Ivy League decides to cancel all spring sports

The Ivy League is canceling all spring sports for the 2019-20 school year, a decision made in the wake of the conference's cancellation of its men's and women's basketball tournaments because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Ivy League said in its statement Wednesday that the decision of the member university presidents was unanimous. 

The statement also said that individual schools could decide whether to participate in postseason play in winter sports.

Harvard then announced that its men's hockey team will not play in their scheduled Eastern College Athletic Conference quarterfinal series against Rensselaer from Friday through Sunday. The best-of-three series was due to be played in Troy, New York, without spectators but is now canceled. As a result, Harvard's season is over.

The Crimson needed to win the ECAC tournament in order to advance to the NCAA men's hockey tournament, which is scheduled to begin March 27. Rensselaer is expected to be awarded wins via forfeit and advance to the semifinals. The ECAC semifinals and championship game are due to be held at the 1980 Rink at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, from March 20-21.

"We support and respect the decisions made regarding the health and well-being of our students and the University community," Harvard coach Ted Donato said in a statement. "I feel profound disappointment for our student-athletes, particularly for our seniors, that we won't be able to compete for a championship. I want to thank our seniors for everything they've done to make our program better over the past four years."

Cornell women's hockey is set to face Mercyhurst in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday.

The league noted that its decision on spring sports was made in part because some schools have decided to complete the spring semesters online rather than have students return to campuses.

On Tuesday, the Ivy League canceled its basketball tournaments, giving the automatic NCAA tournament berths to men's regular-season champion Yale and women's regular-season champion Princeton.

ESPN's Chris Peters contributed to this report.