New York, NY |  The College of Staten Island athletics program was bestowed the City University of New York’s highest athletic honor this evening, earning the coveted Commissioner’s Cup, an award given to the CUNYAC’s top athletics program over the past academic year.  It was CSI’s first claiming of the trophy since the 2000-01 athletic year, putting a punctuation mark on a year that saw the Dolphins capture five CUNYAC Championships and four Regular Season titles.  CSI had finished second or third in the Commissioner’s Cup standings in each of the last seven years.

“Winning this award means a great deal,” said Charles Gomes, Director of Athletics and Recreation at the College of Staten Island.  “Our goal is to always provide our student-athletes with the best possible experience they can have and our staff puts in countless hours making that happen.  It’s nice to get this acknowledgement at the conference level and it comes with a great sense of pride for our administrators, coaches, and student-athletes.”

An award given via a points-based system, points are awarded for first (10), second (5) and third (3) place finishes in all regular season finishes. In Conference tournaments, first (10) and second (5) place is awarded in all head-to-head championship finals, while third place points (3) are awarded in every other sport, where there are more than five participating schools. Due to the difference in sizes of athletic programs in the CUNYAC, a school can only use their top ten sports in any academic year for point-getting. 

The Dolphins topped all CUNYAC schools with 113 points, besting Hunter College with 105 points and Baruch College with 76.5 points.  CSI earned points for Women’s Soccer (20), Baseball (20), Softball (20), Men’s Basketball (14), Women’s Tennis (10), Men’s Swimming (10), Women’s Basketball (10), Women’s Swimming (6), and Men’s Tennis (3).  In total, nine of CSI’s 14 intercollegiate sports factored into the equation, a mark of a highly-competitive and balanced athletic program, according to Gomes.

“I think it’s clear to see that our conference has become more and more balanced among the nine member schools, which makes winning the honor this year very special.  The fact that we were able to gain points in many of our sports speaks to the consistency of our programs and the level of play they aspire to,” he explained.  “As successful as many of our programs are, we will strive to constantly raise the bar, improving on our performances while developing our emerging sports.  We plan to fight hard for this recognition by the conference each year.” 

The CUNYAC has been awarding the Commissioner’s Cup since the 1997-98 academic year.  CSI joins both Hunter and Baruch as the only CUNYAC schools to win the honor in the 21-year history of the award.  Hunter had won the award in each of the past two years, breaking a string of what was six-straight years of victory by Baruch College.  CSI’s 113 points achieved this year are their 5th-highest total in program history, and marks the sixth-straight year that CSI has eclipsed the 100-point plateau.