON, Mass. (September 11, 2020) – Stonehill College remains committed to adding women's ice hockey as its 23rd varsity athletic program, but due to ongoing limits to permissible NCAA Division I recruiting activity related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the College and New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) have agreed to postpone its scheduled start of competition to the 2022-23 academic year. The announcement was made today by Stonehill director of athletics Dean O'Keefe, '94 and NEWHA commissioner Robert M. DeGregorio, Jr.
"We're obviously disappointed that we must delay the planned start of our women's ice hockey team in the 2021-22 academic year," said O'Keefe. "However, the COVID-19 pandemic has understandably had an ongoing impact on the current NCAA Division I 'dead period' which significantly limits our ability to connect with future Skyhawks and build a full roster within the current recruiting cycle. Despite this pause, the College remains fully committed to women's ice hockey as its 23rd varsity program and we are excited to spend the next two years preparing for the 2022-23 season as a proud member of the NEWHA."
Stonehill announced the addition of women's ice hockey and accepted an invitation to the NEWHA, competing at the NCAA National Collegiate level, last December. NEWHA is comprised of NCAA Division I and II institutions in the Northeast, with Stonehill's addition as the seventh member, and its first in the college hockey-rich Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Skyhawks join Franklin Pierce University, Long Island University, Post University, Sacred Heart University, Saint Anselm College and Saint Michael's College. As a conference with NCAA Division I and II members, all NEWHA members must follow NCAA Division I rules. Stonehill, which will train and compete at the Bridgewater Ice Arena, located in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, will now anticipate having a full recruiting cycle after COVID-19 related NCAA recruiting restrictions are lifted to build its roster for the new inaugural season of 2022-23.
The addition of women's ice hockey marks Stonehill's third expansion of varsity athletics programs over the last three years, joining women's golf in 2016, which has completed three varsity seasons, and women's swimming, that is scheduled to begin competing after the New Year.
Prospective student-athletes and currently enrolled Stonehill students interested in competing as a member of the Stonehill women's ice hockey program can contact Stonehill Athletics at athletics@stonehill.edu for further information.
With 23 intercollegiate sports, Stonehill boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. Stonehill has won the Northeast-10 Conference Presidents' Cup six times, all coming within the last 15 years. The Skyhawks have received the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Achievement each of the first nine years of the program's existence of honoring institutions with an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90-percent or better. Stonehill has earned a 95% Academic Success Ranking (ASR) by the NCAA, which considers the academic success rate of the institution based on the graduation rate of student-athletes, good for tenth among all NCAA Division II institutions, with nine Skyhawk teams receiving a perfect rating of 100%. Stonehill won seven NE10 Championships during the 2019-20 academic year, with six programs earning NCAA Division II Championship bids.
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