WILDCATS ARE BACK! NAC AND SUNY APPROVE SPRING SPORT COMPETITIONS FOR 2021 SEASON.

MARCY, NY - After more than one full calendar year, the Wildcats will be back in action beginning on Saturday, March 20th. SUNY Poly Men's Lacrosse, Softball, and Baseball will begin their modified spring schedules later this month with COVID restrictions and rules that will limit risk of exposure for student-athletes, coaches, and staff.

The announcement for spring competition was contingent on approval from the SUNY system and Chancellor Jim Malatras. Chancellor Malatras delivered his approval announcement on Wednesday at SUNY Morrisville. In that statement, he confirmed that six more SUNY schools in Division III have been approved to compete in the spring. The competition is reliant on the following of state protocols that were designed to protect all involved.

With input from University Presidents, athletic department administrators, coaches, trainers, and student-athletes, SUNY established a series of overarching guiding safety principles for all colleges and universities seeking to resume intercollegiate athletics. All plans must include:

• Endorsement from the respective local health department.
• One-hundred percent weekly testing of all student-athletes.
• Student-athletes must be tested within three days of departure for a road contest.
• Student-athletes, coaching staff members, medical staff, officials, and media members must be masked at all times, except athletes during active competition or practice.
• All schools must have COVID-19 symptom screening tools for home and visiting teams.
• If an individual has COVID-19 symptoms en route to the contest, the team must return to its home campus.
• If someone presents COVID-19 symptoms during a contest, that contest must be stopped immediately.
• No handshakes, group celebrations, or pre-game or post-game interaction with opposing teams.
• No eating on buses, and reduced bus capacity.
• No spectators.

[FROM SUNY RELEASE]

"I've heard from many student-athletes that it has been difficult being off the playing field over the past year. They have done a tremendous job keeping each other safe from COVID, and with our health and safety guidance in place, we are pleased to be expanding and restarting athletic competitions for more of our colleges," said Chancellor Malatras. "We have our campus leadership, athletic departments, and local public health officials to thank for their close partnership in making sure our students can compete, which will begin almost immediately for campus plans that are approved. SUNY's colleges and universities have been all in on battling this virus, working with their communities to end this crisis. Today is a proud moment for SUNY, and another step forward—and I'm looking forward to spirited competition."

SUNY Poly's Acting President Tod A. Laursen said "SUNY Poly is thrilled that under the leadership of Chancellor Malatras, as well as the North Atlantic Conference and its members, our student-athletes will be able to engage in meaningful competition while still strictly adhering to safety guidelines to support the health of our Wildcat teams and our larger community."

The North Atlantic Conference has been pursuing a spring season since the return of students for the spring semester. Many versions of a return to play plan have been formulated and the latest of those plans has been approved by the NAC Commissioner, School Presidents, and Athletic Directors. Throughout the lead-up to play Administrators will keep a close eye on the pandemic and will reserve the right to expand or retract schedules if appropriate. Individual member schools or teams may opt-out of competing at any time.

Per the NAC and SUNY Plan, the Wildcat baseball, softball, and men's lacrosse teams will face only one conference opponent per week, and in some cases may play multiple contests between the same two teams during the course of a week. To limit the amount of cross-state travel, all regular season conference contests will remain in-division. For baseball, softball, and men's lacrosse, the conference postseason will have two rounds. The semifinal round will pit the top-two teams per division against one another, followed by the East and West champions playing for the conference title and automatic qualifier bid (AQ) to respective NCAA championship tournaments.

"I want to thank the athletics administrators, vice presidents and presidents for their thoughtful approach to finding a good balance between legitimate conference competition and health and safety," said Commissioner Marcella Zalot. "We are still in a global pandemic but we have learned a lot along the way. We stand ready to adjust as needed but remain hopeful the perseverance and resiliency of all, especially our student athletes, are rewarded and we are able to end the academic year on a strong and positive note with NAC competition."

Game schedules for all spring competitions will be posted on the Wildcat Athletics website and will be updated with any changes. Streaming and live statistics will be available for many, if not all, of the Wildcat's home events.

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SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) is New York's globally recognized, high-tech educational ecosystem, formed from the merger of the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and SUNY Institute of Technology. SUNY Poly offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the emerging disciplines of nanoscience and nanoengineering, as well as cutting-edge nanobioscience and nanoeconomics programs at its Albany location and undergraduate and graduate degrees in technology, including engineering, cybersecurity, computer science, and the engineering technologies; professional studies, including business, communication, and nursing; and arts and sciences, including natural sciences, mathematics, humanities, and social sciences at its Utica/Rome location. Thriving athletic, recreational, and cultural programs, events, and activities complement the campus experience. As the world's most advanced, university-driven research enterprise, SUNY Poly boasts billions of dollars in high-tech investments and over 300 corporate partners since its inception. For information visit www.sunypoly.edu.