BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Canisius College Women's Basketball team will not play out the remainder of their 2020-2021 season due to health and safety concerns.
The athletic department announced the news on Thursday.
The school states the decision was made for all health and safety concerns for the women's student athletes.
The Golden Griffins has not played since December 20 and the team wouldn't be able to return until at least February 18th.
The press release also states injuries, not dealing with COVID, have impacted the team's roster in order practice and compete.
Canisius Director of Athletics Bill Maher issued a statement on canceled season:
“The women in our program discussed the challenges of this most recent pause and made the difficult choice to end their competitive season. The administration at the College supports their decision, as we have supported the choices made by all student-athletes at Canisius during this unprecedented time. Canisius will maintain its current schedule of competition in other sports and will continue to observe our rigorous health and safety protocols, which include regular testing for all student-athletes, based on guidance from Erie County, New York State and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.”
Canisius College Women’s Basketball head coach Scott Hemer on canceled season:
“Coming to this decision has been difficult process, but one that we all found to be in the best interest of our student-athletes. The women in our program did their best to remain diligent with the difficult Covid-19 protocols that we have in place, but quarantines and injuries were taking a toll on all of us. After listening to the team discuss how the constant uncertainty and endless unknowns have affected each individual member, we realized that this was creating a significant amount of stress and anxiety. I am proud of the resiliency that our players have demonstrated since they returned to campus in August. As is always the case, our staff is focused on the health and safety of our student-athletes. Although disappointing, we believe this decision the best for all parties involved.”
