Coronavirus

Syracuse men’s lacrosse game at Rutgers to be played without fans

Will Fudge | Staff Photographer

Syracuse's game against Rutgers on Saturday will be played in front of no fans.

By Andrew CraneSenior Staff Writer

UPDATE: March 11, at 8:10 p.m.

Three days before Syracuse faces Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights’ athletic department announced that Saturday’s men’s lacrosse game will be played without fans. Credentialed media will still be allowed into SHI Stadium, but all home competitions from March 12-April 3 at Rutgers will be played without spectators.

“These changes have been implemented in consultation with University leadership and our coaching staffs,” the Rutgers press release said. “We will continue to monitor the developing situation and issue updates as determined.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, there are 23 reported coronavirus cases in New Jersey, and nearly 200 in New York.

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It’s one of the latest responses across college athletics to the spread of the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. On Tuesday morning, Division-III Amherst College suspended its spring sports — including ranked Division-III men’s and women’s lacrosse teams. Also on Wednesday morning, the Gazelle Group canceled the College Basketball Invitational and the Ivy League canceled its postseason tournaments for men’s and women’s basketball.

The ACC men’s basketball tournament will be open to fans through the Orange’s game against North Carolina on Wednesday night, but the conference announced on Wednesday night that fan access will be limited starting tomorrow.

Syracuse University suspended on-campus classes on Tuesday afternoon until at least March 30, but its athletic department said in a statement to The Daily Orange that it will continue to monitor the situation and “there have been no changes to our competition schedule.”

The No. 1 Orange (5-0) defeated Johns Hopkins last Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland in front of fans despite JHU prohibiting entrance to the Division-III basketball tournament hosted on the same campus that same weekend.

“For us, we’re going to go out to practice every day, we’re going to do what the coaches say, we’re going to do to our lifts, we’re going to take care of our bodies and we’re just going to take care of our business,” redshirt junior midfielder David Lipka said yesterday. “There’s nothing we can do about that, we have no control over that.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.





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