By TOM WILLIAMS

The College of New Jersey announced today that it has canceled eight varsity sports for 2020-21.

The decision, by TCNJ president Kathryn Foster, affects football, mens soccer, womens soccer, field hockey, mens basketball, womens basketball, wrestling and rugby.

Eight former Cape-Atlantic League athletes have been effected by the decision.

In football, returning TCNJ players were senior Andrew Donoghue of Ocean City; seniors Gavin Liepe, James Marcheski and Joe Marczyk of Holy Spirit; and sophomore Mike Guenther of Oakcrest.

In field hockey the only returning player is sophomore Shannon DeCosta of Ocean City. And in wrestling the cancellations will impact junior Steven Schwab from St. Augustine Prep and sophomore Kal-El Corbitt from Oakcrest. The TCNJ head wrestling coach is Joe Galante, a former three-time district champion at Ocean City.

The cancellations also affect incoming freshmen like football player Tom Finan of Holy Spirit and basketball player Jacob Hopping of Wildwood Catholic.

Though TCNJ is the only school in the New Jersey Athletic Conference to cancel sports so far, Bowdoin College in Maine made a similar decision. In major college football, many games scheduled for neutral fields – including Notre Dame-Navy in Dublin, Ireland on August 29 – have been either canceled or moved to a home field. The Notre Dame-Navy game is now expected to be played in Annapolis on Labor Day weekend.

The student-athletes in those eight sports at TCNJ may transfer and play immediately at their new school or get an additional season of eligibility at TCNJ.