ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team was just three weeks into its much-anticipated 2020 campaign. The Bombers had just scored one of the biggest wins in the 50-plus year history of the program over Cabrini – the defending 2019 National Champions – in an 11-9 triumph at Higgins Stadium to kick off Spring Break. Six days later, it all came to a shocking halt.
 
As any athlete would attest, a season never truly begins with the opening faceoff of the first official contest, but rather during a long preseason that effectually began for IC Men's Lacrosse with the commencement of the non-traditional season in the early fall. Several weeks of honing skills and, perhaps more importantly, gelling together both new faces and returners served as the first building blocks to what was expected to be a resurgent season for the Bombers after missing out on the NCAA Tournament a season ago. The anticipation only intensified when preseason practice officially got underway following the return of students to campus from Winter Break. At that time, the novel coronavirus – which would come to be known as COVID-19 – was wreaking its sinister havoc half a world away, but was hardly on the radar for most of us here in the United States. Little did we know the unprecedented impact it would have, not just on athletics this Spring, but truly how we live our daily lives.

Senior captain Aaron McCartney, an integral part of IC's defense dating back to his freshman season on South Hill in 2017, was set for one final run at Liberty League Championship this spring. An All-Liberty League Second Team honoree during the Bombers run to the 2018 Liberty League Championship Game, McCartney was bullish on the team's potential to turn some heads this season.

"Heading into the first team meeting of the year in late August, our senior class was not really sure what to expect out of the upcoming season," McCartney recounted. "We were a very young team – just six of us seniors – and well over half the squad holding underclassmen eligibility. However, as the year progressed, our senior class quickly realized how special and talented of a team we had. This team was the most fun, hard-working, and competitive squad I had ever played with."

At the other end of the spectrum was first-year attacker Jake Erickson, who was excited to take the field for the first time as a collegiate student-athlete in 2020.

"Coming into this year, my main goal was to be able to contribute to the team in any way I could," Erickson said. "The main thing that incoming freshman are told after they graduate High School is that College Lacrosse is multiple steps faster than what they have been used to and Ithaca was certainly no exception… Early on, it was clear that everyone on the team can play at this high level of lacrosse, so I needed to work twice as hard if I was ever to see the field. I thought the fall preseason was a good indicator of where we were at as a team and that we really gelled together right off the bat. This only built my anticipation for the real season to begin."
 
The strong sentiments of the unique bond that the 2020 Bombers were forming was echoed by senior goalkeeper Robby Atwood. Atwood was a breakout success story as a starter for IC during the team's NCAA Tournament Third Round run during the 2018 season; however, he served primarily as a reserve behind incumbent 2019 starter Connor Thornton last spring. The goalkeeper spot was one of the most compelling position battles coming into the year, but despite the fierce competition Atwood remarks it only strengthened the feeling of unity.

"Coming into the year, my goal was to give it everything I had to win the starting spot," Atwood said. "A big part of that was the relationship that Connor [Thornton], Ryan [LaForty] and I had with each other. We all have been very close from the start and it was an environment of close friends pushing each other to get better every day."

The IC Men did not have much time to get acclimated when play got underway in late-February. The non-league schedule featured three opponents ranked among the Top-14 in the USILA's Preseason Coaches Poll. It was a bit of a rocky start for the Bombers, as the relatively young cast attempted to find its footing. Ithaca held its own against No. 14 St. John Fisher, falling behind by a sizeable margin early, before battling back in a narrow road defeat. Although the squad won impressively in a home contest against Lycoming, IC suffered another close defeat against SUNY Geneseo, dropping a one-goal contest late to fall to 1-2 on the year. The slow start set the backdrop for one of the most thrilling contests in program history when third-ranked Cabrini traveled to Higgins Stadium on Saturday, March 7.

