Ivy League, NESCAC cancel spring sports seasons
The Ivy League announced Wednesday it has cancelled its slate of spring sports, prematurely ending the seasons of hundreds of athletes across the Northeast as fears of coronavirus infection spread across the globe.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic.
Sports leagues across the world — including professional leagues in North America — have taken varying degrees of preventative measures already, ranging from game and season cancellations to playing in empty arenas and stadiums.
The Ivy League is the first NCAA Division I league to cancel its spring season.
The cancellation also impacted teams still playing out the end of their winter sports seasons. The Ivy League basketball tournament, scheduled for this coming weekend at Harvard University, was cancelled earlier this week, with Yale and Princeton declared men’s and women’s champions, respectively.
The Harvard men’s hockey team, scheduled to play in an ECAC Division I hockey quarterfinal this weekend at RPI, has forfeited what was supposed to be a best 2-of-3 series. The Crimson’s
season is now complete.
In Division III, the NESCAC, which includes small colleges across New England such as Tufts, Amherst, Williams and Bowdoin, has also cancelled its spring sports season amid coronavirus concerns.
Meanwhile, Hockey East men’s teams, slated to hold four best-of-3 quarterfinal series this weekend, have responded to varying degrees.
Third seed UMass-Lowell,
which hosts No. 6 Boston University, will do so without fans at the Tsongas Center, as will No. 2 UMass, which hosts No. 7 Northeastern.
No. 4 UMaine, which hosts No. 5 UConn, has announced that it will not restrict fans from attending games, though the school has announced students will participate in distance learning for the remainder of the spring semester.
Top seed Boston College has yet to make a decision on whether they will allow fans to attend their quarterfinal matchup against No. 8 Providence.