The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 11 full members are located in four Northeastern states: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland. It was announced on October 23, 2023 that Sacred Heart University and Merrimack College will join the conference beginning in the 2024-25 season.
Sacred Heart University (SHU) is a private, Roman Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded in 1963 by Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sacred Heart was the first Catholic university in the United States to be staffed by the laity.
Pitt Stadium was an outdoor athletic stadium in the eastern United States, located on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1925, it served primarily as the home of the university's Pittsburgh Panthers football team through 1999. It was also used for other sporting events, including basketball, soccer, baseball, track and field, rifle, and gymnastics.
Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team.
Total Mortgage Arena is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is the home venue of the Bridgeport Islanders of the American Hockey League (AHL) and PWHL New York of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).
Sacred Heart Academy is a young women's college preparatory, Roman Catholic high school in Hamden, Connecticut, and part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. It is run by the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an order of religious sisters founded in Italy by Mother Clelia Merloni. The school is located atop Mt. Sacred Heart, which is the U.S. Provincialate of the sisters. Their team mascot is the Shark. Their brother school is Notre Dame High School West Haven, Connecticut, and their sister school is Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Diocese of Bridgeport is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church located in the southwestern part of the state of Connecticut in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Hartford.
Notre Dame High School (NDWH) is a private, Roman Catholic, all-male college preparatory school located in West Haven, Connecticut, a coastal suburb of New Haven, Connecticut.
Fairfield College Preparatory School is a Jesuit preparatory school located on the campus of Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. It is an all-male school of about 800 students, founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942.
The Fairfield Stags are the athletic programs representing Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Most of the programs are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and classified as Division I (non-football) in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football rivalries refers to rivalries of the University of Notre Dame in the sport of college football. Because the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are independent of a football conference, they play a national schedule, which annually includes historic rivals University of Southern California and Navy, more recent rival Stanford, and five games with ACC teams.
Cartier Field was a stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, first dedicated on May 11, 1900, as an arena for football, baseball, track and field, and bicycling. It hosted the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team from 1900 to 1928 and held nearly 30,000 people at its peak. The stands were torn down after the 1928 season to make room for Notre Dame Stadium, which opened in 1930. Notre Dame played its entire 1929 schedule away from campus, went undefeated (9–0) and won the National Championship. At Coach Knute Rockne's insistence, Cartier Field's grass was transplanted into Notre Dame Stadium.
Lessing Field is a multi-purpose lacrosse and soccer stadium on the campus of Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. It is home to the Fairfield Stags men's and women's lacrosse and soccer teams. Previously named Varsity Field it was renovated in 2002 including the installation of high-durability sod, a new irrigation and drainage systems, new lights for night games and new stands with capacity for 600 fans. Lessing Field is named in honor of Stephen Lessing '76, a former member of the Fairfield Stags men's tennis team and current member of the Fairfield University Board of Trustees whose generosity allowed for the stadium renovations.
The Sacred Heart Pioneers football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the Sacred Heart University located in Fairfield, Connecticut. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are one of two NCAA Division I FCS independent schools. The school's first football team was fielded in 1993. The 2001 Sacred Heart Pioneers football team compiled a perfect 11–0 record and won the school's first conference championship.
The 1993 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1993 college football season. The team was coached by Lou Holtz and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
The Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Sacred Heart University. The Pioneers are a member of Atlantic Hockey. They play at the Martire Family Arena in Fairfield, Connecticut. From 1993-2016, the Pioneers home arena was the Milford Ice Pavilion in Milford, Connecticut.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team is the intercollegiate baseball team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. Notre Dame competes as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the NCAA Division 1 college baseball league. The team is currently coached by Shawn Stiffler and plays its home games at Frank Eck Baseball Stadium, which has a capacity of 1,825. The school has appeared in three College World Series, in 1957, 2002, and 2022 and has won 6 conference titles.
The 1994 Sacred Heart Pioneers football team represented Sacred Heart University as an independent during the 1994 NCAA Division II football season. Led by third-year head coach Gary Reho the Pioneers compiled a record of 4–5. Sacred Heart played home games at Campus Field in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Rafferty Stadium is a 3,500-seat lacrosse stadium on the campus of Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. It is home to the Fairfield Stags men's and women's lacrosse teams. The facility opened officially on February 2, 2015. The stadium is named in recognition of the principal leadership gift from university alumnus Larry Rafferty. The field of the stadium in named Conway Field in acknowledgment of a gift from Tim Conway, another alumnus.
The 2009 Sacred Heart Pioneers football team represented Sacred Heart University as a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC) during the 2009 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by sixth-year head coach Paul Gorham, the Pioneers compiled an overall record of 2–8 with a mark of 2–6 in conference play, tying for seventh place in the NEC. Sacred Heart played home games at Campus Field in Fairfield, Connecticut.
