The Ontario University Athletics ruled on Thursday that the Ryerson Rams men’s soccer team must forfeit their first six games of the season after an unnamed player failed to meet academic requirements.
The Rams, who started the season 7-0-1 and are currently ranked No. 4 in U Sports, had their record drop to 2-6-0 with eight regular season games remaining.
A release from Ryerson University says that the ineligibility was discovered during “a routine review of student-athletes’ academic performance for the athletic scholarship program.”
“Academic performance is a top priority for Ryerson’s athletics program,” Ryerson said in a statement. “Everyone from coaches to counsellors to coordinators are responsible for monitoring and reporting on academic performance. In this instance, there was an oversight in the reporting and monitoring process.
“This is an important opportunity for Athletics to review protocols and add additional training procedures to ensure a situation like this does not happen again.”
The Rams’ two wins from this past weekend — Sept. 16 against Carleton and Sept. 17 against UOIT — weren’t affected. Ryerson dropped to eighth in the nine-team OUA East Division after the record correction.
The team’s post-season eligibility isn’t impacted while all stats remain in place with the exception of the ineligible player.