The Stony Brook women’s lacrosse team’s game against the University of Southern California on Sunday, March 15, became the school’s first match to be canceled as part of the country-wide attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19. They did not remain the only cancellation for long, however.
The softball team’s games in the Seattle University tournament from March 13-15, and the Women’s Tennis games at Northern Iowa and Drake on March 21-22, were canceled by the university, according to a release from the SBU Athletics Department. The Ivy League’s decision to cancel all athletic competitions in their conference has resulted in games being postponed for both Men’s Lacrosse and Tennis. The school’s club hockey program has been barred from traveling to the ACHA National Tournament in Dallas and has released a petition to attempt to gain approval to attend.
The school’s announcement was made prior to New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s announcement about SUNY and CUNY learning being moved into “distance learning.” The governor was asked about the impact the announcement would have on college athletics, to which the governor did not comment on.
Despite this announcement, most games this week are expected to continue on as planned. This includes the track and field team’s home opener and a Men’s Lacrosse home game against Hartford on Saturday, March 14, and Baseball’s home games on March 10-11 against Iona and Merrimack and away games on March 14-15 at Hartford. The university has taken precautions for their indoor sporting events, namely the America East Women’s Basketball final being hosted on Friday, March 13.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has taken a cautious approach to determine what steps to take overall and has had to react quickly with major tournaments approaching. The NCAA has made the decision to hold the men’s and women’s national basketball tournaments without fans in attendance, closing the doors to site locations across the country. Should Stony Brook’s women’s basketball team advance to the tournament for the first time in the program’s history, they will do so without the opportunity for the fanbase to follow them.
The school has made no further comment on the status of the games to be played by the teams. When asked about the possibility of updates, the Athletic Communications department explained that there were no answers at this time.
