Marist Red Foxes


The Red Foxes are the athletic teams of Marist University. The Marist Red Foxes compete in NCAA Division I athletics as a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference the only exception being football, a member of the Pioneer Football League.
The Red Foxes make up 23 varsity teams. Separate men's and women's teams are sponsored for basketball, tennis, crew, lacrosse, soccer, cross country, track, swimming and diving. Sponsored women's teams are softball, volleyball, and water polo. While sponsored men's teams are baseball and football. These varsity programs involve more than 550 Marist student-athletes. The crew programs are among the few in the nation that claim on-campus facilities.
The red fox or reynard is indigenous to the Hudson Valley where Marist is located and is regarded as highly intelligent and cunning. It is the red fox from which Marist's school colors of red and white are derived.
Marist has been recognized by Sports Illustrated as having one of the top 200 college athletic programs in the U.S.

Overview

The Marist athletic department is the biggest and most successful in the MAAC. Marist has been awarded the MAAC conference's highest honor, the Commissioner's Cup, more than any school in history. The Commissioner's Cup is given annually to the most successful MAAC athletic department over the course of the year.
Student athletes at Marist routinely excel in the classroom. In 2019 for the 18th straight year Marist led the MAAC with 262 selections to the conference's Academic Honor Roll. Marist also had 57 student athletes selected to the PFL's Academic Honor Roll and four men's rowers named to the Intercollegiate Rowing Association 2019 All-Academic Team.
In 2017, in the wake of mass shootings across the United States, Marist changed their mascot's name from "Shooter" to "Frankie".

Sports sponsored

Baseball

Men's basketball

The Marist men's basketball team's first varsity season was 1961–62 at the NCAA Division III level. For 20 years Marist would play at this level. Their most successful season during this time was the 1970–71 season under head coach Ron Petro, in which they went 21–7. The Marist Athletic Department including the men's basketball program transitioned up to the Division I level before the 1981–82 season. In response to the competitive landscape the program encountered in Division I for basketball recruits Marist became one of the first college programs to recruit players from overseas. This strategy worked and Marist was able to attract very talented international players to Poughkeepsie. At the time, Pecarski was considered by some to be Europe's top 17-year-old player, but he was injured in the preseason, creating an opportunity for Smits.
The Red Foxes have qualified for the NCAA tournament twice, losing in the first round in both instances. Prior to joining the MAAC in 1997, Marist was a charter member of the ECAC Metro Conference in 1981; which became the Northeast Conference in 1988.

Women's basketball

The Marist women's basketball team won 20 games for the first time during the 1981–1982 season going 21–10 under head coach Susan Deer. They would not reach the 20 win plateau again until the hiring of Brian Giorgis before the 2002–2003 season. In Brian's first season Marist would go 20–11,. Since then, under Brian's guidance, Marist has dominated the MAAC with 10 championships and has become a powerhouse on the national stage.
The first conference crown came in 2004 followed by another one in 2006. Although Marist would lose both times in the first round of the NCAA tournament these games were just building blocks for greater successes.
File:Marist College women's basketball vs. Boston University.JPG|thumb|Marist women's basketball game vs Boston University at McCann Arena
In March 2007, after a going 27–5 and making the NCAA tournament for the third time in school history, Marist's women's basketball team surprised a nation of NCAA fans under the leadership of co-captains Alisa Kresge and Nikki Flores, carried by Rachele Fitz. They became the third 13th seed to make it to the Sweet 16 since the women's tournament expanded to 64 teams. They defeated 4th-seeded Ohio State and 5th-seeded Middle Tennessee to make it to the Sweet 16.
In March 2008, the women's basketball team was seeded 7th in the New Orleans Regional of the NCAA basketball tournament where they defeated the 10th seeded Depaul Blue Demons 76–57. They were then defeated by the 2nd seeded LSU Lady Tigers 68–49 on March 24, 2008, ending Marist's 22-game winning streak.
The 2009 and 2010 Women's NCAA basketball tournaments saw Marist lose in the first rounds to Virginia and Georgetown respectively.
In the 2011 NCAA tournament the women's basketball team defeated Iowa State in the first round and were thoroughly defeating Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the 2nd round until Marist's best player Erica Allenspach was injured. Duke took the lead late in the 2nd half and prevailed 71–66.
During the 2011–2012 season the Marist women's basketball team won their seventh straight MAAC championship by crushing Fairfield in the MAAC Final 61–35. They would go on to the NCAA Tournament as a 13 seed and beat 4th seed Georgia 76–70. Marist would then lose a tough game in the second round 66–63 to the 5th seed St. Bonaventure ending another successful season for a team that was viewed as Marist's most vulnerable in years.
The 2012–2013 season was the third time in the last six years that Marist would go undefeated in MAAC regular season play. Marist cruised through the MAAC tournament and defeated Iona 72–48 in the championship game. This was Marist's 9th MAAC title tying St. Peters for the most championships in MAAC history.
Shortly after winning the 2013 MAAC crown Brian Giorgis was named an assistant coach for the USA Women's World University Games Team during the 2013 games to be held in Kazan Russia.
In the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament Marist struggled offensively and lost a tough first-round game to Michigan State 55–47.
Marist extended their MAAC dominance during the 2013–2014 season winning their 10th overall MAAC crown and 9th straight after overcoming a 17-point deficit against Quinnipiac University in the conference tournament championship game to win 70–66. The game was Marist's 26th MAAC tournament win in a row.
Marist was defeated 87–65 by their hosts, a red hot shooting Iowa Hawkeyes team who shot 12 of 25 from 3-point range and 57 percent from the field, in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.
Second seeded Marist lost to #1 seed Quinnipiac in the 2015 MAAC Tournament Championship Game ending the Red Foxes' nine-year run as champions and 28 game winning streak in conference tournament games. This was also the first time in 35 MAAC tournament games that Marist wasn't the higher seeded team.

