SHSU soccer game with UIW cancelled
10/27/2015 10:38:00 PM | Soccer
The Sam Houston State soccer game with UIW schedule for Tuesday night has been cancelled and no makeup date has been announced at this time.
About an hour before the start of the 7 p.m. match, the UIW campus was placed on lockdown after there were multiple reports of a suspected gunman on campus.
The team remained in the locker room for nearly and hour and a half until being told they could return to the field. After nearly 20 minutes of warm-ups, they were once again instructed by UIW officials to return to the locker rooms.
“The most important thing was to make sure everyone was safe,” head coach Tom Brown said. “Incarnate Word did a good job of making sure we were safe and kept us informed of the situation throughout the process.”
A little after 8 p.m. the team was informed they could return to the bus. They have left San Antonio and are returning to Huntsville Tuesday night.
“I am very relieved that our team is safe,” Director of Athletics Bobby Williams said. “I want to express our thanks to Athletic Director John Williams and his staff for ensuring our team's safety and working with us during the lock down. This is not an easy situation to deal with and I want to commend UIW on the professional manner in which it was handled.”
The match with UIW was originally scheduled for Friday but was rescheduled because of heavy rains in Central Texas late last week. Sunday afternoon, the Bearkats played Abilene Christian to a 2-2 draw in Abilene.
The regular season is scheduled to conclude on Friday night when the Bearkats host SFA at Pritchett Field. Following the conclusion of Friday night's games, the Southland Conference will make a determination if the game with UIW needs to be played based on potential impact to the final Southland Conference standings.
UIW is currently ineligible to compete in the postseason as they are transitioning to Division I. SHSU has clinched a spot in the postseason and currently stands in fifth place, two points ahead of Nicholls. The Southland Conference Tournament starts next week in Conway, Ark.
“We look forward to getting back to campus and refocusing on Friday night,” Brown said. “We have a big match ahead of us, and then we will see what the next step is.”
