MARSHFIELD, MASS. (Oct. 25, 2018) – The Manhattanville College field hockey team has officially been awarded associate membership to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC), announced jointly today by the conference and Manhattanville Director of Athletics Ed Manetta. The Valiants will compete as a member of the NECC beginning in the Fall 2019 season.

"We are extremely thankful to commissioner Katie Hartman-Boldvich and the entire NECC for allowing us to join the conference as an associate member beginning in 2019," said Manetta. "The NECC has a strong history of sending teams to the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship, with three teams qualifying in the previous five seasons. We look forward to competing against the rest of the schools within this strong conference and adding to its tradition of success."

The NECC is located mainly in the New England region, headquartered in Massachusetts, and currently has 10 full-time member schools – Bay Path University, Becker College, Dean College, Eastern Nazarene College, Elms College, Lesley University, Mitchell College, New England College, Newbury College and Southern Vermont College. Manhattanville will become the fifth member of the NECC in field hockey, competing against New England, Becker, Elms and Dean.

"Our program is very excited to join the NECC," said Manhattanville field hockey head coach Kevin Kelly. "The conference itself is growing at a very fast rate and is working hard toward earning automatic bid status to the NCAA Tournament. We hope that we can be a part of the growth of this conference and look forward to competing against our new rivals."

2018-19 is the 10th year of existence for the NECC, and the conference has sponsored field hockey throughout. During the previous nine seasons, there have been three teams to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament – previous members Anna Maria College and Regis College (Mass.) in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and Becker College in 2015.

"The NECC is pleased to welcome Manhattanville as an associate member in the sport of field hockey," said Hartman-Boldvich. "The Valiants have a strong athletic department and what Coach Kelly has been able to build with the field hockey program over the past decade is impressive. This addition strengthens NECC field hockey and serves as an enhancement to our core and associate members."

In addition to Manhattanville joining the NECC next season, the conference is also combining forces with the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) for postseason play in field hockey this season, 2018. Beginning next season, 2019, the two conferences will also combine their regular-season play, creating an eight-team conference that will also feature a six-team postseason tournament. The NECC now also considers the three NAC schools competing in field hockey as associate members. Those three schools are Thomas College (Maine), Husson University and the University of Maine at Farmington.