The MASCAC Council of Presidents and Commissioner Angela Baumann are pleased to announce that Plymouth State University has applied and been accepted for MASCAC affiliate membership in women’s ice hockey for the 2024-2025 season.   

Plymouth State will join Anna Maria College, Framingham State University, MCLA, Rivier University and Worcester State University who will officially compete for a MASCAC Regular Season Championship and an end of the season conference tournament contested with all six teams next year. 

During the initial year of competition in 2024-25, Salem State University will play non-conference games against the six MASCAC Women’s Ice Hockey members. In 2025-26, Salem State will join the other MASCAC Institutions and the conference will then begin their two-year wait for the NCAA Automatic Qualifier into the tournament which will be awarded in 2027-2028

“We are excited to welcome Plymouth State University to the MASCAC in women’s ice hockey as we begin this new chapter in our conference’s storied history,” Commissioner Baumann said. “Adding them as an affiliate member allows our teams to have another competitor as we begin league action next season before Salem joins us.” 

“We are very excited to play in the MASCAC for the 2024-2025 season,” Plymouth State Director of Athletics Kim Bownes said. “The competition will be great, and it will be wonderful to have both the women and the men playing in the same conference for the first time. The NEHC was a wonderful experience for our student-athletes, and we are very grateful to have spent several years there. We are thankful to the MASCAC for making this happen for us.”

The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, the nation’s oldest Division III men’s and women’s playing conference, has a rich and storied tradition of competitive success while celebrating excellence in the classroom. MASCAC core member schools include Bridgewater State University, Fitchburg State University, Framingham State University, MCLA, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Salem State University, Westfield State University and Worcester State University. Two other institutions, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Plymouth State University, are affiliate members of the conference in the sports of football and men’s ice hockey, while Western Connecticut State University joined the conference as a football affiliate member in 2013. Springfield College joined as men’s golf affiliates in 2019. Castleton University will join the MASCAC as a football affiliate in 2024 while Anna Maria becomes our ninth core member in 2025.