Cortland, NY -- It's been a year of making history for the State University of New York at New Paltz this fall. After a dominating 2018 season, the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) announced the first standings of the Patrick R. Damore Commissioner's Cup with the Hawks ranking second with an average of 7.64 points just behind three-time defending champion SUNY Geneseo (8.25).
The second overall ranking is the highest for the Hawks since the Commissioner's Cup began during the 1996-1997 season.
The women's tennis team kick-started the successful fall, after taking home the SUNYAC Championship following seven-straight second-place finishes. SUNY New Paltz went undefeated this season with a record of 9-0 overall. The Hawks strive to continue their success in the spring when the NCAA tournament will begin.
The SUNY New Paltz women's volleyball team earned its third-ever SUNYAC title after sweeping the hosting Knights on their home court. The Hawks went on to defeat Franklin and Marshall College in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament, but unfortunately lost in the second round to the No. 2 team in the country, Johnson and Wales and ended their season with a record of 27-9.
The SUNY New Paltz Field Hockey team won its fifth SUNYAC title, defeating rival and defending conference champion SUNY Cortland for the second time on the season. The Hawks went on to the NCAA tournament and suffered a loss in the first round and ended the season with an overall record of 12-8 overall.
The SUNY New Paltz men's and women's cross country team had a rewarding season. The women placed third in the SUNYAC championship meet, and the men placed fourth. Both teams went on to compete in the NCAA Atlantic Region Cross Country where they took 15th and 11th place out of 44 and 45 schools, respectively.
The Hawks men's soccer team underwent their most successful season in years, earning the No. 2 seed in the SUNYAC tournament and hosting their first home play off game since 2004. Their season came to an end in that game, falling to eventual conference champions The College at Brockport and concluded their season with a record of 11-6-1 overall record.
Although the record didn't reflect their play on the field, the Hawks women's soccer team improved their tactical play from a season ago, and earned their first SUNYAC victory over the Golden Eagles since 2010 after earning a 1-0 victory Oct. 5.
The cup was named after former SUNYAC Commissioner, Patrick R. Damore, after carrying out the position for 33 years.
The Commissioners Cup is an award to recognize athletic excellence within the SUNYAC conference. Throughout the three seasons, conference teams compete to earn the most points. A 10 point system is used in each sport, where the first place team would receive 10 points, second place nine points, and so on. A teams regular season finish will be added to their post-season finish and will be divided by two for their final total for that sport. The total number of points that a school accumulates is divided by the number of conference sports it has.
To read the full SUNYAC press release, click here.
