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UPDATE: The ACC made it official in a press release this afternoon.
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today that each of its fall Olympic Sports will delay the start of competition until at least September 1. https://t.co/t178ebE3RE
— The ACC (@theACC) July 9, 2020
The delay in competition includes all exhibition and non-conference games in the sports of men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball.
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According to multiple reports, the Atlantic Coast Conference will not allow any competitions to take place before September 1st.
The ACC is expected to announce today that it will not allow fall sport competitions (games/exhibitions) until at least Sept. 1, sources tell @TheAthleticCFB. That would affect sports like soccer, field hockey, etc.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) July 9, 2020
Practices for all sports would still be allowed in August.
Sources: The ACC will not have any athletic competitions prior to Sept. 1. That will affect several fall sports that have games/matches/meets scheduled for late August, but not football. (This presumes we get to the point of having fall sports by Sept. 1.)
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) July 9, 2020
Schedules for many of UVA’s fall sports have not yet been released, so the impact of such a decision on the Cavalier athletics program is uncertain. The Virginia Cavaliers are scheduled to kick off the 2020 football season on September 7th in Atlanta against the Georgia Bulldogs.
In 2019, the women’s soccer team played three games in August, while the men’s team played one. Field hockey played two exhibitions and one regular season game in August 2019, and the volleyball team had three matches as part of the Cavalier Classic. Men’s and women’s cross-country both competed in the Liberty Challenge on August 30 of last year.
The reported decision from the ACC follows the Ivy League outright postponing all fall sports earlier this week. The Ivy League’s cancellation of its conference basketball championship in March was a harbinger of the NCAA-wide cancellations that followed within the next two weeks.