Edison, N.J. - With a number of member institutions dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the MAAC has altered the fall schedules in regards to competition this weekend.

"The devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy has extensively disrupted travel, hotel availability and campus operations as MAAC member schools work to restore essential services and student activities including athletic competition," notes Rich Ensor, Commissioner of the MAAC.  "The MAAC staff is working with the member schools' athletic administrators and coaches to insure that any resumption of competition in the NY/NJ/CT regions impacted by the storm is only initiated when all safety and travel related concerns have been addressed to protect the safety of the student-athletes, game officials and operations staffs involved in the games."

The 2012 MAAC Women's Soccer Championship, which will be hosted at Marist's Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field, will go on this weekend as scheduled.  The first semifinal between second-seeded Fairfield and third-seeded Loyola is set for a 5 p.m. start on Friday, Nov. 2.  The second semifinal between top-seeded Marist and fourth-seeded Iona will begin at approximately 7 p.m.  The championship final will take place on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 1 p.m.

One change, however, is the cancellation of the 2012 MAAC Women's Soccer Championship Awards Show and Banquet.  Emergency personnel working to restore the New York City area are currently staying at the hotel property originally slated to host two of the participating teams.  With the travel necessary to the new hotel property outside of the Poughkeepsie area, the four teams will now practice at Tenney Stadium, followed by a team meal provided by Marist in lieu of the awards show and banquet.  

In men's soccer, the four teams that qualified for the 2012 MAAC Men's Soccer Championship has already been determined: Iona College, Loyola University Maryland, Niagara University and Siena College. The remaining regular season games slated for this weekend were to be played mostly so that the top four teams can finalize their seeds for the league championship.  Because of field availability, coaches and student-athlete family issues, travel and safety issues as well as the state of emergencies called by various governing bodies, the athletic administrators voted unanimously to cancel all remaining games on a conference call today.  The MAAC administrators agreed that team standings will be frozen for seeding purposes as based on the results of all games played through Sunday, Oct. 28. The 2012 MAAC Men's Soccer Championship will take place Nov. 8 and 10 at Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field on the campus of Marist College.

In volleyball, some contests scheduled to be played within the metro New York/New Jersey/Connecticut areas will be rescheduled to Monday, Nov. 5 or Tuesday, Nov. 6, once all campuses are open with full power and heat at their respective facilities. In other cases where power has been restored, the games will proceed as scheduled. The 2012 MAAC Volleyball Championship will be played Nov. 17-18 at Alumni Hall on the campus of Fairfield University.

Fans are encouraged to check their schools websites for updates on volleyball competition and also for men's and women's basketball exhibition games, that in many cases are being moved to alternate site or dates depending on facility availability.

MAAC Fall Sport Schedule from Nov. 2 - 10