Crew

Marist has a large and active rowing program. Marist currently hosts both men's and women's heavyweight and lightweight teams. The women's teams compete as part of the MAAC. The teams row out of the Marist Boathouse on campus and use Longview Park to host races.
Each spring Marist competes against the United States Military Academy for the President's Cup Trophy. The two teams switch off hosting the event each year. West Point's proximity and its competitive rowers has led to an intense rivalry developing over the years. The President's Cup Regatta, named in honor of former Marist College President Linus Richard Foy has been an annual event for over four decades.
In October 2009, to celebrate the quadricentennial of Henry Hudson's exploration of the Hudson River, Marist hosted a reenactment of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association's now defunct Poughkeepsie Regatta at Longview Park. From 1895 to 1949 the IRA's national championship race was held in Poughkeepsie on the same site that is now Longview Park. The original races started off Rogers Point in Hyde Park and ended about a mile south of the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge. The top college teams would attend and Poughkeepsie was known as the rowing capital of the world. There were about 125,000 fans along the route in 1929, and 100,000 in 1930. 2009 competitors included Marist, Columbia, Cornell, Navy, Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Army, and Vassar College. Since 2009 Marist's autumn Poughkeepsie Regatta has been held intermittently.
Marist routinely participates in the annual ECAC championships, the NYSCCA rowing championships and the IRA national championships.
During the summer of 2002 the Marist men's varsity eight boat advanced to the semifinals of the Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.
In 2013 the women's program qualified for the inaugural NCAA Rowing Championships in Indianapolis.

Football

Football started at Marist as a club sport in 1965 and became a varsity sport in 1978 as a Division III independent. In 1993 football moved up to Division I-AA and in 1994 became the first Marist athletic team to become a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Marist plays its home games in Tenney Stadium on the main campus in Poughkeepsie.
In February 2008, Marist joined the Pioneer Football League as its tenth member effective for the 2009 season, ending the MAAC Football League.
There is one former member of the Red Foxes currently playing in the National Football League: Jason Myers. Terrence Fede is the only Red Fox to have been selected in the NFL Draft.

Lacrosse

The men's lacrosse team has been to two NCAA Tournaments after winning the MAAC lacrosse title in 2005 and 2015. In 2005 they would go on to play eventual national champion Johns Hopkins in the first round. Marist was soundly defeated 22–6. In the 2015 tournament #20 Marist bested Bryant University 10–6 in a first four game. However #2 ranked Syracuse had too much talent for the foxes in their first-round game winning 20–8.
Originating as a club sport during the 1970s, men's lacrosse subsequently became an NCAA Division III varsity sport and by the early 1980s, began transitioning up to Division I. In 1981, the Marist men's lacrosse team captured the Knickerbocker Conference title.
The women's team has been to two NCAA Tournaments. Losing both times in the first round to Colgate and Maryland.