Women’s lacrosse marks the return of SUNYAC sports
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Imagine planning for the trip of a lifetime, scratching out every detail a full year in advance of boarding a flight to a dream location - itinerary mapped out to perfection, expenses accounted for, and transportation to the airport secured.
Now imagine the airplane never takes off.
Visualize the excitement and build-up to the holiday season when a rare opportunity for extended family will yield a magical Christmas morning. Now visualize presents never being opened.
Picture going to Disney World for the first time – and not being able to go on a single ride.
In the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic, playing sports may seem more a luxury than a necessity; however, for student-athletes, competing in intercollegiate athletics brings a sense of normalcy and routine that provides nothing short of pure joy.
"All of the work I put in during quarantine with the hopes of getting to be on the field again became worth it in the blink of an eye," Oneonta women's lacrosse player Christen Patalano(Mineola/Kellenberg Memorial) said.
The senior midfielder could not have scripted a better quote. Neither could her teammate, junior attack Tessa Hughes (Delmar/Bethlehem Central).
"Lacrosse is more than a sport to most college athletes, so when I heard we were cleared to play again, I was overwhelmed with emotions."
After more than a year, Patalano and Hughes will get that opportunity on Saturday (March 20) when the Red Dragons host the Bears of Potsdam in the first State University of New York Athletic Conference contest in more than a year.
The match begins at 1 p.m. in Oneonta, N.Y., and will take center stage as the first SUNYAC conference contest since the pandemic put all sports on pause in March of 2020. It is the lone conference game for any SUNYAC sport on Saturday.
"I'm incredibly proud of the work that our committee did to ensure that we had a plan to address all of the COVID-related concerns as they pertain to the sport of women's lacrosse," Brian Savard, Plattsburgh's assistant director of athletics for communications, stated.
Savard served as a member of the Women's Lacrosse Operational Planning Committee that began planning for spring sports. The committee was one of six that encompassed more than 50 individuals within the SUNYAC.
"Valuable insight was provided by the conference office, administrators, support staff, our assignor of officials Mara Wager, and Brockport Head Coach Stephen Wagner on behalf of the SUNYAC's women's lacrosse coaching committee," he explained. "Now that all of this planning has been accomplished, I am just really excited to see the student-athletes around the SUNYAC compete."
Women's lacrosse will have a different look to its structure for the 2021 season with the SUNYAC divided into two divisions. The eight-game schedule will feature a divisional double round-robin format to reduce travel with no countable interdivisional league crossover games. Teams may schedule non-conference contests with the opposite division at their discretion.
The East features Cortland, New Paltz, Oneonta, Plattsburgh and Potsdam, while the West consists of Brockport, Buffalo State, Fredonia, Geneseo and Oswego.
The post-season will feature the top two teams in each division with the number one seeds hosting the number two seeds from the opposite division on Thursday, April 29, in the SUNYAC Semifinals.
The Championship will be on Sunday, May 2, at the highest remaining seed. If the seeds are equal then the East will host the Championship based on a five-year formula of past conference champions that gives the division a 4-1 edge.
The SUNYAC has built-in additional tiebreakers, as well as plans to address scenarios where teams have played an inequitable number of games.
While Potsdam at Oneonta kicks off the spring sports season for the SUNYAC, three more women's lacrosse games will commence action on Wednesday, March 24, when Cortland hosts New Paltz, Fredonia visits Buffalo State, and Brockport travels to Geneseo.
"After our season ended abruptly last year, any opportunity to be back on the field together doing what we love is an opportunity we won't take for granted," Brockport attack Heather Conklin (Penn Yan, NY/Pen Yan Academy), who is a graduate student using her senior year of eligibility, said. "Our team is super excited to compete again and fight for another SUNYAC Championship."
A pair of former high school teammates who now patrol the defense for Cortland are equally thrilled about returning to the field to represent the Red Dragons.
"We are all extremely excited and grateful to be able to play the sport we love, with the people we love again – finally," senior defense and team captain Catie Fleming(Massapequa/Farmingdale) said.
"At first I had a sense of false hope and was scared that the same thing that happened last season would happen again," junior defense Julia Cambria(Farmingdale/Farmingdale) added. "But now that games are finalized I'm super excited to be able to play and give it all I've got with my teammates this year."
New Paltz netminder Lizz Braun (New City/SUNY Rockland) will make her first conference start of 2021 on the road at Cortland, but the location doesn't seem to matter.
"I am so grateful to have a season because I am excited to be back in action with my teammates and coach," the senior goalie said.
Junior attack Viviana Scotti (Staten Island/Tottenville) echoed her sentiments.
"After a tough year, receiving the news that we would get to play again was beyond exciting. There is nothing like being on the field with your teammates and getting that sense of community back is fulfilling."
