College of Saint Rose announces closure, same day top-ranked women's soccer team falls in NCAAs
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — The College of Saint Rose's women's soccer team will have an unusual distinction. It never lost a game in what will be its final season.
The Golden Knights tied Adelphi 1-1 in the NCAA Division II East regional final Friday, then failed to advance after losing a penalty-kick shootout to determine which team would reach the national quarterfinals. That outcome came hours after the school in Albany, New York, announced that it would be closing at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
Saint Rose, the top-ranked team in the Division II national poll entering the tournament, finished the season 20-0-2.
The college cited an $11.3 million deficit as one of the reasons for the closure, which was voted on by its board of trustees Thursday and formally announced a day later.
“Tough people deal with tough times,” Saint Rose women's basketball coach Will Brown wrote Friday on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. “Adversity builds character! I have no doubt that our players will continue to compete at a high level & make the most of a difficult situation!”
Saint Rose has 19 teams competing at the NCAA level. The school won a women's soccer national championship in 2011 and has often qualified for the Division II national tournaments in men's basketball, women's basketball and other sports.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
