Alfred State Begins New Year With Two Fewer  Varsity Sports

The Alfred State College (ASC) athletics department announced that men's lacrosse and co-ed western equestrian will not continue in the 2020-21 year as varsity sports. The college made the adjustment to address the financial impacts of COVID-19.

"These cuts were necessary in order to close the projected budget gap facing the athletics department. These were not easy decisions. I recognize the disappointment and discouragement that our student-athletes have felt," stated Director of Athletics Jason Doviak. "Our process was to thoroughly examine our programs looking for ways to retain all of our varsity sports, but the financial constraints were too large to overcome." 

ASC is offering a total of 17 NCAA Division III sports for the upcoming 2020-2021 academic year. Approximately 400 student-athletes benefit from Alfred State athletic programs.

"All of the athletic programs will be required to reduce their operating expenses but there are no plans to cut any additional sports," said Doviak. "We want to minimize the impact to as few student-athletes as possible. If we had attempted to retain all sports this fall, we determined that a much greater number of our students would be negatively impacted. One of the main goals of the department is to provide our student-athletes with an outstanding collegiate experience and that wouldn't be possible without a reduction in programming."

While no longer sponsored at the varsity level, student-athletes in the affected sports may pursue joining Alfred State's club sport programs including an already active equestrian club.

Alfred State is a member of NCAA Division III and competes as a primary member within the Allegheny Mountain College Conference (AMCC). The Pioneers also compete as affiliate members within the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC), the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference, and the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC).