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SEATTLE (AP) — The Apple Cup between Washington and Washington State scheduled for Friday was canceled Sunday because of the Cougars not having sufficient scholarship gamers out there due to optimistic COVID-19 exams and phone tracing.
The cancellation raises the chance that the in-state rivals won’t play for the primary time since 1944, though each colleges say they’re hopeful to reschedule if an open date presents itself.
”After assessing the general standing of our soccer program, we stay beneath the minimal threshold of 53 out there scholarship student-athletes and can’t forecast a state of affairs that enables us to achieve that threshold by the tip of the week,” Washington State athletic director Pat Chun mentioned.
The Pac-12 Convention introduced the cancelation and per coverage, the sport might be declared a no-contest. However there might be potential choices for enjoying the rivalry matchup on the finish of the season ought to neither crew find yourself within the Pac-12 championship sport.
Each Chun and Washington athletic director Jennifer Cohen mentioned they’ll prioritize taking part in the rivalry sport ought to there be a possibility.
”This is without doubt one of the greatest rivalries in school sports activities and yearly we circle this sport initially of the season,” Cohen mentioned. ”We’ll work with Pac-12 to prioritize this sport and look into any alternatives to play it ought to there be an open date for each colleges down the highway.”
This would be the second straight week the Cougars won’t play and the second time this season the Huskies have misplaced a sport due to coronavirus issues with their opponent.
Washington State had its sport at Stanford on Saturday canceled after 4 Cougars gamers landed in COVID-19 protocol on Friday. That put 9 whole gamers within the protocol as of Friday and mixed with accidents dropped Washington State under the Pac-12 mandate of getting 53 scholarship gamers out there.
The Cougars are 1-1. Their final sport was a 43-29 loss to Oregon on Nov. 14.
Washington had its season opener at California canceled as a consequence of coronavirus points with the Golden Bears. The Huskies – who beat Arizona 44-27 on Saturday to enhance to 2-0 – are anticipated to be aggressive in looking for a alternative sport for this week.
Probably the most logical possibility from a aggressive and regional standpoint can be No. 8 BYU, which doesn’t have one other sport scheduled till Dec. 12 towards San Diego State.
The Aztecs may doubtlessly be an possibility for Washington as properly after their sport towards Fresno State scheduled for this week was additionally canceled on Sunday. Final week the Pac-12 accepted nonconference video games ought to the opponent meet necessities laid out by the convention together with following Pac-12 testing and COVID-19 protocols.
As of now, Washington State’s subsequent sport is scheduled for Dec. 4 at Southern California, whereas Washington is scheduled to host Stanford on Dec. 5.
”It is gut-wrenching and disappointing for our student-athletes and coaches in addition to these at UW,” Chun mentioned. ”As we work by way of the rest of our schedule, we are going to proceed to speak with the Pac-12 Convention and UW if any state of affairs would emerge that might enable us to reschedule the sport at a later level within the season.”
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Extra AP school soccer: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25
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