The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is an athletic conference, affiliated with the

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 ...

’s

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 ...

, consisting primarily of small

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

colleges in the

Northern New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

states of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

and

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, as well as

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The conference was founded in 1996 when six colleges agreed to form the North Atlantic Women's Conference. It changed to its current name in the fall of 1999. It currently sponsors a total of 17 men's and women's sports played by teams of the 13 institutions therein. The 17 different sports that are played in the NAC range from the fall season, throughout the winter, and to the spring season. These sports are played among both men's and women's teams. In the fall season, there are six sports played. Among these are, Men's and Women's Cross Country,

Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

, Men's

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, Men's and Women's

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, Women's

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 Women's

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. In the winter season there are two sports played, which are Men's and Women's

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

along with Men's and Women's

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

. In the spring time there are four sports both for men's and women's teams. The NAC has Men's and Women's

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, Men's

, and Men's and Women's

Outdoor Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

History

Chronological timeline

* Fall 1996 - Bay Path, Lesley, Lasell, Wheelock, Maine Maritime Academy and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy explore the opportunity to join and form an athletic conference to give women student-athletes an opportunity to compete in a post-season tournament. * Spring 1997 - The above named institutions work out the details to create an athletic conference to be known as the North Atlantic Women's Conference (NAWC). The steps for a constitution and set bylaws is drafted, championship hosting criteria are established and dates chosen for a spring softball championship. * Fall 1997 - The first full academic year for the NAWC brings additional meetings to continue to make policy and procedures more formalized. Championships are to be held in women's soccer, cross-country, basketball and softball. * Spring 1998 - Basketball holds first NAWC Championship at Lasell College. * Fall 1998 - Becker, Elms and Mount Ida Colleges are interviewed and accepted for membership starting Fall 1999. * Spring 1999 - Basketball holds its first NAWC Championship at Maine Maritime Academy. * Fall 1999 - North Atlantic Conference (NAC) begins first season of competition, new members include: Becker, Elms and Mount Ida Colleges. There are 8 members of the NAC. Championships include both women and men. * Spring 2000 - The North Atlantic Conference conducts women's and men's championships for basketball and softball. * Fall 2000 - The North Atlantic Conference continues to expand postseason championship opportunities for its student-athletes. Two new associate members are added for women's field hockey, Simmons College and Western New England College. * Spring 2001 - The North Atlantic Conference begins preliminary discussions with potential new NAC members. * Fall 2001 - The North Atlantic Conference continues to expand the post season championship opportunities for its student-athletes. Five institutions apply and present to NAC members for admittance to the NAC for Fall 2002 academic year. Two institutions; Castleton State College (VT) and Johnson State College (VT) apply for full members status. Three Maine institutions are seeking associate membership for women's field hockey, Thomas, Husson and UMaine Farmington. The NAC approves its first major expansion in 2 years, bringing the NAC membership to 10 full members and 5 associate members. * Spring 2002 - The 3 Maine institutions with associate membership status continue talks about joining the NAC as full members for the fall of 2003-2004. * Fall 2002 - The NAC receives confirmation that it will be recognized as a non-voting member of the NCAA Division III. Dr. Carol Matteson of Mount Ida College begins a two-year term at President of the NAC. The automatic qualifier opportunities for women's sports begin a two-year waiting period before being instituted. * Fall 2002 - Three institutions, Thomas, Husson and UMaine Farmington apply and present for full member consideration in September 2002 for admittance to the NAC for the Fall 2003 academic year. The NAC accepts the three associate members for full NAC membership in Fall 2003. The NAC approves its second major expansion in 3 years, bringing the NAC membership to 13 full members and 2 associate members. * Fall 2002 - The North Atlantic Conference continues to expand the post season championship opportunities for its student-athletes. Fall sports teams now compete with championships being expanded to include both full and associate members, increasing the championships sponsored to include: women's volleyball, soccer, field hockey and cross country and men's soccer and cross country. * Spring 2003 - The NAC members meet at NCAA Convention to continue to chart the future course for the NAC. The members meet in Portsmouth, NH for membership meeting and to set the agenda for the President's Meeting in May. The NAC conducts women's and men's basketball championships. For the second year in a row, the NAC sends a men's team, Lasell College, to the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid. The NAC holds a spring championship for softball. Elms College wins and receives an at-large bid to play in the NCAA softball championship. * Spring 2003 - Presidents and Directors of Athletics meet for the first time in NAC history to discuss various issues on the future of the NAC. Strategic planning, mission statement, travel and web development are discussed. * Fall 2004 - Tournament Champions in Field Hockey, Men's and Women's Soccer, and Volleyball receive the conference's