Springfield College, which has earned four NCAA Division III Tournament berths during the past eight years, and Division I-AA La Salle University from Philadelphia headline a demanding 2006 football schedule for the Husson College Eagles.

Bangor-based Husson revived its football program in 2003 after a 70-year absence.

La Salle, which plays in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in football, and Springfield, an Empire 8 Athletic Conference team, are among four new teams on Husson’s schedule.

Division II Pace University (N.Y.) and Empire 8 team Norwich University (Vt.) are the other teams who will play Husson for the first time.

“We’re excited about the schedule,” said Husson coach and athletic director Gabby Price. “It is, without question, our most challenging schedule. It’s very competitive.

“Our guys want to step up and see where they stand. We’ll all find out where we stand,” added Price. “We’re just going to take them one game at a time.”

The other teams on Husson’s schedule are New York-based Empire 8 teams Alfred University, Utica College (N.Y.) and Hartwick College and independents Mount Ida College (Mass.), Becker College (Mass.) and SUNY-Maritime (N.Y.).

Springfield College (Mass.) has gone 68-35 since joining the Division III ranks in 1995 and coach Mike DeLong has 125 wins in 22 seasons at the school. The Pride is 30-9 over the past four seasons including 4-6 last fall.

Springfield went 8-2 and won the ECAC Division III Northeast championship two years ago after playing in the NCAA Division III tournament in 1998, 2000, ’02 and ’03.

La Salle, which doesn’t have football scholarships, went 4-7 last fall; Norwich went 3-7 after playing in the ECAC Division III playoffs in ’04 and ’03 and Pace, which plays in the Northeast 10, was 3-7 last season.

Alfred won the ECAC North Atlantic Conference championship this past fall with a 63-20 win over Maine Maritime Academy of Castine in the title game. Alfred went 9-2.

Husson will open the season against Pace at Pleasantville, N.Y., on Saturday, Sept. 2, and will play its home opener the following Saturday against Utica. The Eagles will visit Norwich on Sept. 16; the Springfield game will be at Husson on Oct. 7 and the La Salle game will be in Philadelphia on Oct. 28.

Price said he was pleased Husson was able to schedule a game on the first weekend of the season and has a 10-game schedule.

“We really wanted to play the first weekend. We would have been behind if we hadn’t played that first weekend,” said Price whose Eagles played an exhibition game against Bridgewater State (Mass.) on the first weekend last fall.

“It’s not the same [as a regular season game],” said Price, whose Eagles lost their opener to Utica 23-6 last season. Utica had played a regular season game the previous week.

“You’re behind when you don’t play that first weekend,” said Price.

He also pointed out that a team is allowed 25 practices before it can play the opener so it can get an earlier start. The Eagles will have their first day of practice on Aug. 14.

Price said Husson has applied for admission to the Eastern College Athletic Conference in all sports. That will give the school’s teams another shot at postseason play other than the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Husson is in the North Atlantic Conference in its other sports. Mount Ida and Becker are the other NAC schools that have football programs and he said the NAC has sent out invitations to other Division III schools in the Northeast to join the NAC for football.

They need at least six or seven teams to have a conference, according to Price.

Husson had its best season last fall, going 4-4, and the Eagles return eight starters on offense and seven on defense.

LaGrange’s Beasley earns honors

Colby College’s Erin Beasley, a LaGrange native who graduated from Penquis of Milo last spring, was named to the Division III All-New England team honors in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes.

She was also chosen the college’s rookie of the year in track and field after being the team’s top point-producer.

In other Colby news, football offensive lineman Dan Oliphant, alpine skier Abbi Lathrop and volleyball player Cait Cleaver earned the Bill Millett Award for contributing the most to athletics at Colby during last week’s annual senior awards ceremony.

Oliphant won the men’s award while Lathrop and Cleaver shared the women’s award.

Oliphant earned All-NESCAC first-team honors in his junior and senior seasons and helped guide the Mules to an 18-6 record during his three years as a starter. He was an All-ECAC choice in 2004. He was a co-captain last fall.

Cleaver was the school career leader in kills (1,562) and defensive digs (1,648) and was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year in 2002 and Player of the Year this past season. She became the first Mule volleyball player to earn All-American honors as she was a third-teamer.

Lathrop became the first athlete in Colby College history to win a national championship in a sport while competing against Division I schools when she won the giant slalom this past winter. She went on to secure two top-10 finishes in the slalom and giant slalom at the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships.

She was a four-time All-American with six top-10 finishes in eight races at the NCAA championships.

UMFK retires two numbers

Fort Kent natives Megan Foreman and Jessica Gagnon, who led the University of Maine-Fort Kent’s women’s soccer teams to four consecutive postseason berths, have had their numbers retired by the school.

Foreman wore No. 5 and Gagnon wore No. 7.

Foreman is the career leader in assists and Gagnon holds the mark for goals.

They were both chosen the team’s Most Valuable Player and received a number of postseason accolades. Both were NAIA All-American honorable mentions and All-Sunrise Conference first team selections.