The University of Maine-Fort Kent’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have been invited to play in the United States College Athletic Association Tournament in Tyler, Texas.

But neither team will make the trip due to financial constraints and the coaches and players feel betrayed by the institution.

“We were told they were going to support us [financially],” said UMFK women’s soccer player Jamie Pelletier. “We set goals for ourselves and we’ve worked hard to achieve them.”

UMFK athletic director Jim Graffam said when Dr. Richard Cost, president of UMFK, approved the $1,000 fee to join the USCAA in August, Graffam assumed the money was available to fund such a trip if the team qualified.

It wasn’t.

“It was a huge miscommunication,” said Graffam Friday shortly after what he termed a “productive meeting” with Dr. Cost and other administrators to plot the athletic future of the institution.

The school is also in the NAIA’s Sunrise Conference and when UM-Farmington, Thomas College of Waterville, Husson College of Bangor and the University of Maine-Presque Isle left after last year to pursue NCAA Division III membership, the conference was left with just four teams for men’s and women’s soccer.

Graffam explained that at least six teams – or five grandfathered for one year if schools leave the conference – are needed to earn the league tournament champion a berth in the NAIA’s Region 10 tournament.

Complicating matters is the fact there aren’t enough schools left to have a Region 10 tournament, according to Graffam.

“We are going to write letters and petition the NAIA to see if our teams can go to the Region 9 tournament,” said Graffam.

The USCAA, with 52 member schools including several two-year institutions, is holding six-team national tournaments in Texas from Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

Teams ranked in the top six were invited Monday but the school had only 48 hours to accept or reject the invitations. UMFK rejected them but UM-Machias accepted, according to Graffam.

The UMFK men were second and the women were fifth in the most recent polls even though both have several games remaining.

Graffam said the trip would have cost the school at least $20,000.

“We don’t have the funds,” said Dr. Cost. “We have a shopping list of needs at the school and I’ve been saying ‘No’ to a lot of other people, too.

“These are difficult financial times,” said Dr. Cost, who is the president of the Sunrise Conference.

But he also vowed to avoid this predicament in the future.

“We need to do two things: decide which conference is right for us and begin raising funds so we can go to post-season playoffs,” said Cost.

John Martin, the executive assistant to the president, said he would like to see the University of Maine System’s board of trustees “take some responsibility and ensure UM-Farmington, UM-Fort Kent, UM-Presque Isle and UM-Machias play each other.”

Graffam said he felt Friday’s meeting was a positive first step in plotting the school’s athletic future.