The team has been found in violation of a club sports policy and is will not be allowed to travel to Chapel Hill.
January 18, 2017 by Simon Pollock in News with 2 comments
The UNC Wilmington Seamen, #3 in Ultiworld’s College Rankings, will not attend their scheduled season-opening tournament, Carolina Kickoff, this weekend after the Seamen were found to be in violation of a club sports policy at their school. The team has been told they will not be allowed to travel to Chapel Hill, where they were slated to be the early-season tournament’s top seed.
Brian Casey, Wilmington’s head coach, released the following statement on his team’s unplanned absence:
“Due to a logistical discrepancy with our sports club department, UNCW has had to forgo our spot at Carolina Kickoff this upcoming weekend. Apologies for the late notice and the ripple down effects it has to the tournament director and teams in attendance.”
News of the vacancy first appeared Tuesday afternoon, via the UNC Darkside Twitter account.
A spot just opened up in Carolina Kickoff this weekend (1/21-22), any interested teams should contact us ASAP. Entry heavily discounted!
— UNC Darkside (@UNC_Darkside) January 17, 2017
At press time, neither the team nor the school was able to speak about the particulars of the violation, stating that the matter will be kept between the two parties.
The violation, however, does not appear to be serious. According to a UNCW administrator, the team’s travel ban will extend through the final weekend in January, but not further. That should allow the Seamen to travel to Queen City Tune Up in Charlotte, a major early season tournament, over the weekend of February 4-5, where they are also expected to be the top seed. Wilmington has won QCTU for two seasons running, both times over a Jeff Babbitt-led UMass.
