NCAA Division I | Athletic director Dana Skinner Varsity teams 16 | |
Conference |
Umass lowell river hawks fight song
The UMass Lowell River Hawks are composed of 16 teams representing the University of Massachusetts Lowell in intercollegiate athletics, including men and women's basketball, cross country, soccer, and track and field. Men's sports include baseball, golf, lacrosse and ice hockey. Women's sports include field hockey, rowing, softball, and volleyball. The River Hawks compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the America East Conference for all sports, except the men's ice hockey team, which competes in Hockey East. The River Hawks formerly competed in the Northeast-10 Conference at the Division II level.
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Teams
The University of Massachusetts Lowell participates in 16 sports at the Division 1 Level. On July 1, 2013, 14 of UMass Lowell's Division II teams moved up to Division I, joining the America East Conference. The River Hawks formerly competed in the Northeast-10 Conference at the Division II level. Past champions include the 1988 men's basketball team, the 1991 men's cross country team, the ice hockey team (three times) and the field hockey team twice (2005, 2010). The 2010 field hockey team finished its season with a perfect 24-0 record. The university added men's and women's lacrosse for the 2014-2015 academic year.
The university's men's hockey team plays in the Hockey East Association and plays its home games at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell. In 2013, the men's hockey team won the Hockey East regular-season and tournament championships and advanced to the NCAA Division I Championship "Frozen Four," all for the first time in the university's history. The men's hockey team repeated as Hockey East champions in 2014 while advancing to the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship for the third straight year and sixth time overall. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck is the only Hockey East player to receive the league tournament's Most Valuable Player Award in two consecutive years, earning the honor in 2013 and 2014.
The nickname "River Hawks" came about during the school's transition from the University of Lowell to UMass Lowell and was inspired by the campus's location along the Merrimack River. The University of Lowell's nickname was the Chiefs, which was abandoned in favor of the current name. A campus-wide poll was conducted for student input and final candidates included the Ospreys and the Raging Rapids, according to the Connector student newspaper.
Notable athletes
National Championships
The University of Massachusetts Lowell has won 15 NCAA Championships in school history, including: