Monroe College Athletics are sporting a new look this fall.  Two Lady Mustang teams, basketball and volleyball, have moved up to Division II and for the first time, Monroe is fielding a varsity women’s soccer team.

“We know that the upgrade to DII means stiffer competition,” said Athletic Director Bert Shillingford, “but it will bring expanded opportunities for participation by our women student athletes and that’s what‘s most important.”

News of Monroe women’s basketball moving to Division II should bring audible sighs of relief in the NJCAA Region XV, Division III where the Lady Mustangs have been THE dominant team since 2004 when they began a string of six consecutive Region Championships, two national titles, and a host of other record-setting performances.   They have won 122 consecutive conference games and set the modern-day record for any NJCAA women's team of any division with 64 consecutive home wins, a streak that began in began in January, 2004.

In volleyball the achievements are somewhat more modest, although the Lady Mustangs were Region finalists in 2004.  There’s a new coach to help launch the Division II effort.  Justin Stack, who was a championship volleyball coach at Baruch and Hunter, will be taking the reins of the Lady Mustangs.

“We expect to install a program that emphasizes a high skill level,” he said.  “The goal of course, is a national championship, but we’ll take it one step at a time.  We’re going to bring in excellent student athletes and establish a positive and competitive attitude.”

 As for the new women’s soccer team, Mr. Shillingford said, “Monroe has many excellent women athletes who expressed interest in soccer, so it just made sense to put a team together.  We have a great coach and we expect Lady Mustang soccer will be up and running very quickly, both figuratively and literally.” 

The Lady Mustangs will be coached by Brett Polow who was a standout player at the University of Rochester and an assistant men’s soccer coach at Monroe last year.