Marist voted to rescind a proposal approved by the NCAA Division I cabinet in October that would have redistributed the NCAA men’s soccer season across both the fall and spring, according to a statement provided to Center Field by Marist Athletics.
According to The Athletic, Marist is joined by at least 240 other Division I institutions in voting to rescind. The necessary 241 votes to rescind before 5 p.m. today are expected to prevent the change from taking place.
“Our decision to vote in favor of rescinding the proposed full-year college soccer model came down to two things: protecting the academic experience of our student-athletes and considering the bigger picture for college athletics,” Marist Athletics’ statement said. “We believe the student-athlete experience should be about more than just competition. Spreading the soccer season across the entire academic year raises concerns about balancing school, athletics, and the overall college experience.”
The change would not have altered the total number of games played by each team during the season. If approved, the model would have been implemented in the 2027-28 school year.
Advocates of the two-semester model have argued it would be a superior way to develop talent in the sport and give players more time to recover with less weekday travel. Opponents of the measure have cited the increased financial and staffing strain it would place on athletic departments in the spring.
“We also have concerns about the precedent this could set for other sports and the potential long-term impact across college athletics,” Marist’s statement continued. “We’re not against change or finding ways to improve the student-athlete experience. We simply believe those changes need to be carefully considered, with academics and the long-term health of college athletics remaining the priority.”
The proposal has been in the works for numerous years but took big steps this past summer. Multiple big-name schools and coaches pushed for it, including Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski.
“People don’t like change and people are afraid that if you do this, you’re going to have other sports that want to do it,” Cirovski told The Diamondback last month. “We’re educators at leading global institutions and we teach all of our students all the time to think about how to move things forward … yet we have an institution like the NCAA that was basically built to stay the same because people in the system benefit.”
Some players supported the two-semester model because it would follow a similar format to the seasons in professional leagues, like the ones that numerous European players grew up playing in before coming to college in America.
“[The change] makes it feel like more of a real soccer season. I played in Europe before I came to America, and we always played like that,” Marist junior defender Gijs Verheul, who hails from the Netherlands, said in June.
With the proposal rescinded, the men’s soccer season will stick with the current model, a one-semester season with all matches and championships played in the fall.
Edited by Max Rosen
Photo by Michael O’Neil
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