Eddie Soto will have to wait a year to walk the Toro sidelines again.
Photo courtesy of Toro Athletics.
By Jackson Cascio
Staff Reporter
The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) announced Tuesday that all NCAA sporting events will be suspended for fall 2020. The announcement was made by Dr. Gayle Hutchinson, the chair of the CCAA Board of Presidents and Mike Cox, the commissioner of the CCAA.
For Toros sports, that means teams that that play in the fall, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball, won’t be suiting up competitively. And the men’s and basketball teams, which start halfway through the fall semester, will undoubtedly be affected as well.
The announcement comes in the aftermath of California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White’s announcement that all CSU schools will be held online for Fall 2020. This will affect the 13 sports that the CCAA offers for the 12 universities in the conference throughout the 2020-21 school year.
For CSUDH, the news hurts the momentum for all three squads that play in the fall. The women’s team, in Marine Cano’s second season as coach in his return to CSUDH( he led the 1991 Toros to a national championship), finished 8-8-2, their best record since 2011. For men’s soccer, Eddie Soto’s quest to continue rebuilding the program in his second season will have to wait a year.
The women’s volleyball team under Jennifer Adeva won 14 games last season, tying their highest win total since 1999.
“The two most important things in my life are school and volleyball,” Linda Nguyen, the women’s volleyball captain who was slated to play her senior season in the fall. “[Now neither] suddenly are not going as planned.”
For the basketball programs which usually begin in early November, all eyes are on the spring.
“I saw the news and was just overwhelmed by it,” said Alex Garcia, a sophomore on the men’s team. “My hope is that our season is postponed to the spring.”
For the full statement by the CCAA, click here.
