All GW athletic events were cancelled this weekend, including the GW Invitational Volleyball Tournament scheduled to draw four teams to the Smith Center Friday and Saturday.
As of Thursday, Athletic Director Jack Kvancz was against postponing or canceling the tournament, or any other GW athletic event, because he said following a normal routine would be the proper move following Tuesday’s attacks at New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
American, Princeton and Villanova universities were scheduled to compete in the two-day non-conference volleyball tournament. GW cancelled the tournament Friday morning, which means the Colonials (0-6) begin their Atlantic 10 Conference having played only six teams this season.
The GW men’s soccer match scheduled at Monmouth University in New Jersey was cancelled Thursday and no make-up date has been scheduled. This marks the second men’s soccer match affected by the attacks.
Last Wednesday, St. Francis College of Pennsylvania withdrew from a match out of respect for families affected by Tuesday’s tragedies. GW men’s soccer head coach George Lidster and St. Francis coach Fernando Barboto agreed on swapping home fields and playing the game Monday afternoon at St. Francis.
On Thursday, Bucknell University President Steffen H. Rogers canceled the Bucknell Invitational, scheduled to be the GW men’s water polo team second tournament of the year. Rogers canceled all Bucknell events through Sept 16.
The U.S. Naval Academy, site of a weekend women’s soccer tournament, canceled a tournament that had the GW women’s soccer team competing against Butler University of Indiana. The Colonials will now play at Navy Monday evening, and head coach Tanya Vogel said a makeup game against George Mason, who the Colonials were to play Sunday, has been scheduled for Oct. 16, at 3:00 p.m.
As it stands , the men’s soccer team will be the first GW team resuming play Monday afternoon with its game at Navy.
The GW volleyball team will be the first team to play at home with a game Tuesday night against LaSalle, the first Atlantic 10 Conference match of the season. The GW Volleyball Invitational has not been rescheduled.
No alternate date for the Bucknell Invitational has been set. On Friday the GW men’s water polo team will host Princeton at 5 p.m.
Across the nation, all Division I-A college football games were canceled over the weekend but some smaller schools carried on.
On campus, there was mixed reaction whether GW should have canceled the volleyball tournament and whether games should have played anywhere. Some students said canceling was the right thing to do.
“I think it’s a wonderful symbol of national unity that sports were canceled,” said junior Jordan Usdan. “They should resume when the American conscience is ready to concentrate on other activities.”
Shinya Deguchi, a junior from Japan echoed many students’ reaction, which was that games should be canceled until the nation responds and has a definite plan of action.
“I think they should (be canceled) for a while, until the situation is clearer,” Deguchi said.
Some students agreed with Kvancz, saying games should be held to facilitate a return to normal activities.
“I think they should (have played this weekend),” said Sarah Yasutake, a junior from Red Hook, N.Y. “It’s horrible and terrible what happened, but things should go on and have to go on.”
There is mixed reaction about when games should resume.
“I think sporting events should resume when the players feel ready to resume – no sooner, no later,” freshman Kristen Taddonil said.
“At the college and high school level, (sporting events) should resume soon to get back to a sense of normalcy,” freshman Sean Shecter said.
–Lauren Silva contributed to this article.
