HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Patriot League of collegiate sports announced Monday that competitive sports would be canceled for the fall season.

This league is comprised of several northeastern schools, including Colgate University in Hamilton.

Though competition will not take place in the fall, student-athletes will still be able to engage in conditioning, strength training and other practice opportunities provided the health and safety conditions at their schools allow for such activities to take place.

The league has also said it is exploring alternatives for fall sports, including the possibility of conducting the fall sports season in the spring, but no decision has been made at this time.

Officials also say they have not yet made a decision about winter and spring sports, but will make that announcement at a later date.

"I was a student-athlete and cherished every season of eligibility that I had and so you know just how disappointing it is," said Dr. Nicki Moore, Colgate VP and Director of Athletics. "It's one thing to lose a season because of injury or something like that but to lose it to a pandemic is just something that is hard for even me to honestly imagine. It's just really hard."

Moore said it was a tough decision, but one that needed to be made.

Following the announcement, Moore spoke with fall sports coaches and other members of the Colgate athletics staff. She said that there was definitely a sense of disappointment, but that the main concern is about doing what is best for the health and safety of all involved in the school's athletics program.

"There is a great deal of resilience and thinking right now about how do we support our student-athletes as they receive this information and start to try to figure out what it means for them," Moore said. "Some of them may try to skip a year, and honestly the alternatives are not great. Our hope is that our student-athletes will want to be on our campus and be a part of leading our student body to be doing the right things."

Two schools included in the league, the United the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy, will continue to engage in competitive opportunities at the discretion of their superintendents.

The Ivy League and the New England Small College Athletic Conference, which includes Hamilton College in Clinton, announced the cancellation of their fall sports last week.