It was a long wait, but the men's basketball team made its first NCAA tournament appearance since the 1982-83 season, delighting a large home crowd with a thrilling 75-73 win over Lasell in the first-round game.
Two days later, the Dutchmen encountered the very tough defense of Babson, which held Union to no points on nine consecutive possessions in the second half on the way to a 63-50 win. Union ended the year at 21-8, and three individuals received special recognition as senior guard Aaron Galletta was named the Upstate Athletic Conference's “Player of the Year,” Head Coach Bob Montana was named the conference's “Coach of the Year,” and forward C. J. Rodgers was named to the all-conference second team-the third straight year he was a first or second team selection.
In the Lasell game, the last-minute heroics came from Galletta-but not as a scorer. With three seconds remaining, he blocked a shot, and the Dutchmen, who at one point led by sixteen, held on. In the Babson game, Union led by two points with nine minutes to play, but the Babson defense stiffened and its offense scored fifteen straight points.
The Dutchmen clinched their NCAA appearance with a win over St. Lawrence, 70-63, in the championship game of the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association. It was a game, said Montana, that reflected the entire season-“The guys played this game just like they did every other game-as a team. Everyone contributed to the success of this season.”
To underscore his comment, the UCAA tournament's most valuable player award went to Rodgers, who scored fifteen points and had sixteen rebounds in the championship game. Galletta, who earlier had set a Union career scoring record (see adjacent story), had nineteen points, and senior guard Jason Manning had fourteen assists and twenty-three points in the two-game tournament.
In the first round of the tournament, Union beat Hamilton 80-66, with four starters scoring in double figures.
The twenty-one wins this year tied the all-time Union record. The 1983-83 team finished 21-5, losing to Hartwick in the first round of the NCAA tournament and beating Ithaca in the consolation game.
The women's basketball team also made a postseason appearance. In the first round of the UCAA Tournament, Union faced top-seeded St. Lawrence, which had beaten the Dutchwomen twice during the season by more than twenty points. Unfazed, Union stayed with the Saints for much of the game before fading in the final minutes and losing, 68-53. The team finished 15-11.
In early February, the men's hockey team appeared to be in position to obtain home ice in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. But the Dutchmen gave up three third-period goals to Dartmouth in a 3-2 loss and never seemed the same afterwards. Union won just two of its final eight games and went from a tie for fifth place to eleventh-and out of the playoffs. The team finished
13-13-6 overall and 8-11-3 in the league.
Head Coach Kevin Sneddon said one of his priorities next year will be the mental approach to the season. “If you look at when we were in the top six in the league, even our seniors had never been there,” he said. “Even though we had some experience with age, we didn't have a lot of experience in vying for home ice.”
The women's hockey team made its third year as a varsity sport its most successful and earned a spot in the ECAC Tournament. In the first round with Rensselaer, the game was even for the first period before the Engineers pulled away for a 9-2 win. Union finished 8-15-2 and at one point during the season had a six-game unbeaten streak.