Four Winter Titles Pace Albany To Commissioner's Cup Standings Lead

Four Winter Titles Pace Albany To Commissioner's Cup Standings Lead

BOSTON - After winning championships in each of the four winter sports it sponsors, University at Albany leads the America East Commissioner’s Cup standings following the 2014-15 winter season. University of New Hampshire and UMBC are in second and third place, respectively, with the spring season remaining.

The Commissioner’s Cup annually recognizes the strongest athletic program in America East as determined by a scoring system which rewards a school for success both during the regular season and championship competition in the conference’s 18 sports.

Albany racked up 138 points in the winter to grow its total to 258 and move into first place in the standings. UNH, which established a lead in the fall by winning three championships, has 238 points, good for second place. UMBC is third with 185 points after winning the women's swimming and diving title. University of Hartford is fourth (167 points), followed by Stony Brook University in fifth (163), which rose up one spot. Binghamton University is sixth (155 points), University of Vermont is in seventh (133) and University of Maine and UMass Lowell are tied for eighth (114).

2014-15 Winter Stuart P. Haskell, Jr. Commissioner’s Cup Standings
Rank    Team                 Points
1.         Albany                   258
2.         New Hampshire     238
3.         UMBC                    185
4.         Hartford                167
5.         Stony Brook          163
6.         Binghamton         155
7.         Vermont                133
T8.       Maine                    114
            UMass Lowell        114

School Highlights
Albany

  • Winner of the last two Commissioner’s Cups, Albany is in the lead after earning 138 of 140 possible points during the winter.
  • Swept the men's and women's basketball regular-season (co-regular season champion with Maine in women's basketball) and tournament titles.
  • Albany joined Northeastern, Drexel and Vermont as the only programs to win three-straight men's basketball titles while the Great Danes also became only the second program (Maine) to win four straight women's basketball crowns.
  • The Great Danes swept the men's and women's indoor track & field titles for the fifth time in the last six years.

New Hampshire

  • In second place after a fall in which it won titles in women’s cross country (second straight), women’s soccer (first ever) and volleyball (second straight).
  • Had its best finish in men's basketball since 2009, coming in fourth place and reaching the semifinals.
  • Earned second place at the women's swimming & diving championship.
  • Had a top-three showing in men's indoor track & field, placing third.
UMBC
  • Won its fourth-ever women's swimming & diving title and first since 2011.
  • Finished second at the women's indoor track & field championship for the second time in three years.
  • In the fall, became the first program in 20 years to sweep the men’s soccer regular-season and tournament titles for a second-straight year en route to becoming the first America East team to reach the NCAA College Cup.
Hartford
  • Earned the fourth-most points in women's basketball, placing fifth in the regular season and reaching the championship game for the fourth time in the last six years.
  • Racked up the most points in women's soccer and the second-most pin men's soccer in men’s soccer during the fall.
Stony Brook
  • Jumped up one spot to fifth place after earning second-most points of any school in the winter.
  • Had the second-most points in men's basketball, tying for second in the regular season and reaching the championship game for fourth time in the last five years.
  • Finished with the fourth-most points in women's basketball after placing third in the regular season.
Binghamton
  • Runners-up in men's indoor track & field for the third-straight year and seventh time in the last eight years.
  • Placed third in women's indoor track & field.
Vermont
  • Moved up one spot to seventh.
  • Finished with the third-most points in men's basketball after tying for second in the regular season and reaching the tournament semifinals for the 12th time in the last 14 years.
Maine
  • Accumulated the second-most points in women's basketball by winning its first regular-season title (co-champions with Albany) since the 2004-05 season.
UMass Lowell
  • Finished fifth in men's basketball in the regular season.
 
The scoring system for the Stuart P. Haskell, Jr. Commissioner’s Cup is as follows: In sports where regular-season round robin competition is conducted, the first-place institution in the final standings receives four points times the total number of teams involved in conference play. The second-place institution receives four less points; third place receives eight less points, and so on. Additionally, the America East (tournament) champion receives two points times the total number of teams participating in the championship. The second-place institution receives two less points; third place receives four less points and so on down to the last-place institution which receives two points.

In sports where regular-season round robin competition is not conducted (cross country, tennis, track & field, swimming & diving), the first-place institution at the America East championship receives two points times the total number of teams participating in the championship. The second-place institution receives two less points; third place gets four less points and so on down to the last place team which receives two points.