Thursday morning, the Atlantic East Conference (AEC) announced the addition of Saint Elizabeth University, beginning in the upcoming academic year. The Eagles were members of the United East Conference, after the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) merged prior to the 2023-24 academic year.

This move comes on the heels of a departure from one of the Atlantic East Conference’s founding members. In April, the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) announced that Neumann University would be joining the conference at the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year. Neumann is the first university to leave the conference and remain open, with fellow founding members Cabrini University (2024) and Wesley College (2021) being closed, forcing their departure from the AEC.

Expansion isn’t new territory for the AEC, as most recently Pratt Institute joined the conference before this academic year, with teams for women’s soccer and men’s basketball. Before that, Centenary University joined the conference for all of the universities’ sports besides wrestling and equestrian.

Similarly, Saint Elizabeth will bring 11 varsity sports to the conference, with men’s volleyball and STUNT being the lone two athletic programs not in the AEC.

Per the media release, the chair of the Atlantic East Conference’s Presidents’ Council, Dale Caldwell said, “Saint Elizabeth University is an outstanding institution that embodies the academic excellence, athletic spirit and core values we celebrate in the Atlantic East Conference. Their addition not only enhances our competitiveness but also strengthens our shared commitment to student development, regional collaboration and mission-driven leadership. We are honored to welcome them into our family of institutions.”

Marywood’s Director of Athletic Communications Jay Monahan recognized that, like many universities, Saint Elizabeth was trying to find the best situation for their student-athletes.

“Saint Elizabeth has been trying to find out what’s best for them, and that’s why it is entering its third conference in six years,” Monahan said. “They make a great fit with the rest of the Atlantic East. Marywood is happy to have them join our conference and increase the opportunities for our student-athletes.”

Monahan continued on how the addition of Saint Elizabeth is a massive boost for the conference’s and Marywood’s potential success.

“As many teams as we can get is great for the conference,” Monahan said. “It helps having a school that’s less than two hours away. I think that helps our teams travel [and] manage our class schedules.”

The Pacers and Eagles have begun to familiarize themselves with each other, having their baseball, softball, women’s basketball and volleyball teams face off within the last two academic years, Monahan noted.

“When I first started here, we didn’t play often,” Monahan stated. “But recently, we’ve been playing them quite a bit. It shows that we are becoming two institutions that are becoming aligned with each other.”

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