Article by Dan Tortora
LeMoyne College, after 18 months of thoughtful conversation and exploration, has made the decision to reclassify to NCAA Division I from NCAA Division II.
The school will move all of their athletic programs, except for men's lacrosse who will play their 2024 season as an independent, into the Northeastern Conference (NEC), as a result of accepting and signing an agreement to join the conference, officially leaving NCAA Division II and the Northeast-10 Conference.
LeMoyne, a proud Jesuit institution, joins fellow Jesuits Canisius College, Fordham University, Saint Joseph's University, Boston College, Georgetown University, College of the Holy Cross, Creighton University, Xavier University, Saint Louis University, University of Detroit Mercy, Marquette University, Gonzaga University, Loyola Marymount University, University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University, Loyola University Maryland, Seattle University, Saint Peter's University, and Loyola University Chicago at the NCAA Division I level.
Now a member of the NEC, the LeMoyne College Dolphins will reunite with the Merrimack College Warriors and the Stonehill College Skyhawks, both of whom were members of the Northeast-10 Conference that chose to reclassify from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I within the last five years of competition, Stonehill most recently when they joined the NEC for the 2022-23 season.
LeMoyne has historic ties to NCAA Division I with their baseball and women's lacrosse programs, each of whom competed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) as associate members, but played their final seasons in the MAAC in 2007 when the MAAC made the decision that member institutions needed to have all of their athletic programs inside the conference and not just a select few.
So this will be a first for LeMoyne College as they move as a unified institution both academically and athletically into NCAA Division I and their new conference, the NEC.
Baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, and track for men's sports and basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track, and volleyball for women's sports will all be heading to NCAA Division I, with baseball and women's lacrosse being the familiar faces returning to NCAA Division I.
This move by LeMoyne College opens up even more of an opportunity for the school to create in-state rivalries with Syracuse University, Cornell University, Colgate University, Niagara University, University at Buffalo, Saint Bonaventure University, St. John's University, Siena College, Hofstra University, and the like.
Inside the NEC, LeMoyne will face off against aforementioned familiar faces Merrimack and Stonehill as well as Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Long Island University, Sacred Heart University, Saint Francis (PA), and Wagner College, giving the Dolphins more in-conference foes inside of New York State and strong ties to the northeast as a whole.
It is truly a special day to be a Dolphin as the NEC, NCAA Division I, the country, and the world will get to know even more so now all about "Where Greatness Meets Goodness" nestled in the beautiful community of Central/Upstate New York "On the Heights".