automatic qualifier to participate in the NCAA Tournament. Maine-Farmington, which claimed the 2004 NAC Field Hockey Championship, upends Keene State in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Tournament, 3-2 in double overtime on November 10 being the first NAC school to advance past the first round of NCAA championship play. * Winter 2005 - Elms ends a dominant three-year run by Lasell in the Men's Basketball Championship, upending the top-seeded Lasers 70-66. Maine Maritime earns its third NAC Women's Basketball Championship in seven years with a 65-56 win over intrastate rival UMaine-Farmington. Both victors receive the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time. * Spring 2005 - Baseball and Men's Lacrosse both feature for the first time seven teams competing for the NAC Championship and begin the two-year waiting period for automatic qualification to the NACC Tournament. For Baseball, Elms and Husson along with associate member St. Joseph's (ME) compete for the first time in league play, with St. Joseph's taking the 2005 championship. Maine Maritime and Thomas fielded Men's Lacrosse for the first time ever, and were joined by associate members Daniel Webster and Emerson. Mount Ida continued its dominance in Men's Lacrosse, going undefeated for the second season in a row and taking the 2005 NAC Tournament. Maine-Farmington takes the 2005 NAC Softball Championship for the first time in dramatic fashion, winning four straight games, the final in extra innings over Elms. * Spring 2005 - Julie Muller becomes the commissioner of the North Atlantic Conference on May 1, 2005. Inheriting the title from Mount Ida Athletic Director, Dr. Jacqueline Palmer, she becomes the first person to hold the sole title of commissioner for the 13-member NCAA Division III conference. The NAC begins an extensive evaluation of the conference and plans to initiate its first strategic planning process. Dr. Carol Matteson agrees to extend her term in office as President of the Presidents Council for an additional year. * Spring 2006 - President Dave Wolk, Castleton, is elected to the position of Chair for the Presidents Council, taking over the post from President Carol Matteson of Mount Ida College. St. Joseph's College of Maine earns an At Large Bid to the NCAA tournament in Baseball. NAC begins to explore adding football as an NAC championship sport. * Fall 2006 - Mount Ida College and Lasell College begin final year of NAC competition as conference full members after withdrawing from the conference as full members. Both are accepted as Associate Members beginning Fall of 2007; Mount Ida for Men's Lacrosse and Lasell for Field Hockey. Western New England College participates in its final year as associate members in field hockey. * Spring 2007 - Mount Ida College earns the first NAC automatic qualifier in Men's Lacrosse. During its last season of competition in NAC baseball, St. Joseph's College earns the first automatic qualifier awarded the conference in that sport. Husson College represents the NAC as the automatic qualifier in Men's Golf. Green Mountain College and Lyndon State College present for full membership consideration during the NAC Annual Meeting in York Harbor, Maine. Both institutions are accepted, to begin competition in Fall of 2008. St. Joseph's College of Maine is accepted as associate members for field hockey, beginning competition in fall of 2008. Presidents Council votes to begin NAC competition in football in the fall of 2009. * Fall 2007 - Bay Path College, Becker College, Elms College, Lesley University and Wheelock College begin their final year of competition as full conference members after withdrawing from the NAC. Applications for associate membership in football are accepted and under consideration for competition to begin fall of 2009. * Fall 2008 - Green Mountain College and Lyndon State College join the conference as full members. * Fall 2011 - Colby–Sawyer College and New England College join the conference as full members. * Spring 2012 - Castleton earns NAC's first women's lacrosse automatic qualifier awarded to the conference in that sport with an 18-11 Win over Morrisville State. * Spring 2013 - The NAC Presidents Council affirmed its commitment to respect and inclusion by placing their support behind a project aimed at combatting homophobia on campuses and recognizing the benefit of diversity at each of its membership institutions. * Fall 2014 - The 10 membership institutions of the NAC showed their commitment to promoting respect for all by developing a conference-wide You Can Play video project. * Spring 2015 - The NAC continues to expand the post season championship opportunities for its student-athletes with the addition of women's outdoor track and field. The NAC received national recognition from the NCAA after being selected as the February recipient of the Division III Diversity Spotlight Initiative for its work on the You Can Play video project. * Fall 2015 - The NAC SAAC commits to embracing the It's On Us campaign as a conference wide initiative. * Spring 2016 - The North Atlantic Conference continues to expand the post season championship opportunities for its student-athletes with the addition of men's outdoor track and field. * Summer 2016 - Marcella Zalot becomes the second ever full-time commissioner of the North Atlantic Conference on June 13, 2016. Inheriting the title from Julie Muller, who served as the NAC's first full-time commissioner and retired on June 30, 2016. * Fall 2016 - Castleton University graduate Rachel Bombardier, the 2015-16 NAC Woman of the Year, was named one of 30 Top Honorees for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Bombardier becomes the first NAC woman to be selected in the final 30 student-athletes throughout the history of the award. UMaine Presque Isle competes as an associate member in the men's and women's NAC cross country championships and in the women's volleyball regular season and postseason. * Winter 2017 - The NAC announced the additions of the University of Maine at Presque Isle and SUNY Canton as full members beginning in the fall of 2018. Both schools had been members of the

American Collegiate Athletic Association The American Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) was an athletic conference with no regular-season competition. The ACAA competed in the NCAA's Division III. The conference was formed in 2017 primarily by Independent schools in the Northeaste ...

