Syracuse, NY — The State University of New York New Paltz finished second overall in the final SUNYAC Commissioner's Cup Standings — it's highest finish ever — announced by the conference office Monday.
 
The Hawks earned a No. 3 standing last year, tying for the highest at the time with the 2018-19 season, before their second place result this year after hoisting two more championships for women's soccer and women's tennis during the 2024-25 academic year.
 
Women's Tennis collected its 10th overall SUNYAC Championship this past April and third straight after a straight sweep of Oswego State, 4-0 to clinch an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Women's Soccer hoisted its first conference trophy for the first time in more than a decade after defeating SUNY Cortland, 2-0 in the SUNYAC Finals and second ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Additionally, 15 of 16 programs made postseason play with nine making at least a semifinals appearance including five making the championship game. Women's Soccer and women's tennis earned a spot in the national tournament with women's tennis notching a first-round win over Albright College before falling to perennial power and hosting Middlebury last weekend.
 
There were 56 total all-conference recipients, 55 All-SUNYAC. Women's Soccer senior Rachel Eisert was named Offensive Player of the Year, women's and men's basketball graduate and senior Julia Sabatino and Dakoda Smith earned SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Lexi and Morgan Atwater were named SUNYAC Women's Lacrosse Attacker and Midfielder of the Year, respectively, with baseball and softball awards still to be announced this upcoming week. Additionally, men's volleyball freshman Nikko Tenedorio was named as the program's third ever national Newcomer of the Year.
 
SUNY New Paltz finished with 7.80 points in the 2024-25 SUNYAC Dr. Patrick R. Damore Commissioner's Cup Final Standings, trailing just SUNY Cortland (9.60). Oneonta followed in third with 7.28 points with Oswego (6.47), Plattsburgh (5.72), Buffalo State (5.45), Fredonia (4.56), Canton (3.10), Potsdam (2.96) and Morrisville (2.94) rounding out the rest of the conference standings, respectively.
 
The Commissioner's Cup point system is determined by the 22 different conference sports in the fall, winter and spring. A 10-point system is used in each sport. The first-place team gets 10 points, second place gets nine points and so on. A team's regular season finish will be added to their postseason finish and divided by two for their final point total in that sport. The total number of points that a school accumulates is divided by the number of conference sports it has with the school total determining the overall winner at the end of the school year.
 
To read the official SUNYAC press release click here.


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