On Thursday, Dec. 11, LIU Post was tabbed second in the first NACDA Division II Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings of 2014-15. After ending one of its most significant fall seasons in school history, LIU Post advanced four spots from last year. This year’s second place spot is the school’s best ever in the rankings since it was first enacted for Division II schools in 1995-96.
The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings is a collaboration between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Each college with Division II sports teams gets points counted for up to 14 team performances over the fall season—divided half for male and female sports, according to the NACDA website.
The LIU Post teams that earned points for their appearances in NCAA title competitions were field hockey, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and women’s cross country. In total, Post has collected 294 points so far, and awaits the final standings of all fall 2014 competitions. The rankings include 150 Division II teams nationwide.
“It was a great season for all of us,” said Thomas Bowen, a graduate midfielder on the LIU Post men’s soccer team. “For us on the team, obviously to win the East Region for the first time in Post history and reaching the quarter finals was big time, but also to get the feeling we should have gone even further and maybe challenged for the National title.”
The school finished first among all East Coast Conference opponents, and also ranked highest in the entire East Region. Northeast-10 Conference rival Stonehill College was ranked closest to LIU Post, but totaled more than 100 points less.
Grand Valley State is on top of the standings at the moment, with 373 points, after capturing national titles in both women’s cross country and women’s soccer.
The tally does not include football, since it is one of the sports that still competes for the National Championship. The final standings will be released to thepublic on Wednesday, Dec. 24.
This article was originally published in the Pioneer, the award-winning student newspaper of LIU Post, www.liupostpioneer.com, and is republished here by Blank Slate Media with the permission of the Pioneer.