Varsity Sports to Compete in New Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
BROOKLYN, NY – As announced by the league office yesterday, the single-gender Hudson Valley Men’s and Women’s Athletic Conferences will be merging into the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference effective this upcoming 2013-14 season.
The new unified conference will be composed of 12 institutions: all the existing HVMAC and HVWAC members plus the addition of The King’s College (N.Y.), a fellow United States Collegiate Athletic Associaton (USCAA) member fielding eight varsity sports.
The league will sponsor 13 men’s and women’s sports, with the addition of baseball for 2013-14, meaning all 13 St. Joseph’s College varsity sports will now compete in conference play and student-athletes will be eligible for Player/Rookie of the Week, All-Conference and All-Academic recognition.
St. Joseph's will commence it's third year of full NCAA Division III membership this fall and will continue as members of the USCAA and Association Division III Independents (AD3I) on a national level.
In 2012-13, St. Joseph's produced three Hudson Valley tournament champions (women's soccer, women's basketball and softball) and another regular season championship (women's volleyball).
For many, the merging of the conferences might seem like no more than a new logo, but historically each gender-specific conference had drastically different membership and therefore, had separate sets of bylaws and governing bodies. Over the last several years, the membership has remained nearly identical and stable, and combining the conferences was the next logical step, also to help reduce confusion as championships, such as basketball and cross country, have been combined to the same host site.
Student-athletes and fans are encouraged to connect with the conference on Facebook and Twitter (@HVIAC). The new conference website, set to launch at the end of the summer, will be accessible at www.HVIAC.net.