New legislation has huge effect on PAC

by Paul Moser

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This past soccer season, the Cabrini Cavaliers ended their regular season with just one loss and a Pennsylvania Athletic Championship, but still did not have the opportunity to go to the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.

Last year, the the Cavaliers were snubbed from the tournament as well, this time in the sport of basketball, after winning the PAC for an unprecedented sixth time in a row.

•Right now, however,Cabrini is guaranteed that this sort of travesty will never happen again due to new legislation passed in January by the NCAA's Division III.

The Division III schools overwhelmingly voted their support-200 votes to 80-for the mandate presented by the President's Commission of Division III to give automatic bids to conference champions that met certain criteria.

There are numerous criteria to be met in this new legislation to be eligible to get a conferenc~automatic bid. The main cri- least two years to be eligible for the auto- ence could make the tournament while no matic bid. schools from conferences like the PAC made The bottom line is that the PAC meets that it. Hence the idea of the old boys network. It criteria for the most part and that this is the was impossible for teams from the PAC to biggest Division III ruling for the PAC and play on a level playing field with other Cabrini College since the PAC's inception, schools because they did not have the opaccording to John Dzik, Cabrini's athletic portunity to prove themselves. director and originator of the PAC. Now, for parity's sake, the rules are differDzik feels that the new legislation and this ent. automatic bid rule will help Cabrini to be- That was the case with the men's soccer come a player in Division ill tournaments team this year. They had dominated the PAC that were traditionally dominated by mem- for the entire year and won the conference, bers of an "old bo¾'' network. yet still did not get the bid. They could not Cabrini is now on the inside as opposed to be expected to ever increase their status in the outside looking in. It was a position Division III soccer if they could not play the those basketball and soccer teams had to be- best in the NCAA tournament come accustomed to until now.

"Our league deserves to have representation," Dzik said.

Traditionally, before this legislation was passed, teams in "stronger" conferences who did not win their conferences would appear more desirable to the selection committee than other schools that won their "weak-

Now schools like Cabrini will be given that chance to compete on a level playing field with others.

"This perception that we are not good enough to compete is false. Now it can be settled on the court where it should be," Dzik said.

They will get their chance, next year.

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