CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY | COACHING HISTORY | WHY ENDICOTT?
BEVERLY, Mass. — With a 74-57 win in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Basketball Championship game last weekend, the Endicott Athletics & Recreation Department captured its 100th conference title in the history of the department since NCAA Division III varsity athletics were established in the 1993-94 academic year.
Endicott's first-ever conference title came in 1995 when the softball program won the New England Women's Athletic Conference (NEWAC) championship under first-year head coach Mark Veilleux, who went on to become the all-time winningest coach in athletics history.
From there, the Gulls saw their second conference championship captured by the baseball program in 1997 under future Endicott Athletics Hall of Famer Larry Hiser.
Since then, the conference championship parade never stopped for the Gulls, in one way or another, as an Endicott program has won at least one conference championship ever since the 1996-97 academic year.
Softball leads all programs with 14 conference championships in its storied history, while women's lacrosse (12), women's soccer (10), men's lacrosse (9), men's basketball (8) and men's volleyball (8) round out the top-5 for the most league titles in the athletics department.
Meanwhile, this season, Endicott has competed in and/or for every conference championship, to date. The Gulls have also captured league titles in field hockey (fourth overall), women's volleyball (seventh), and women's basketball (first) so far this academic year.
Endicott is coming off one of its best academic years in recent memory as well as the department ranked 87th overall in the 2018-19 Division III Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup Standings with a total of 224.50 points. It marked the Gulls' third-highest score and sixth-best finish in athletics history (based upon available data).
Endicott also ranked first overall among all Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) schools and 14th overall in New England last year. Over the previous 10 years, not including 2019-20, the Gulls have finished first among its CCC competitors and inside the top-25 in New England seven times.
Meanwhile, Endicott's 28th place finish in 2013-14 marks the highest ranking in the CCC over the last 10 years and the best finish ever for the Gulls, who accumulated 445 points during that season. No other CCC institution has cracked the top-75 during that span, dating back to 2009-10.
In total, since 2009-10, Endicott has finished inside the top-100 four separate times (2018-19, 2016-17, 2013-14, 2012-13). Only one other CCC institution has finished inside the top-100 during that time frame.
This weekend, Endicott will have a chance to add two more conference championships to its resume when the men's ice hockey team competes for a CCC crown at 3 PM and the women's ice hockey program looks to capture its second straight Colonial Hockey Conference (CHC) championship at 7 PM. Both games will be played at Raymond J. Bourque Arena.
ABOUT THE LEARFIELD IMG COLLEGE DIRECTORS' CUP
The Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in NCAA Championships. For NCAA Division III, whose Learfield Directors' Cup program started in 1995-96, sports included in a program's score include men's basketball, men's soccer, women's basketball, and women's soccer. Then, the next highest 14 (max.) sports scored for each institution, regardless of gender, are used in the standings to compute an overall score. The overall champion is the institution that records the highest number of points in their division's Directors' Cup standings.
As for the Gulls, Endicott's 224.50 points in 2018-19 came from the following sports: field hockey (53), women's ice hockey (25), men's golf (24), women's lacrosse (25), softball (37.5), and men's volleyball (60).
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