University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and rest of Ivy League cancels soccer and other fall sports

Rhodes Field, one of the finest venues for soccer in Philadelphia, won’t be hosting home soccer games this fall for the University of Pennsylvania.

The Ivy League on Wednesday announced a decision to cancel all sports competing “prior to the end of the fall semester.”

“With the information available to us today regarding the continued spread of the virus, we simply do not believe we can create and maintain an environment for intercollegiate athletic competition that meets our requirements for safety and acceptable levels of risk, consistent with the policies that each of our schools is adopting as part of its reopening plans this fall,” a statement from the Ivy League presidents released on Wednesday reads. “We are entrusted to create and maintain an educational environment that is guided by health and safety considerations. There can be no greater responsibility — and that is the basis for this difficult decision.”

Practice and other athletic training opportunities for enrolled student-athletes will be permitted consistent with procedures and applicable state regulations. Fall athletes will not use a season of eligibility for the fall.

Penn and Princeton’s men’s and women’s teams are the first Division 1 programs in greater Philadelphia to see their fall seasons canceled. Programs at Lehigh Carbon Community College (NJCAA) and NCAA Division III programs at TCNJ, Swarthmore College and Haverford College have also had their seasons canceled due to ongoing concerns with the coronavirus pandemic.