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Coronavirus Ends Women’s Lacrosse

By Hayley Cohen, Staff Writer

The women’s lacrosse team is among those who experienced an abrupt season cancelation due to the new coronavirus. Despite the circumstances, members are doing their best to maintain a positive mindset going forward.

“As a team, we are trying to accomplish creating a family culture along with a competitive and winning environment,” Meghan McNamara, head women’s lacrosse coach, said. “We are very strong in numbers on and off the field.”

McNamara witnessed her team work toward becoming a strong, resilient unit in order to play in NEC Conference games. Their goal was to win the NEC Conference Championship.

Changes due to the new virus were not the only ones the lacrosse team had to adapt to. With the OneLIU merger, several new members of the team came to play from the Brooklyn campus.

“The transition took some time for the student-athletes in the fall. Our student-athletes and players were very understanding of the process and they approached the transition with a great mindset to learn and adjust,” McNamara said. “We all embraced it and committed to making it a great experience and journey.”

Angela Deren, a senior attacker, reflected on the team’s collective goal to be the best versions of themselves on the field.

“We knew we had to build relationships and mend our team as one unit in order to be successful,” she said.

Deren also commented on how the season being cancelled was difficult to take in, especially for the senior players.

Courtesy of Casey Schermick

“It was really tough to end the way we did knowing how successful we could’ve been,” she said. “To move forward, we are staying connected via video chats and we have been doing activities to keep our relationships strong as a team. We’re all here for each other and our coaches have been really supportive in helping us get through this.”

Bianca Santucci, a senior attacker, was upset to encounter an early ending to her collegiate lacrosse career.

“As a senior, I am extremely heartbroken that our season came to an abrupt end. We still had two more months together as a team. I miss my team and my best friends every day, and I would do anything to have our time together back.”

Santucci is trying to stay hopeful, optimistic, and as positive as possible during this challenging time, and she is grateful that she can stay in contact with her teammates.

“It’s great that our coaches are still keeping us together through many different group activities and video calls. It’s always nice to see each other’s faces and stay together during this time,” she said.

Like other athletes, Santucci is looking forward to the possibility of getting a chance to play another spring season for the Sharks.

“I would love to come back and play,” she said. “Our shark family is one of the best around. I came in as a completely new member to this team this year and left with 41 new sisters.”

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