ST. PAUL, Minn. – Announced today, the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Council of Presidents and Chancellors has voted to modify the timing of conference competition and championships for fall sports classified as high-risk by the NCAA Sports Science Institute (SSI) which includes football, men's and women's soccer and volleyball. The UMAC will pursue opportunities to provide conference competition in the spring for the fall sports of football, men's and women's soccer and volleyball. This could include conference post-season tournaments and championships in the spring for men's and women's soccer and volleyball in addition to other conference competition.
 
Despite the UMAC's decision to eliminate conference competition for high-risk sports this fall, the University of Northwestern plans to pursue non-conference competition for volleyball, football and soccer this fall. Schedules are currently being created and will be posted on www.unweagles.com as soon as they are available. All winter sports (m/w basketball and indoor track and field) have not been effected by these changes and are scheduled to occur as usual at this time.
 
Read the complete UMAC release HERE.
 
Men's and women's golf – which are classified as low-risk sports – will be permitted to compete this fall, and conference championships will be conducted as planned. Men's and women's cross country are classified as medium-risk sports and may engage in regular season competition and conference championships as planned provided accommodations and modifications can be made by UMAC institutions and the conference to move all regular season and conference championship events to low-risk classification per the adjustments outlined by the NCAA SSI.
 
The UMAC and the University of Northwestern continues to monitor changing circumstances related to COVID-19. Any further decisions for 2020-2021 made by conference governance groups will continue to be driven by available guidance from local and state health officials and the NCAA SSI and are subject to change.
 
Additional information related to the conference's decisions and impact on student-athlete eligibility, other compliance components and further details regarding fall competition can be found on the UMAC Frequently Asked Questions page. UMAC COVID-19 related updates – including institutional announcements and decisions – will continue to be provided when available and can be found on the UMAC COVID-19 Resource Page.