. * Fall 2018 – On November 30, 2018, the NAC announced that SUNY Delhi, already an associate member in six sports (men's golf, men's lacrosse, men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's track & field), would become a full member of the conference effective in the fall of 2019. At that time, five additional Delhi sports—men's and women's cross country, men's golf, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball—began NAC play. Three more sports—men's and women's basketball, plus softball—remained in the

until starting NAC play in 2020–21. * Fall 2019 – On August 20, 2019, the NAC announced that three schools—Cazenovia, SUNY Cobleskill, and SUNY Poly—would become full members in July 2020. * Spring 2022 – On March 1, 2022, the NAC announced that SUNY Morrisville and

Lesley College Lesley University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. As of 2018-19 Lesley University enrolled 6,593 students (2,707 undergraduate and 3,886 graduate). History ...

would join as full members in the 2023-24 season.

Member schools

Current members

The NAC currently has 12 full members, all but three are

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

schools: ;Notes:

Future full members

The NAC will have two new full members, one will be a

school and the other will be a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

school: ;Notes:

Associate member

The NAC currently has one associate member, which is also a

school:

Former members

The NAC had 12 former full members, all but one were

schools: ;Notes:

Former associate members

The NAC had nine former associate members, all but two were

schools. This list includes only associate members that have completely departed the NAC. Current full members that had previously housed select sports in the NAC, such as SUNY Delhi, are not included. ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1996 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:FullxF from:1996 till:2008 text:

Bay Path A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

(1996–2008) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2021 text: NECC bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2021 till:end text:

USCAA The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization for the intercollegiate athletic programs of 72 mostly small colleges, including community/ junior colleges, across the United States. The USCAA holds 15 nationa ...

bar:2 color:FullxF from:1996 till:2007 text: Lasell (1996–2007) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:2007 till:end text:

GNAC gnac is a pseudonym used by songwriter and music producer Mark Tranmer.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 766 The name is derived from a short story by Italo Calvino in Marcovaldo titled ''Luna e GNAC'' ...

bar:3 color:FullxF from:1996 till:2008 text: Lesley (1996–2008) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2023 text: NECC bar:3 color:FullxF from:2023 till:end text:(2023–future) bar:4 color:FullxF from:1996 till:end text: Maine Maritime (1996–present) bar:5 color:FullxF from:1996 till:1999 text: Mass Pharmacy (1996–1999) athletics department disbanded bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:1999 till:end text: bar:6 color:FullxF from:1996 till:2008 text: Wheelock (1996–2008) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2018 text: NECC bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:2018 till:end text:merged into Boston University bar:7 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2008 text:

Becker Becker () is one of the German-language surnames, along with Bäcker and Baecker, that derive from the root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker (and thus his family). In northern Germany it can also derive from the ...

(1999–2008) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:2021 text: NECC bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:2021 till:end text:closed bar:8 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2008 text:

Elms Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of Nor ...

(1999–2008) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:2008 till:end text: NECC bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:2021 till:end text:

bar:9 color:FullxF from:1999 till:2007 text: Mount Ida (1999–2007) bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2007 till:2018 text:

bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2018 till:end text:closed bar:10 color:FullxF from:2001 till:2018 text: Castleton (2001–2018) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:end text: Little East bar:11 color:FullxF from:2001 till:end text: Northern Vermont–Johnson (2001–present) bar:12 color:FullxF from:2003 till:end text:

Husson Husson may refer to: * Husson (surname), including a list of people with the name * Husson University, Bangor, Maine, U.S. * Husson (commune), in the Manche department, France See also * ''Le Rosier de Madame Husson ''Le Rosier de Madame Hus ...

(2003–present) bar:13 color:FullxF from:2003 till:end text: Maine–Farmington (2003–present) bar:14 color:FullxF from:2003 till:end text: Thomas (Me.) (2003–present) bar:15 color:FullxF from:2008 till:2018 text: Green Mountain (2008–2018) bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:2019 text:NAIA bar:15 shift:(20) color:OtherC2 from:2019 till:end text:closed bar:16 color:FullxF from:2008 till:end text: Northern Vermont–Lyndon (2008–present) bar:17 color:FullxF from:2011 till:2018 text: Colby–Sawyer (2011–2018) bar:17 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:end text:

bar:18 color:FullxF from:2011 till:2018 text: New England (N.H.) (2011–2018) bar:18 color:OtherC1 from:2018 till:end text: NECC bar:19 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text: Maine–Presque Isle (2018–present) bar:20 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text: SUNY Canton (2018–present) bar:21 color:FullxF from:2019 till:end text: SUNY Delhi (2019–present) bar:22 color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text: Cazenovia (2020–present) bar:23 color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text:

SUNY Cobleskill The State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill (SUNY Cobleskill) is a public college in Cobleskill, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It began as the Schoharie State S ...

(2020–present) bar:24 color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text: SUNY Poly (2020–present) bar:25 color:FullxF from:2023 till:end text: SUNY Morrisville (2023–future) bar:N color:green from:1996 till:1999 text:NWAC bar:N color:blue from:1999 till:end text:NAC ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1996 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(370,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"North Atlantic Conference membership history"

Sports

Championships

The NAC holds championships in the following sports: *Fall season: men's and women's cross country,

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, men's and women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, women's

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 ...

, women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

*Winter season: men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

*Spring season:

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

, men's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, men's

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division III conference navbox Articles which contain graphical timelines