by Paul Kennedy

The move to cut back or eliminate fall sports (or move them to the spring) grew as the week ended.

Here is an overview of how it affects men's and women's soccer:

NCAA Division I. The Pac-12 followed the Big Ten in moving to restrict fall sports to conference play only.

All Big Ten and Pac-12 schools -- 14 and 12 -- play women's soccer but men's soccer is played by only nine and five schools, respectively. (The Pac-12's sixth member is San Diego State. What the Pac-12 move means for SDSU's participation is not known.)

In making its announcement, the Pac-12 stated it will be delaying the start of fall sports until it is "provided sufficient positive data to enable a move to a second phase of return-to-play activities.”

The announcement came hours before Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott announced he was tested positive for Covid-19 with mild flu-like symptoms and is self-quarantining while still working from home.

Earlier in the week, the Ivy League announced that it was canceling all fall sports.

Other Division I conferences with men's or women's soccer announced plans to cut back or eliminate their tournaments or adopt regional schedules or allow schools to regionalize their schedules.

The implications of eliminating non-conference football games are significant as many colleges in smaller conferences often earn big paydays for playing games against Power 5 conference teams like those in the Big Ten and Pac-12.

Until now, Division I programs have eliminated only a relatively small number of non-revenue sports. But that could change if college football isn't played during the 2020-21 year. One option: move football (and other fall sports) to the spring.

Suspended fall programs: NCAA Division I (8)
Connecticut: Yale (M/W)
Massachusetts: Harvard (M/W)
New Hampshire: Dartmouth (M/W)
New Jersey: Princeton (M/W)
New York: Columbia (M/W), Cornell (M/W)
Pennsylvania: Penn (M/W)
Rhode Island: Brown (M/W)
Note: M=sponsors men's soccer; W=sponsors women's soccer.

NCAA Division II. In May, the NCAA Division II Presidents Council approved reductions in the maximum number of games teams can play -- down to 14 from 18 for soccer.

A week earlier, the California Collegiate Athletic Association, the most successful NCAA Division II conference, suspended sports for the fall 2020 semester in response to the decision by the 23-school California State University system to cancel most in-person classes and continue instruction online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference both suspended sports for the fall, though only three members (Albany State, Shaw and Spring Hill play soccer).

Suspended fall programs: NCAA Division II (16)
Alabama: Spring Hill (M/W).
California: Cal Poly Pomona (M/W), Cal State Dominguez Hills (M/W), Cal State East Bay (M/W), Cal State LA (M/W), Cal State Monterey Bay (M/W), Cal State San Bernardino (M/W), Cal State San Marcos (M/W), Chico State (M/W), Humboldt State (M/W), San Francisco State (M/W), Sonoma State (M/W), Stanislaus State (M/W).
Georgia: Albany State (W).
North Carolina: Shaw (M/W).
Note: M=sponsors men's soccer; W=sponsors women's soccer.

NCAA Division III. On Friday, the New England Small College Athletic Conference, which has produced five of the last six men's soccer national champions at the NCAA Division III, has canceled all sports for fall 2020.

NESCAC said its 11 schools will "seek creative ways to provide meaningful athletic opportunities" to players but there will be no competitive games.

Amherst, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Williams had already announced that they will not play in the fall. The other NESCAC members are Bates, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity and Tufts.

Tufts win the Division III national championship in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019. Williams (1995), Middlebury (2007) and Amherst (2015) have also won men's national titles. On the women's side, Williams won titles in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

The Centennial Conference has suspended fall sports until the end of September when a decision on whether to start will be made. The Middle Atlantic Conference will play fall sports this year, though with a conference-only schedule and start date of Sept. 18.

The moves mean that four of the top five Division III men's schools in the final United Soccer Coaches men's rankings for the regular season will start the fall without soccer.

Suspended fall programs: NCAA Division III (36)
California: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (M/W).
Connecticut: Connecticut College (M/W), Trinity (M/W), Wesleyan (M/W).
Iowa: Grinnell (M/W).
Maine: Bates (M/W), Bowdoin (M/W), Colby (M/W).
Maryland: *Johns Hopkins (M/W), *McDaniel (M/W), *Washington College (M/W).
Massachusetts: Amherst (M/W), UMass-Boston (M/W), MIT (M/W), Mount Holyoke (W) Tufts (M/W), Wellesley (W), Williams (M/W).
New Jersey: College of New Jersey (M/W).
New York: Hamilton (M/W), Pratt Institute (M/W), RPI (M/W), Sarah Lawrence (M/W).
Ohio: Case Western Reserve (M/W), Oberlin (M/W).
Pennsylvania: *Bryn Mawr (W), Carnegie Mellon (M/W), *Dickinson (M/W), *Franklin & Marshall (M/W), *Gettysburg (M/W), *Haverford (M/W), *Muhlenberg (M/W), Swarthmore (M/W), *Ursinus (M/W).
Vermont: Middlebury (M/W).
Virginia: Washington & Lee (M/W)
*Suspended fall sports until the end of September when a decision by the Centennial Conference on whether to start will be made.
Note: M=sponsors men's soccer; W=sponsors women's soccer.

NAIA. Like NCAA Division II, the NAIA has reduced the number of games teams can play -- down to 14 from 18 for men's and women's soccer. The start date will be Sept. 5.

A threshold system will be used as a guideline for determining if play will indeed return. The goal is that about half the participating schools in each sport must receive clearance from local authorities to return to competition before the season can begin.

Suspended fall programs: NAIA (2)
Michigan: Michigan-Dearborn (M/W)
Texas: Texas College (M/W)
Note: M=sponsors men's soccer; W=sponsors women's soccer.

Junior College. After the National Junior College Athletic Association, which has recommended moving men's and women's soccer and a majority of JC sports played in the fall to the spring of 2021, two West Coast community college conferences announced they are moving fall sports to the winter and spring.

The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) with 110 members approved a contingency plan that shifts all sports, including men's and women's soccer, to the spring season. Soccer will begin in February and finish in April, and the schedule for all sports will be reduced by 30 percent (22 games to 15 for soccer).

With programs in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) will move most sports, including men's and women's soccer, to the winter and spring.