Bridgewater State men's soccer team vacates four victories
http://www.wickedlocal.com/article/20151101/SPORTS/151109550
The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference punished the Bears, who went 7-0 against conference foes, because a freshman player took part in two games with another amateur team during the BSU season, violating an NCAA rule.
• By Jim Fenton
The Enterprise
Posted Nov. 1, 2015 at 8:56 PM
Updated Nov 1, 2015 at 9:01 PM
BRIDGEWATER – The Bridgewater State University men's soccer team put together one of the program's best regular seasons ever this fall.
The Bears went 14-3-1 and defeated all seven of their Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference opponents.
When the conference tournament begins on Tuesday night, though, BSU will be on the road as the No. 5 seed instead of the top seed in the six-team field.
Four of the Bears' MASCAC victories have been vacated by the conference because a BSU player violated an NCAA rule (14.7.1) by taking part in two games in another amateur league during the college season.
The Bears reported the infraction to the NCAA in mid-October after learning that the freshman had played games on Sept. 13 and Oct. 11 for a team other than BSU.
The NCAA gave the player a two-game suspension, but the MASCAC added its own penalty and vacated the Bears' wins over the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Framingham State and Salem State.
The 12 points from those wins were taken away from BSU in the conference standings, but its overall and MASCAC records remain the same.
By winning its final three conference games after the ruling, the Bears earned the fifth seed in the tournament and will play a quarterfinal-round game at Mass. Maritime on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
BSU coach Brendan Adams felt the punishment handed down by the MASCAC was too severe. The school appealed the executive board's decision to the conference's athletics directors, but lost in a 5-2 vote.
"We felt like it was the right thing to do to turn ourselves in to the NCAA,'' said Adams, "not thinking it would be too big of a penalty to the school because this kid wasn't paid or got any benefits. He was just playing in the league.
"We thought it was going to be a two-game suspension from the NCAA because that's what they said they were good with and he'd regain his eligibility by being reinstated. Unfortunately, the MASCAC decided they wanted to add on to the penalty.''
The player who violated the rule returned for the regular-season finale on Saturday after sitting out four conference games.
The league that he played the two Sunday games in during the college season is one he has been associated with while in high school and last summer as well.
"It's an honest mistake,'' said Adams. "The day before he played on those Sundays, he didn't really get to play that much (for BSU). He wanted a little more playing (time). You learn from it and move on.
"It's a tough penalty, but we'll have to deal with it. I didn't think it was going to be that serious. I thought maybe he'd sit out a few games. I thought individually, we'd get in trouble, not the team getting into trouble. That's a lesson for me.''
BSU lost in the conference championship game last season and had a strong nucleus returning this fall. The Bears bounced back from that defeat and put together an impressive regular season.
"It's just kind of tough for seniors,'' said Adams. "The guys worked very hard after they lost in the finals last year. They came back very motivated.
"A lot of them had a goal to go 7-0 in the conference and win the tournament title. Unfortunately, we just have to win the tournament title the hard way, I guess. We have to play one extra game and we don't get to play at home. We've done very well on the road so far (8-1), and hopefully that continues.''
http://www.wickedlocal.com/article/20151101/SPORTS/151109550
The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference punished the Bears, who went 7-0 against conference foes, because a freshman player took part in two games with another amateur team during the BSU season, violating an NCAA rule.
• By Jim Fenton
The Enterprise
Posted Nov. 1, 2015 at 8:56 PM
Updated Nov 1, 2015 at 9:01 PM
BRIDGEWATER – The Bridgewater State University men's soccer team put together one of the program's best regular seasons ever this fall.
The Bears went 14-3-1 and defeated all seven of their Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference opponents.
When the conference tournament begins on Tuesday night, though, BSU will be on the road as the No. 5 seed instead of the top seed in the six-team field.
Four of the Bears' MASCAC victories have been vacated by the conference because a BSU player violated an NCAA rule (14.7.1) by taking part in two games in another amateur league during the college season.
The Bears reported the infraction to the NCAA in mid-October after learning that the freshman had played games on Sept. 13 and Oct. 11 for a team other than BSU.
The NCAA gave the player a two-game suspension, but the MASCAC added its own penalty and vacated the Bears' wins over the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Framingham State and Salem State.
The 12 points from those wins were taken away from BSU in the conference standings, but its overall and MASCAC records remain the same.
By winning its final three conference games after the ruling, the Bears earned the fifth seed in the tournament and will play a quarterfinal-round game at Mass. Maritime on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
BSU coach Brendan Adams felt the punishment handed down by the MASCAC was too severe. The school appealed the executive board's decision to the conference's athletics directors, but lost in a 5-2 vote.
"We felt like it was the right thing to do to turn ourselves in to the NCAA,'' said Adams, "not thinking it would be too big of a penalty to the school because this kid wasn't paid or got any benefits. He was just playing in the league.
"We thought it was going to be a two-game suspension from the NCAA because that's what they said they were good with and he'd regain his eligibility by being reinstated. Unfortunately, the MASCAC decided they wanted to add on to the penalty.''
The player who violated the rule returned for the regular-season finale on Saturday after sitting out four conference games.
The league that he played the two Sunday games in during the college season is one he has been associated with while in high school and last summer as well.
"It's an honest mistake,'' said Adams. "The day before he played on those Sundays, he didn't really get to play that much (for BSU). He wanted a little more playing (time). You learn from it and move on.
"It's a tough penalty, but we'll have to deal with it. I didn't think it was going to be that serious. I thought maybe he'd sit out a few games. I thought individually, we'd get in trouble, not the team getting into trouble. That's a lesson for me.''
BSU lost in the conference championship game last season and had a strong nucleus returning this fall. The Bears bounced back from that defeat and put together an impressive regular season.
"It's just kind of tough for seniors,'' said Adams. "The guys worked very hard after they lost in the finals last year. They came back very motivated.
"A lot of them had a goal to go 7-0 in the conference and win the tournament title. Unfortunately, we just have to win the tournament title the hard way, I guess. We have to play one extra game and we don't get to play at home. We've done very well on the road so far (8-1), and hopefully that continues.''