BOSTON- America East Conference has added Quinnipiac University as an associate member in the sport of men's lacrosse, it was announced today by Chris Monasch, Commissioner of America East. Quinnipiac will join the conference for the 2002 season.
Quinnipiac will be joined by America East member institutions University at Albany, Binghamton University, University of Hartford, Stony Brook University, and University of Vermont to form the six-team conference.
"The addition of Quinnipiac University affords America East the opportunity to remain one of a handful of Division I athletics conferences sponsoring men's lacrosse with its champion gaining access to the NCAA Championship," said Monasch.
Last season, America East was one of four conferences to receive automatic qualification to the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. Regular-season and tournament champion Towson University received that bid and advanced to the NCAA semifinals before falling to eventual national champion Princeton, 12-11.
America East has sponsored men's lacrosse since the 1992 season. The conference schedule is a round-robin format of five conference games with a four-team, single-elimination championship. The conference sponsors 21 championship sports overall.
Quinnipiac, which recently completed its third season of Division I men's lacrosse, posted a 14-2 record last year as the regular-season champion (9-0) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.