The ongoing federal government shutdown is making its impact felt in intercollegiate sports, especially in college soccer as the Service Academies have already seen matches cancelled.
The Department of Defense announced on October 1 all intercollegiate sporting activities would be suspended with immediate effect.
That same day, the men’s soccer games between Army and LIU Brooklyn and Navy and Howard were cancelled, with no indication as to whether the non-conference matchups would be made up at a later date.
The following day, on October 2, both Service Academies’ women’s soccer teams were due to play Colgate and American University respectively, but again saw those matches cancelled.
Both games were Patriot League matches, with the league working with all four institutions to determine when the games will be rescheduled.
With the government shutdown still ongoing, the Naval Academy announced that all varsity and club sports outside of the college football game against Air Force would be cancelled through October 6.
This means that the Midshipmen’s men’s soccer game against Lafayette on October 5 and the women’s soccer match against Colgate on the same day are cancelled.
Meanwhile, Army announced today that their men’s and women’s soccer games against Boston University and Colgate respectively would go ahead on Saturday, as well as their college football game against Boston College on the same day.
In addition, Air Force women’s soccer are due to play away at Utah State on October 4, with their men’s counterparts scheduled to face Grand Canyon on October 5. An announcement has not been made about whether those two games will go ahead either.
The government shutdown has already made an impact on the college soccer season, and as it continues that impact will only increase.
Chris Teale is a contributing writer for College Soccer News. You can reach him at chris.teale55@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @chris_teale.
