Michigan Wolverines cancel soccer game against Maryland, pause activities

Michigan canceled its game against Maryland this weekend after all football activities were virtually postponed earlier this week due to a spike in COVID-19 cases within the program. This was announced on Wednesday.

The decision to abandon the game and stop the exercises was made in consultation with medical professionals who will ultimately determine when the exercises can be resumed.

The earliest time Michigan can return to the practice field is Monday.

“Our medics’ decision to stop training and cancel Saturday’s game against Maryland was made with the health, safety and wellbeing of athletes, coaches and staff as a top priority,” said Warde Manuel, Michigan sporting director in a Press release. “We have seen an increase in the number of student-athletes who are unavailable to compete due to positive testing and associated contact tracing based on our recent antigen and PCR test results.”

The game against Maryland was Michigan’s last scheduled home game. With losses in all three home games this season, this was the first time in program history that Michigan had not had at least one home win.

The Wolverines are 2-4 in the season and still have Ohio State on their schedule in Columbus. Since this game is canceled, Michigan and Ohio State are not guaranteed to play in the annual rivalry game.

If the game is also canceled this weekend, the state of Ohio would be included in the six or more games the Big Ten need to play in the Big Ten championship game. The exception is when the average number of games played by each team within the conference falls below six. In that case, the Buckeyes would qualify.

Any change to the policy or departmental tiebreaker would have to be generated by the 14 sporting directors, who would ultimately have to agree on the changes.

Maryland is still training this week and is now preparing for its game against Rutgers on December 12th.

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN contributed to this report.