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NEC women's lacrosse began its first season in 1998. Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's and Wagner joined then associate members UMBC, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart to form the league. UMBC won the NEC's regular-season and tournament titles three straight years, each time defeating Monmouth in the championship game. Monmouth finally turned the tables on UMBC in 2001, winning its first tournament crown before a home crowd. In 2002, UMBC bounced back to win its fourth title in five years, once against ousting Monmouth in the championship finale. Mount St. Mary's emerged from the #4 seed to reach the 2003 title match, but fell to five-time winner UMBC. Mount St. Mary's broke through in 2004, winning a league record 15 matches en-route to the NEC regular season and tournament titles. The Mountaineers went on to defeat Manhattan in an NCAA Play-In match, 12-7, and moved on to face Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Mount repeated in 2005, needing five overtimes to outlast Monmouth, then defeated Manhattan, 18-2, in the NCAA Play-In before falling to eventual national champion Northwestern in a first round matchup. Monmouth took home its second NEC crown in 2006 and repeated in 2007. Sacred Heart broke through for its first league title in 2008 on a Carissa Hauser goal with three seconds remaining to defeat Quinnipiac, 15-14. Heather Kormanik was named the inaugural NEC Player of the Year and Tournament MVP. The Pioneers repeated in 2009 and made it three in a row in 2010. After finishing as the runner-up three straight seasons, Quinnipiac earned its first NEC title in 2011. Monmouth won its fourth NEC title in 2012. In 1999, Jen Stocker of Mount St. Mary's was named a first team GTE Academic All-American. The Mount's Naomi Campano Radio is one of nine NEC student-athletes who are two-time Academic All-Americans, after being named to the first team in both 2004 and 2005.
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