The Mary Washington Eagles are the athletic teams that represent the

University of Mary Washington The University of Mary Washington (UMW) is a public liberal arts university in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the Fredericksburg Teachers College, the institution was named Mary Washington College in 1938 after Mary Ball Washingt ...

, located in

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...

, in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

intercollegiate sports. The Eagles compete as members of the

Coast to Coast Athletic Conference The Coast to Coast Athletic Conference (C2C; officially stylized as Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference), formerly named Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member i ...

(C2C; known as the Capital Athletic Conference before November 2020). All together, Mary Washington sponsors 20 sports: nine for men and 11 for women. The program will add its 21st sport, men's golf, in 2016.

History

As of 2016, the Eagles have had more than 200 student-athletes achieve All-American status. Four UMW teams have won four national championships (1982 AIAW champion women's tennis, 1988 NCAA Division III women's tennis, 1991 NCAA Division III women's tennis, 2017 USA Rugby Men's Division 1AA Fall National Championship).

Varsity sports

Men's sports * Baseball * Basketball * Cross Country * ''Golf'' (2016) * Lacrosse * Riding * Soccer * Swimming * Tennis * Track & Field * Rugby Women's sports * Basketball * Cross Country * Field Hockey * Lacrosse * Riding * Soccer * Softball * Swimming * Tennis * Track & Field * Volleyball

Varsity Athletics

Basketball

The women's basketball team has advanced to three straight Sweet 16s, including a third-place finish at the 2007 Final Four. Mary Washington's men's basketball advanced to the national quarterfinals in 2014. In 2016 the women's team advanced again to the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament after winning the Capital Athletic Conference Championship.

Field Hockey

The UMW advanced to the final four in 2012.

Swimming

UMW's women's swimming team has won all 26 C2C Championships in the history of the conference, while the men's swim team has won 16 C2C Championships in a row with 21 out of 25 total belonging to the Eagles. The women's team boasts 39 All Americans and 17 Academic All Americans. One of which, Shannon Hutcherson, became the first Eagle in both men's and women's swimming to win a National Title in 1998. The men's team has boasted 11 All Americans and Academic All Americans. The program's most decorated athlete and UMW's most decorated athlete, Alex Anderson, won 4 national titles (2013 400 yard IM, 2014 400 yard IM and 200 yard Butterfly, 2015 200 yard Butterfly) and set 3 national records (2014 400 yard IM and 200 yard Butterfly, 2015 200 yard Butterfly) during his 4-year tenure at the program.

Tennis

The men's tennis team has advanced to 15 NCAA Tournaments, finishing in the top eight four times. The women's program has advanced to the second most NCAA tournaments in all of DIII women's tennis dating back to the 1990s. Umw-rugby

Club Sports

The University features a number of popular club teams, including

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

, and

ultimate frisbee Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a frisbee flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its ath ...

Rowing

The University of Mary Washington Rowing team has garnered recognition. The crew team at the University of Mary Washington was created in 2007, where it had initially received varsity status. The status of the team as a varsity program was garnished in 2014, where it was demoted to a club sport. In the fall of 2015, it was announced that Crew along with the Mary Washington Rugby program would fall under the athletics category. Falling under the category of athletics, this allows both men and women team a number of benefits. These benefits include; head coaches, access to athletic facilities, access to the varsity weight room, the ability to practice on varsity turf and an efficient budget. Discussions have been in the works with the crew teams and athletics about receiving varsity status in the near future.

Rugby

In 2014, after seven previous appearances, the women's rugby club won the USA Rugby Women's Collegiate Division II National Championship. The university offered scholarships to athletes in the UMW women's rugby program during 2015-2016 academic year."Mary Washington Offers Rugby Scholarships"
Jackie Finlan, Goff Rugby Report, February 10, 2015. Like the crew teams, the rugby programs currently fall under the varsity athletics umbrella as well. In May 2018, after going defeated for the entire academic year through conference play and the 2017 USA Rugby Fall Playoffs defeating St Josephs in the final in December 2017. The Men's rugby team would go on to beat Dartmouth College 38-30 in the D1AA National Championship game in Fullteron, California with Captain Matthew Gordon receiving MVP honours for the game.

References

External links

Official website of Mary Washington Eagles Athletics
{{Coast to Coast Athletic Conference navbox