The Rockhurst Hawks are the athletic teams that represent

Rockhurst University Rockhurst University is a private Jesuit university in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 as Rockhurst College, Rockhurst University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It enrolled 2,980 students in 2019. History In 1909, Fr. ...

, located in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division II intercollegiate sports. Rockhurst is a member of the

Great Lakes Valley Conference The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Its fifteen member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, ...

(GLVC) for 19 of its 20 varsity sports. The only current exception is men's volleyball, which is competing as an independent in the 2025 season (2024–25 school year) before the GLVC starts a men's volleyball league in the 2026 season. The university has added seven new NCAA sports in the 2020s. First, in the 2023–24 school year, swimming & diving, plus indoor and outdoor track & field, were added for both sexes. All of these sports were already sponsored by the GLVC. Then, in 2024–25, men's volleyball was added. That team is a de facto

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

program; the NCAA holds a combined championship for Divisions I and II, and scholarship limits are identical between the two divisions. In addition to the new varsity sports, competitive cheerleading and dance teams were added in 2023–24. There is also an intramurals program on campus, with many students participating in a 30-event program throughout the school year.

History

The Hawks were previously members of the

Heartland Conference The Heartland Conference was a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level, which was founded in 1999. The majority of members were in Texas, with additional members in ...

from 1999 through 2005, Rockhurst's first conference home after transitioning from the NAIA in 1999. In 2013, Rockhurst University added three varsity athletic teams: men's and women's lacrosse and women's cross country.

Varsity sports

Soccer

The Rockhurst men's soccer team competed in the NAIA from 1973 to 1997, Rockhurst played in 17 national tournaments, advanced to the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

10 times, and finished national runner-up four times in 1973, 1976, 1979, and 1997. Since joining the

in 1998, the soccer team has played in 19 national tournaments, advancing to the

3 times (2013, 2015, and 2016) Since becoming an

Division II member institution in 1998, Rockhurst men's soccer has finished in the final Top 25 Poll 10 times, and since 2011, the Hawks have finished in the top 10 each season. Men's soccer finished #3 in the nation in 2015 and 2016. Men's soccer coach Tony Tocco has coached for 46 seasons and led the team to 13 Final Four appearances. At the end of the 2016 season, Tocco's 680 career victories ranks second in men's college soccer history, three fewer than Ohio Wesleyan head coach Jay Martin. Following the 2007–2008 school year, Rockhurst was recognized by the

National Soccer Coaches Association of America The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of United States, American soccer Coach (sport), coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization i ...

as one of 67 colleges and universities in the nation (among all

and NAIA divisions) to have both men's and women's soccer teams receive the NSCAA Team Academic Award. To receive the award, a team must achieve a

grade point average Grading in education is the application of standardized Measurement, measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentage ...

of 3.0 or higher. The women's soccer team achieved a 3.62

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

, ranking them #4 in the nation. Rockhurst University alumnus, Kyle Miller (class of 2011), recently signed with the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

soccer team in Kansas City, Kansas, for the 2012 season.

Facilities

References

External links

* {{Great Lakes Valley Conference navbox * Sports clubs and teams in Kansas City, Missouri