Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/9/20
From Press Release
Princeton senior attackman Michael Sowers – recently named Inside Lacrosse’s Player of the Year and a leading Tewaaraton Award candidate before the coronavirus pandemic caused the season to be stopped last month – has confirmed to Phillylacrosse.com he has entered the transfer portal.
Inside Lacrosse’s Ty Xanders, citing multiple sources, had reported this afternoon that Sowers had entered the transfer portal. That came shortly after Princeton, along with Harvard and Yale had announced to their student-athletes that they would not be afforded a fifth year of eligibility by withdrawing this year.
“We need all of our students — laboratory scientists, performing artists, student-athletes, and others — to persist and graduate, even in these difficult circumstances,” Princeton said in a statement. That is why we are fervently encouraging all of our students, athletes included, to continue on their current schedule for completion of their studies. For these reasons, Princeton has decided that it will not allow students who withdraw this spring to have an additional year of athletic eligibility at this University.”
“In this unprecedented time, we explored all realistic options for senior spring student-athletes to compete again in the coming year,” Yale athletic director Vicky Chun said in a statement. “After a thorough review, together with President Salovey we believe it is important to follow our existing rules and regulations, which require a student who takes a personal withdrawal to be apart from the university for a full two semesters.”
Yale coaches informed their athletes of the decision Thursday afternoon. Princeton and Harvard athletes found out in email messeges from their athletic directors.
The Ivy League decided last week not to allow its spring-sport athletes who had their seasons shortened by the coronavirus pandemic to have an additional year of eligibility as graduates, despite the NCAA granting that option earlier in the week. But until today it was unknown whether withdrawing was a potential choice for a senior to get to play one more season.
Sowers, a First-Team All-American last year when he also was a Tewaaraton finalist, was leading the nation in scoring (nearly 10 points a game) with 16 goals and 41 assists in five games for the 5-0 Tigers, ranked No. 3 in the nation when the season was halted,
