The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Participating schools are located principally in the Northeastern United States, from which the conference derives its name.
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The conference was originally formed in 1951 as the State Teachers Conference, and was temporarily named the Pennsylvania State Teachers College Conference in 1956 before being assuming its current name in 1964.
NCAA Division I independent schools are four-year institutions that compete in college athletics at the NCAA Division I level, but do not belong to an established athletic conference for a particular sport. These schools may however still compete as members of an athletic conference in other sports. A school may also be fully independent, and not belong to any athletic conference for any sport at all. The reason for independent status varies among institutions, but it is frequently because the school's primary athletic conference does not sponsor a particular sport.
The 2009–10 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season began on October 2, 2009, ending with the 2010 NCAA Division I Women's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 21, 2010 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. It marked the third time that Minneapolis had hosted the Frozen Four. The tournament's opening round was scheduled for Friday, February 26, 2010, followed by the Final Faceoff on Saturday through Sunday, March 6–7, 2010. The quarterfinals were played on Friday through Saturday, March 12–13, 2010, with the Frozen Four played on Friday and Saturday, March 19 and 20, 2010.
The Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey team is a college ice hockey program representing Mercyhurst University in NCAA Division I competition as a member of the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference. They play in Erie, Pennsylvania at the Mercyhurst Ice Center, located on the Mercyhurst campus.
The Mercyhurst Lakers, representing Mercyhurst University which is located in Erie, Pennsylvania, are composed of 24 teams in intercollegiate athletics. The Lakers compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Northeast Conference for most sports. The men's and women's ice hockey teams are members of Atlantic Hockey America, formed shortly after the 2023–24 season by the merger of the men's former home of the Atlantic Hockey Association and the women's former home of College Hockey America. The men's and women's water polo teams play in the Collegiate Water Polo Association.
The Mercyhurst Lakers football team represents Mercyhurst University in football. Mercyhurst is a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC).
The Mercyhurst Lakers men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association hockey team that represents Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania under Head Coach Rick Gotkin. The team is currently a Division I hockey team playing out of the Mercyhurst Ice Center located on the school campus. The Mercyhurst Lakers started out as a club sport at the school, moving up to Division III, followed by Division II, and now plays in Division I in Atlantic Hockey America, formed shortly after the 2023–24 season by the merger of the Lakers' former home, the Atlantic Hockey Association, with College Hockey America. After joining their step up into Division I in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 1998, the Lakers have won their conference tournament making NCAA tournament appearances in 2001, 2003, and 2005.
The 2011–12 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season began in October, 2011, and ended with the 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game in March, 2012.
The Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the Northeast Conference (NEC). It has been held every year since the NEC was established in the 1981–82 season. The tournament is an eight-team single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. The bracket is reseeded after the quarterfinals, with the highest remaining seed playing the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals. The tournament winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA basketball tournament.
The Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey program represented Mercyhurst University during the 2013–14 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season. Their conference mark was 15-3-2, earning them the College Hockey America regular season title. In the postseason, the Lakers were defeated 2-1 in overtime by the RIT Tigers during the CHA championship tournament. The Lakers would qualify for the NCAA Tournament. In the quarterfinals, the Lakers defeated Cornell by a 3–2 mark in Ithaca, New York. Advancing to the Frozen Four in Hamden, Connecticut, the Lakers were bested by the eventual national champion Golden Knights.
Emily Janiga is an American ice hockey player currently playing for the Metropolitan Riveters in the Premier Hockey Federation.
The Northeast Conference women's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in women's basketball for the Northeast Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament that in its most recent 2024 edition involved 8 of the 9 then-current league schools, and seeding is based on regular-season records with head-to-head match-up as a tie-breaker. While the NEC lost two members after the 2023–24 season, with Merrimack and Sacred Heart leaving for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, it gained two members at the same time with the impending addition of Chicago State and Mercyhurst.
Daniel Bertolini is an American baseball coach and former shortstop, who is an assistant coach for the Kent State Golden Flashes from 2017 to 2024. He was previously the head baseball coach at Youngstown State. He played college baseball at Mercyhurst University for coach Joe Spano from 2005 to 2008 before playing 1 season in the Frontier League in 2008. He was the head coach at Mercyhurst North East (2009–2016).
Joseph Duszak is an American professional ice hockey defenceman who currently plays for Kunlun Red Star of the KHL.
The Mercyhurst Lakers women's basketball program is the women's college basketball team of Mercyhurst University. The Lakers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Northeast Conference since July 1, 2024. They will become full members in the 2028-29 season after finishing the four-year NCAA Division I reclassification period.
The 2024–25 Mercyhurst Lakers men's basketball team represents Mercyhurst University during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lakers, led by 23rd-year head coach Gary Manchel, play their home games on Owen McCormick Court in the Mercyhurst Athletic Center in Erie, Pennsylvania as first-year members of the Northeast Conference.
2024 Mercyhurst Lakers baseball team 