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America East Conference

US collegiate athletic conference From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

America East Conference
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The America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

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America East Conference
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210km
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Bryant
Vermont
NJIT
New Hampshire
UMass Lowell
UMBC
Binghamton
Albany
Maine
Location of America East members: full member

Founded in 1979, the conference has nine core members including eight public research universities, three of which - the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Vermont - are the flagship universities of their states. Two non-flagship university centers of the State University of New York - the University at Albany and Binghamton University - are in the conference along with UMass Lowell, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Bryant University. Bryant is the latest institution to join the conference in 2022, when Stony Brook University and the University of Hartford departed the conference. It is the only private university among the core members.

The America East Conference sponsors 18 sports (8 men's and 10 women's).

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History

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Locations of America East Conference full member institutions as of 2020–22

The America East Conference was founded as the Eastern College Athletic Conference-North, a men's basketball-only athletic conference, in 1979. The conference was known as the Eastern College Athletic Conference-North from 1979 to 1988 and the North Atlantic Conference from 1988 to 1996. The charter members were the University of Rhode Island, the College of the Holy Cross, Canisius College, Niagara University, Colgate University, Northeastern University, Boston University, the University of Maine, the University of New Hampshire and the University of Vermont. The America East Conference made history during the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament on March 16, 2018, when No. 16 seed UMBC defeated No. 1 seed Virginia, marking the first time in men's tournament history that a No. 1 seed had lost to a No. 16 seed.[1]

Many other events have occurred since its formation:

On May 6, 2021, Hartford's governing board voted to begin the process of transitioning the school from Division I to NCAA Division III. Under the plan, Hartford would formally apply to the NCAA for reclassification in January 2022, stop awarding athletic scholarships to incoming students from 2022–23 forward, and join an as-yet-undetermined D-III conference in 2023 before becoming a full D-III member in 2025–26.[8][9]

Several media reports indicated that Hartford's last year in the American East Conference would be the 2021–22 season. [10] This was confirmed on June 21, 2022, when the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC; now known as the Conference of New England) announced that it would be Hartford's partner in the school's reclassification process, with the Hawks joining that league effective in 2023–24. Hartford played most of its sports in the 2022–23 season as a D-I independent.[11]

At the time, Hartford was the only private university in the conference; this status transferred to Bryant when it joined in July 2022.

On July 20, 2022, the conference announced that Merrimack College would join as a men's lacrosse member for the 2022–23 season.[12]

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Members

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Current full members

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Associate members

One school currently holds associate membership: VMI in Men’s and Women’s Swim and Dive

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Notes
  1. Virginia Military Institute (VMI) joined in men's and women's swimming & diving starting with the 2017–18 school year.[13]


Former full members

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  1. The Hartford men's basketball team joined the America East a year after it became a full member for other sports (1985–86).
  2. Currently an NCAA Division III athletic conference.
  3. The Niagara campus is a census-designated place and postal entity within the town of Lewiston.

Former associate members

Eight schools have had single-sport membership in the past. Three of these, Fairfield,[14] Monmouth, and Providence,[15] moved their America East sports into their all-sports conferences. Another such school, NJIT, left when it joined a conference that sponsored its America East sport,[16] but returned as a full member in July 2020 (by which time the AmEast had dropped that sport). Pacific dropped its America East sport following the 2018–19 academic year due to budget cuts.[17] Merrimack College dropped its America East sport following the 2023–24 academic year when the school joined the MAAC.[18] Both Stanford and Cal moved their America East sports into the ACC following the 2023–24 academic year when both of the schools joined the conference.[19]

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Membership timeline

Bryant UniversityNortheast ConferenceNortheast-10 ConferenceNAIA independent schoolsNew Jersey Institute of TechnologyAtlantic Sun ConferenceGreat West ConferenceNCAA Division I independent schoolsCentral Atlantic Collegiate ConferenceEast Coast ConferenceSkyline ConferenceNCAA Division III independent schoolsUniversity of Massachusetts LowellNortheast-10 ConferenceNew England Collegiate Conference (Division II)NCAA Division II independent schoolsUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore CountyNortheast ConferenceBig South ConferenceEast Coast Conference (Division I)NCAA Division I independent schoolsNCAA Division II independent schoolsCoastal Athletic AssociationStony Brook UniversityNCAA Division I independent schoolsNew England Collegiate Conference (Division II)NCAA Division III independent schoolsSkyline ConferenceNCAA Division III independent schoolsBinghamton UniversityNCAA Division I independent schoolsNew England Collegiate Conference (Division II)NCAA Division III independent schoolsState University of New York Athletic ConferenceUniversity at Albany, SUNYNCAA Division I independent schoolsNew England Collegiate Conference (Division II)NCAA Division III independent schoolsState University of New York Athletic ConferenceCoastal Athletic AssociationTowson UniversityBig South ConferenceEast Coast Conference (Division I)Northeast ConferenceCoastal Athletic AssociationCoastal Athletic AssociationHofstra UniversityEast Coast Conference (Division I)Coastal Athletic AssociationDrexel UniversityEast Coast Conference (Division I)Conference USACoastal Athletic AssociationUniversity of DelawareEast Coast Conference (Division I)Conference of New EnglandNCAA Division I independent schoolsUniversity of HartfordNCAA Division II independent schoolsMetro Atlantic Athletic ConferenceSiena CollegeNortheast ConferenceNCAA Division I independent schoolsUniversity of VermontUniversity of New HampshireUniversity of MainePatriot LeagueBoston UniversityCoastal Athletic AssociationNortheastern UniversityPatriot LeagueColgate UniversityMetro Atlantic Athletic ConferenceNiagara UniversityMetro Atlantic Athletic ConferenceCanisius UniversityPatriot LeagueMetro Atlantic Athletic ConferenceCollege of the Holy CrossAtlantic 10 ConferenceUniversity of Rhode Island

Full members (non-football) Assoc. member (basketball only) Assoc. member (list sports) Other Conference Other Conference

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Facilities

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    Sports sponsored

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    The America East Conference sponsors championship competition in eight men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.[20] The most recent changes to the roster of America East sports were announced in 2016, with the dropping of women's tennis after the 2015–16 season due to a lack of sponsoring teams and the revival of men's swimming and diving effective in the 2017–18 school year.[13]

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    Men's sports

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        Women's sports

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            NCAA team championships

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            On December 16, 2024, the Vermont men’s soccer team won the Men’s D1 National Soccer Championship, becoming the first America East school to win a national title in a sport sponsored by the conference.

            Men's basketball

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            All-time school record by winning percentage

            This list goes through the 2018–19 season.

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            * Denotes a tie for regular season conference title
            Denotes game went into overtime

            List of regular season champions

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            List of tournament champions

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            No. 16 UMBC upset of No. 1 Virginia

            During the 2018 NCAA tournament, UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA men's tournament, beating the Virginia Cavaliers 74–54.[21][22]

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            Women's basketball

            All-time school record by winning percentage

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            * Denotes a tie for regular season conference title
            Denotes game went into overtime

            List of regular season champions

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            List of tournament champions

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            Lacrosse

            Soccer

            2024 NCAA Championship win by the Vermont Catamounts

            On December 16th 2024, the University of Vermont Catamounts Men's Soccer team defeated the Marshall University Thundering Herd in the 2024 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament championship game to claim the 2024 College Cup. This marks the first national championship by any America East Conference team in league history.[23]

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            References

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