The East Coast Conference Council of Presidents announced today that ECC competition in the fall sports of men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball will not be conducted in the spring of 2021.
The decision, which was unanimous, suspends any formal conference schedule and conference championships. ECC member institutions will be able to make independent plans for practices and competitions and/or scrimmages in the affected sports. Mercy College will be holding their traditional non-championship season during the spring 2021 semester.
"This was not an easy decision to make as our teams love to compete, but we will continue with a terrific traditional non-championship season to get our teams ready for next fall," stated Mercy College Director of Athletics Matt Kilcullen Jr.
ECC Commissioner, Dr. Robert Dranoff stated, "We had originally looked at providing some kind of limited ECC season for these sports when we announced their cancellation in the fall. We have continued to review that plan over the past several months. After considerable discussion, as well as looking at what made the most sense for those schools that still planned to participate this spring, it was decided that the best plan would be to allow institutions to develop their own schedules that might better fit their program's needs while providing the best possible experience for their team members."
The ECC's spring sports are not affected by this decision. At this time, the ECC plans to go forward with spring sports in accordance with all NCAA, ECC, school, local, and state regulations pertaining to COVID‐19.
Dranoff added, ʺWe will keep planning to move forward with our spring sports, but also know that we have to be prepared to adjust if we are required to do so.ʺ