Unfortunately I don't think they went into the 2nd delay too early. The front from the NW had finally moved in on Morgantown. I believe that the rule is they have to stop if lightning is detected 7 miles or less away. (Someone please check me on that.) That front and the lightning looked close enough for this to apply.
The other rules that apply.
1) REVISED: Inclement Weather Policy, Expiration of Time (Rule 7.8). Unless agreed to by the teams or determined by the governing sports authority, no game may be started if more than three hours have elapsed between the scheduled start time and the all clear being given. Once the all clear is given,
teams shall have adequate warm up time. Once a game has been started and suspended, no game may be resumed the same day if more than three hours have elapsed between the first suspension of play and the all clear being given for the first and all subsequent delays unless the teams or the governing sports authority have agreed to a longer waiting period.
Following the rule without other agreement, the game could not resume after 10 pm. Once the front from the NW had moved in, it was apparent from the radar (on my phone) that it would not move out by 10 pm. We left around 9:45 pm and drove through that front. I can attest that it was not going to clear Morgantown before 10 pm.
2) REVISED: Suspended Game - Completed Game (Rule 7.7.4). Games that have progressed to 70 minutes or beyond with a margin of three (3) or more goals will be considered final if the game is suspended and cannot be resumed the same day. If the margin is less than three (3) goals after 70 minutes or the game has not progressed to 70 minutes, the game will either be resumed at a later date or considered a no contest.
It was disappointing to travel 6 hours roundtrip and not get an official game, but I'll take it for what it was. At least our guys got 45 minutes in a hostile environment with a team that was playing to win and not just playing defense hoping for counterattacks.
Unfortunately, the first delay was caused by a storm cell that formed/popped up just east of the stadium. Even though it was moving away, they had to suspend the first time because of the close proximity of the lightning. In retrospect, I should say that fortunately it popped up east of the stadium. Could have been bad if it formed/popped up right on top of us with no warning.
By the way, there was a decent turnout of Zips faithful, and we let our guys know we were there. Kudos to the long-time Zips alum who really made their presence known with their vocal support during play.
(Interesting that I had to educate the Mountaineer mascot on the fact that WVU is in the Sun Belt conference for Men's soccer because the Big 12 doesn't have it. Lol)