Universities, Colleges in Region Postpone, Cancel Events

The Big West Conference postponed all athletic events among its member schools through Sunday in the aftermath of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on New York and The Pentagon.

The decision was made Wednesday following a conference call with athletic administrators. Schools affected in the region were Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton.

Northridge, a Division I-AA independent in football, will not play its home opener Saturday against Southwest Texas State and no makeup date is scheduled. However, finding a new date may be difficult because the Matadors were coming off their bye week and Southwest Texas’ open date is Sept. 29, when Northridge is at Montana State.

The West Coast Conference is leaving it up to schools whether to postpone or cancel games. Loyola Marymount has canceled women’s volleyball matches Thursday and Friday in Hawaii, men’s soccer matches Saturday and Sunday at the Wisconsin-Green Bay Invitational and a men’s golf tournament in Connecticut.

The California Collegiate Athletic Assn. also left the decision to member schools, spokesman Joe Lang said.

Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Golden State Athletic Conference schools are largely making decisions on a day-by-day basis. With airliners grounded again Wednesday, travel plans have been altered and may affect weekend schedules, such as Redlands’ football game at Whitworth (Wash.)

“If we can get there, we will play,” Redlands sports information director Rachel Johnson said.

Other football games that may be affected are Azusa Pacific at Rocky Mountain (Mont.), Claremont-Mudd at Puget Sound (Wash.) and Occidental at Lewis & Clark (Idaho). Pomona-Pitzer said its home game against Colorado College is on until further notice.

The California Community College Commission on Athletics announced it will leave the decision of postponing games to each college.