Terriers Take Home America East Commissioner’s Cup

For the second straight year and the fifth time in last six years, Boston University has claimed the America East Stuart P. Haskell Commissioner’s Cup. The award annually recognizes the athletic program with the highest score in the conference, and the Terriers took this year’s top spot with six league titles, three regular-season titles, and a runner-up finish.

“The Commissioner’s Cup signifies, in my mind, the most complete and successful program in the conference,” says Michael Lynch, BU’s director of athletics. “The cup is recognition for a great deal of determination on the part of everyone involved in our program, including coaches, administrators, and student-athletes. We are very proud of this achievement.”

Lynch credits BU’s Commissioner’s Cup dominance during the past six years not only to attracting superb athletes and coaches, but also to a lot of hard work and dedication.

“We have made strategic investments, particularly over the past three years, to build each of our teams with the express goal of winning their respective sport and participating in the NCAA championship,” he says. “I would like to think that our investments have been smart, including attracting very talented coaches who are among the best in the profession and student-athletes who can be successful here at BU, where we strive for excellence not only on the field, but in the classroom and the community as well.”

The cup standings are determined by a points system, which rewards a school for success during both regular-season and championship competitions in America East’s 22 sports.

In the closest margin in the award’s 18-year history, BU tallied 358 points to beat out second-place Albany (353) by just 5 points — the Great Danes nearly closed the gap this spring, winning five conference titles, but came up just short. Binghamton was third with 302 points, followed by UMBC (271), Vermont (265), Stony Brook (259), New Hampshire (241), Maine (228), and Hartford (199).

The Terriers bolstered their point total by winning six women’s league championships, taking home the conference crown in women’s cross-country, field hockey, women’s indoor track and field, women’s tennis, women’s golf, and women’s lacrosse. They captured regular-season titles in field hockey, women’s lacrosse, and softball and were runners-up in women’s soccer.

“Our women’s teams, when viewed as a group, are among the most successful anywhere in the country. They are a point of pride for our department and strengthening them has been one of our most important objectives,” Lynch says. “Last year our women’s teams secured the cup on their own and again this year they played a leading role in our success.”

The Commissioner’s Cup is named in honor of the first commissioner of America East, Stuart P. Haskell, Jr., who was conference commissioner from 1987 until his retirement in 1997.

To determine the points totals for the Commissioner’s Cup in sports with regular-season round-robin competition, the first-place institution in the final standings receives four points for each team involved in conference play. The second-place school is given four fewer points, third place eight fewer points, and so on. In championship play, the America East tournament champion receives two points times the total number of teams participating in the championship. The second-place institution gets two fewer points, third place four fewer points, and so on down to the last-place institution, which picks up two points.

In sports with no regular-season round-robin competition, such as cross-country, golf, tennis, track and field, and swimming and diving, the points are calculated at the America East championship, following the same system as for championship play.

Meghan Noé contributed to this story; she can be reached at mdorney@bu.edu.