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.
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) is a competitive college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level.
Gannon University is a private Catholic university with campuses in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Ruskin, Florida. Established in 1925, Gannon University enrolls approximately 4,600 undergraduate and graduate students annually and has over 47,000 alumni. Its intercollegiate athletics include 18 athletic programs for men and women competing at the NCAA Division II level.
Mercyhurst University is a private Roman Catholic university in Erie, Pennsylvania.
The East Coast Conference (ECC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located primarily in the state of New York, with a single member located in the District of Columbia.
Mercyhurst Ice Center is a 35,280 square foot, 1,500-seat hockey rink in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It is home to the Mercyhurst University Lakers Men's and Women's ice hockey teams. The center was the first privately funded ice rink in Erie when it opened on 8 December 1991. The school expects to retire its 30-year construction bond through the assessment of a student fee, which produces $80,000 annually.
Mercyhurst North East was a two-year Catholic liberal arts college in North East, Pennsylvania. It was a branch campus of Mercyhurst University. The college was established in 1991 when Mercyhurst College purchased the former St. Mary's College from Redemptorist Fathers, a property first established as Lake Shore Seminary in 1870. Mercyhurst North East offers one-year certificates and two-year associate degrees in a variety of majors. The school campus closed at the end of the 2020–2021 term, consolidating all programs into the larger Mercyhurst campus in Erie.
The East Carolina Pirates are the athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic Conference. The school became an NCAA member in 1961.
The Marshall Thundering Herd is the intercollegiate athletic collection of teams that collectively represent the Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Thundering Herd athletic teams compete in the Sun Belt Conference, which are members of the NCAA Division I. The school's official colors are kelly green and white. The Marshall Thundering Herd have won 3 NCAA national championships and one NAIA national championship.
Tony DeMeo is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York from 1975 to 1978, Mercyhurst College—now known as Mercyhurst University—in Erie, Pennsylvania from 1981 to 1987, Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas from 1994 to 2001, and the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia from 2005 to 2010.
Erie Commodores FC is an American soccer team based in Erie, Pennsylvania which competes in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), a nationwide amateur league at the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home matches at Saxon Stadium on the campus of Mercyhurst University. In 2021, the Commodores added a pro-am women's team to play in United Women's Soccer. They also added men's and women's teams to the Ohio Valley Premier League for the 2022 season.
The Mercyhurst Lakers, representing Mercyhurst University which is located in Erie, Pennsylvania, are composed of 24 teams in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, tennis, and water polo. Men's sports include baseball, football, and wrestling. Women's sports include bowling, field hockey, softball, stunt, and volleyball. The Lakers compete in the NCAA Division II and are members of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) for all sports except ice hockey, which competes in NCAA Division I; bowling, a sport in which the NCAA holds a single all-divisions national championship, which competes in the East Coast Conference; men's lacrosse and stunt, both of which compete in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference; and water polo, a sport in which the NCAA holds single all-divisions national championships for men and women. The men's ice hockey team is a member of Atlantic Hockey, while the women's ice hockey team is a member of College Hockey America. The men's and women's water polo teams play in the Western Water Polo Association. On April 4, 2024, it was announced that Mercyhurst would be transitioning to NCAA Division I and join the Northeast Conference starting in the 2024-25 academic school year.
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 Division I in the Atlantic Hockey Association conference. 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.
As of 2023, New Jersey has five teams from major professional sports leagues playing in the state, with only one team identifying themselves as solely being from the state. The other remaining teams identify themselves as being from the New York metropolitan area with the National Women's Soccer League team having a team name that includes both New Jersey and New York. The National Hockey League and National Basketball Association teams representing Philadelphia have their training facilities in South Jersey.
Cleveland SC is an American semi-professional soccer club based in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio region. Cleveland competes in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) as part of the Midwest Region's Great Lakes Conference. The club was established on February 19, 2018, taking over from the recently defunct AFC Cleveland as the city's representative in the NPSL.
The Erie Express are a professional American football minor-league team based in Erie, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2011, they will compete in the Tri-Point Football League starting in the 2024 season. From 2018 to 2023, the Express played in the Gridiron Developmental Football League (GDFL), winning the championship in 2021. The team plays at Erie Veterans Memorial Stadium, a historic football venue in midtown Erie.
