MASCAC Women’s Ice Hockey to Become 19th Sponsored Sport
WESTFIELD, Mass.— The MASCAC Council of Presidents and MASCAC Commissioner Angela Baumann are excited to announce the addition of women's ice hockey as the conference's 19th sponsored sport.
Beginning in the 2024-25 season, Anna Maria College, Framingham State University, MCLA, Rivier University, and Worcester State University will officially compete for a MASCAC Regular Season Championship, and an end-of-the-season conference tournament will be contested with all five teams. During the first year of play, Salem State University will play non-conference games against the five MASCAC Women's Ice Hockey members. In 2025-26, Salem State University will leave their conference and join the five MASCAC Institutions. The MASCAC will then begin their two-year wait for the NCAA Automatic Qualifier into the tournament which will be awarded in 2027-2028.
"This is an exciting time for the MASCAC as we add another women's sport to our conference sport sponsorship," Commissioner Baumann said. "Women's ice hockey is a sport that is rapidly growing and we are excited to cultivate that growth in the MASCAC. The addition of women's ice hockey will bring great excitement, enhanced visibility, and most importantly, new opportunities for our student-athletes and member institutions going forward."
With the addition, the MASCAC will join the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA), New England Hockey Conference (NEHC), New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) and Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) as fellow conferences that sponsor the sport.
"Women's ice hockey is a sport seeing significant growth in participation rates around the country, if not the world," Worcester State President Barry Maloney said. "We are really proud of the on and off-ice success of our recently created women's ice hockey program at Worcester State. The MASCAC Conference is proud to be able to expand additional opportunities for women to play collegiate sports. Adding women's ice hockey to the MASCAC menu of sports offerings meets this goal."
The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, the nation's oldest Division III men's and women's playing conference, has a rich and storied tradition of competitive success while celebrating excellence in the classroom. MASCAC member schools include Bridgewater State University, Fitchburg State University, Framingham State University, MCLA, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Salem State University, Westfield State University, and Worcester State University. Two other institutions, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Plymouth State University, are affiliate members of the conference in the sports of football and men's ice hockey, while Western Connecticut State University joined the conference as a football affiliate member in 2013, and Castleton University in 2024. Springfield College joined as a men's golf affiliate in 2019. Anna Maria College will join the conference as the ninth core member in 2025 and Dean College as a football affiliate in 2025.
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