With launch of women’s lacrosse program, MVCC adds to its winning traditions

(Utica, NY) Mohawk Valley Community College has added a new dimension to its athletic programs with the creation of a women’s lacrosse team. MVCC will become the ninth NJCAA Region III college to offer women’s lacrosse

“Women’s lacrosse is a growing sport with a number of high schools beginning to offer that sport,” said MVCC Athletic Director Gary Broadhurst. “Women’s lacrosse will create another opportunity for students to be attracted to MVCC and allow them to be engaged in a sport of their choice.”

With the addition of women’s lacrosse, MVCC will now host 11 women’s athletic programs and 11 men’s athletic programs. The women’s athletic programs have a long tradition of excellence, having won three national championships in as many years. Last year alone, MVCC teams won six Mountain Valley Conference championships, two Region III titles and two NJCAA national championships.

For individual student-athletes, 67 were named All-Region, 25 were named All-Americans and three were named NJCAA National Players of the Year as were two coaches. Nine student-athletes were Academic All-Americans as were four teams. Overall, MVCC had a winning percentage of .673 (417 wins, 185 losses, 5 ties) to win the NATYCAA Cup.

The MVCC Hawks have named Gina Fazio as interim head coach. The responsibility of building the program will fall to Fazio as she seeks to recruit athletes in preparation for the inaugural season scheduled for the spring of 2011.

“The challenge is getting the name out there and letting high school coaches and players know MVCC has a program,” Fazio. “There are a number of current students on campus who have shown interest in being a part of the new program. I am confident that these current students, along with incoming freshman will help make up a solid group of student-athletes for our first season.”

Fazio is a native of Watertown where she competed in soccer, basketball and lacrosse for the General Brown High School. She went on to play lacrosse at Jefferson Community College where she was named First Team for the Mid State Athletic Conference and First Team All Region III in 2004.

The following three years, Fazio played lacrosse for SUNY Cortland where she filled the position of starting attacker and helping the team compile a 52-7 record in three seasons. While the SUNY Cortland program flourished to advance to the NCAA’s Division III Final Four in 2006, individually Fazio became the 29^th Player in the college’s history to eclipse 100 career points with 119 points and be named twice to the All SUNYAC Team.

“We are fortunate to be located in the middle of the state and coming from a lacrosse background, several of my former teammates are now coaching at the high school level. This will, hopefully, make it much easier to make contact with some of the recruits,” said Fazio.

Along with recruiting from programs in Whitesboro, Rome, Clinton and New Hartford, Fazio will be expanding her network to the Syracuse, Albany, Rochester and the Watertown area.

Along with playing at the collegiate level, she comes from a rich family history where her father has been a longtime coach. She already has several connections to people involved in lacrosse which will help her to network at the high school level,” said Broadhurst.

A New Hartford resident, Fazio is currently an instructor in the Center for Language and Learning Design at MVCC. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Health Education from SUNY Cortland and a Master’s in Literacy from SUNY Potsdam.

With launch of women’s lacrosse program, MVCC adds to its winning traditions

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