Vassar College - Athletics

Athletics

See also: List of college athletic programs in New York

Vassar, known athletically as the Brewers, competes in Division III of the NCAA, as a member of the Liberty League.

Vassar College currently offers the following varsity athletics: basketball, baseball, cross-country, fencing, field hockey (women only), golf (women only), lacrosse, rowing, rugby, soccer, squash, swimming/diving, tennis, track, and volleyball. Club sports include Ultimate (men's and women's), equestrian team (competes in IHSA), polo team (USPA), cycling team (competes in ECCC), Quidditch, and co-ed USFSA synchronized skating team.

Basketball plays in Vassar's new Athletics and Fitness Center. Volleyball plays in Kenyon Hall, reopened in 2006. Soccer, baseball, field hockey and lacrosse all play at the Prentiss Fields, which have been completely renovated in 2007 to feature a lighted turf, four grass fields, a baseball field and a track surrounding the turf. Also in 2007, a varsity weight room was opened in the basement of Kenyon Hall, exclusively for the training of varsity athletes.

In 2008, the Vassar men's volleyball team made the school's first appearance in a national championship game, beating UC-Santa Cruz 3-0 in the semifinal before falling to Springfield in the championship game.

In 2007, the Vassar Cycling Team hosted the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Championship in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, NY. The competition included a 100-mile (160 km) road race over the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz as well as a Criterium in Poughkeepsie just blocks from the school's campus.

In a controversial move, on November 5, 2009 the Athletics Department decided the men's and women's rowing team would transition, over a two-year period, from a varsity to a club sport as a cost-saving measure.