VESTAL, N.Y. – For the second straight year, Binghamton athletics has captured the America East Stuart P. Haskell, Jr. Commissioner's Cup for overall excellence. Conference commissioner Brad Walker presented Director of Athletics Eugene Marshall, Jr. with the Cup at the year-end conference banquet Wednesday night in Annapolis, Md.
Binghamton outpaced runnerup UAlbany and the rest of the nine-team conference to repeat as Cup champions. After finishing higher than fifth just once in the previous decade, Binghamton has now won two straight titles to carry the mantel as the top overall athletics program in the America East. The Bearcats accumulated 335 points, ahead of UAlbany (325), third-place Bryant (313), UMass Lowell (291) and Vermont (273) in the top-five. The remainder of the schools were UMBC (261), New Hampshire (230), Maine (222) and NJIT (129).
The Commissioner's Cup annually recognizes the strongest athletics program in the America East as determined by a scoring system which rewards a school for success both during the regular season and championship competition in the conference's 18 sports.
"I would like to thank President Stenger, the Athletics Division administrative staff, coaches, student-athletes, alumni, corporate partners, faculty, University staff, students and the Binghamton community for everyone's hard work, dedication, support and commitment to this championship mindset," Marshall said. "We would not have been able to win the Commissioner's Cup again without this collective effort. It was a great year to be a Bearcat!"
Binghamton crowned three regular season champions (women's soccer, women's lacrosse, softball) and had three America East tournament champions (women's cross country, men's swimming & diving, women's lacrosse).
Women's soccer tallied the most points for the Bearcats with 43, thanks to an unbeaten, first-place regular season. Binghamton stood in second place after the fall and winter seasons before a strong spring vaulted the Bearcats into the top spot. Women's lacrosse provided 34 points after sharing the regular season title and winning the tournament in an historic 2024 campaign. The women's track and field team used program-best runnerup finishes indoors and outdoors to contribute 32 points.
Much like the 2022-23 title, Binghamton rose to the top of the standings due to a breadth of success from its 17 America East-sponsored sports. More than half of Binghamton's teams finished in the top-3 and three-quarters of the teams finished in the top-half of the standings.
NOTES
The conference Cup was Binghamton's second at the NCAA Division I level but fourth overall. The athletics department also won titles in the Division III SUNYAC (1996-97) and Division II New England Collegiate Conference (1998-99) before the program's transition to Division I and America East membership in 2001 ... Binghamton now joins a group of five America East schools to win back-to-back Cups. Former members Delaware (10 straight), Boston University (seven and three straight) and Stony Brook (two) won consecutive Cups and current member UAlbany won six straight.
