FROM GROUND FLOOR TO CHAMPIONSHIPS
“Those ladies that played lacrosse for me in that first year still “Everyone in a conference would play you early, but wouldn’t
remember when it was snowing and I just told them to keep play you late,” Adams said. “It was difficult to schedule soccer and
running,” McFadden recalled. “We had nowhere else to go.” field hockey games in October and basketball games in February.”
The facilities still needed improvement after Paul Cantabene
became the head men’s lacrosse coach in 2005.
The solution was membership in the North East Athletic
Conference, a new 12-school conference launched in 2004-
“It was quite an eye-opener, comparing what we had to where 2005 that Villa Julie and Adams helped to form. The Mustangs
I came from,” said Cantabene, who arrived at Villa Julie after dominated the conference, earning the President’s Cup for overall
stints as an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins, Towson, and athletic excellence for three straight years. The men’s basketball
Maryland. “The practice field was slanted with a bunch of rocks team, coached by Adams, earned an NCAA Tournament at-
in it.” large bid in 2005-2006 and followed up with Villa Julie’s first
But the athletic department was showing steady growth, on conference title and a second consecutive NCAA appearance
and off the field. By the 1999-2000 school year, three more the next year. The men’s lacrosse team became the first squad in
sports were added: women’s volleyball, baseball, and softball. school history to receive a national Top 20 ranking in the spring
However, the young Villa Julie athletic program was still looking of 2007.
ABOVE: The 2000 women's soccer team became the first VJC team to earn an NCAA berth, qualifying as an at-large selection. The Mustangs reached the second
round. TOP RIGHT: The 2005-06 and 2006-07 men's basketball teams made back-to-back NCAA appearances, with the 06-07 squad (pictured) winning the NEAC
championship. BOTTOM RIGHT: Women's ice hockey, in year four as a varsity program, won the inaugural Colonial Hockey Conference championship in 2016.
for its first NCAA Tournament berth. The 2000 women’s soccer Shortly thereafter, Villa Julie transitioned to the Capital Athletic
team finally broke through, earning an at-large berth and Conference for the 2007-2008 year. A move to Stevenson’s current
advancing to the third round. home, the Middle Atlantic Conference, happened prior to the
“That was a milestone,” Adams said. “We’d gotten some
2012-2013 academic year.
Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) bids, but that
wasn’t the same kind of recognition as the NCAA.”
Villa Julie finally won its first championship of any kind in
2003, when the men’s lacrosse team claimed the ECAC South
12 |
A NEW ERA
The school’s name change from Villa Julie College to Stevenson
title. University in 2008 signaled a new era for an institution whose
THE BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP university’s leadership had a larger vision for the next phase of
While the athletic program was making significant progress, President, and Tim Campbell, Stevenson’s Executive Vice President
it was difficult for Villa Julie to continue playing independent and Chief Financial Officer, recognized the opportunity for
schedules. Stevenson to become a DIII power.
VENTURES/WINTER 2019-20
enrollment and athletic program were steadily growing. The
Stevenson’s athletic future. Kevin Manning, Ph.D., the school’s