While the outside hype around the program may have been subdued slightly by IC's challenging start, optimism within the program remained high entering that big early March clash against the defending national champs. Cabrini had not lost a contest since the middle of last season, rolling through its opposition en route to the program's first-ever National Championship. The Cavaliers picked up the 2020 season where they had left off, entering the contest with Ithaca undefeated and having already scored an impressive ranked win over No. 13 Lynchburg. None of that would matter, as IC frustrated Cabrini throughout the day, en route to a stunning 11-9 upset that made waves throughout the Division III Men's Lacrosse landscape. The Bombers made their first entrance into the USILA Top-20 Poll two days later, slotting in at 20^th. The triumph was to be a turning point for the young IC squad, a launching point from which Ithaca was set to strive for even greater future glories. But just days later, it all came to a screeching halt.
Erickson – who registered three assists in the Cabrini win – recounts the feeling in the lead-up to the contest and the aftermath.

"I remember the week leading up to Cabrini we played with a chip on our shoulder the whole time knowing that they were going to underestimate us," Erickson said. "We wanted to stun them, showing not only them, but also the whole league, that we could hang with the best. Taking down the defending National Champs was something I think we were all proud of, but we didn't want that to define our season. Unfortunately, we didn't know that we were headed for an abbreviated season instead."

Following the Cabrini win, the Bombers made immediate preparations to continue its Spring Break road trip, which would first take the Bombers to Medford, Massachusetts, for a tilt against No. 2 Tufts, before capping the trip with the team's Liberty League Opener in Saratoga Springs, New York, at Skidmore. It was at this time that rumblings of COVID-19 began dominating the 24/7 news cycle.

"Coming off a really exciting upset of the defending National Champions Cabrini Cavaliers, our team headed up to Boston, Massachusetts, to take on the 2^nd-ranked Tufts Jumbos," McCartney explained. "At that time, we were truly clueless about the severity of the COVID-19 situation; we were just looking forward to taking down another top-ranked lacrosse team. None of my teammates or I even thought for a second that our season would soon be in jeopardy. Coach Long consistently does a great job of keeping our team focused on the present and what we can control, so nobody was too concerned with the outside noise."

Atwood expressed a similar mindset.

"We still practiced and competed as if nothing had happened, but we were really unsure," Atwood explained. "We still had a strong mindset of our common goals of getting better each day and pushing each other to get better. Everyone was still bought in and didn't want this season to end."

It was a surreal scene when the Bombers took the field against the Jumbos under the lights on Tuesday, March 10. The sports world was abuzz with the shocking news that the Ivy League had made the bold call of becoming the first conference across any NCAA Division to completely suspend competition for the remainder of the season in an effort to combat the rapidly spreading pandemic. Shortly after, several NESCAC programs – of which Tufts was also a conference affiliate – announced similar measures. Midway through the contest – which the Jumbos ultimately won 26-11 – Tufts made the formal announcement that it was suspending all competitive events for the remainder of the spring. No pomp and circumstance, no sense of closure.

"The Tufts lacrosse team actually found out their season was cancelled during our game with them, which was a bizarre experience," McCartney recounted. "Following the game, our coaches and team leaders stressed the importance that we still have the ability to wake up and play the sport we love the following day, unlike several other college programs."

Junior midfielder Connor Till also elaborated on the sense of unease during the trip to Medford.

"The few days leading up to the cancellation of our team we're a little stressful," Till remarked. "We heard on our way to Boston to play Tufts that Amherst was cancelling their season, and then before the Tufts game we found out that all NESCAC teams were cancelling their spring seasons. It was honestly a little difficult to only focus on lacrosse when we were worried about our whole season being cancelled. I think the mindset of the team and myself was just take it one day at a time. There is nothing we could do to help the situation, so we tried to not think about it and focus on the day in front of ourselves and our team."

Ithaca's Saturday contest against Skidmore had already been postponed earlier in the day Tuesday when it was discovered that COVID-19 had made its way to Saratoga County, so the Bombers returned to South Hill earlier than expected and continued to try to keep the mindset on the present. However, as the week continued, conferences and institutions across the country began to follow in cancelling athletic events to adhere in social distancing. By Thursday, the NCAA announced that it was suspending all of its remaining Winter and Spring Championships for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year. It was only a matter of time, before the unfortunate news would become official.

"The writing was on the wall as soon as the NESCAC and Ivy cancelled, but I just didn't want to believe it," Erickson said. "Up until the news broke, I convinced myself that we could play through it which I think made the news a little harder to hear. Luckily, I have more time with the team, but I can't imagine how difficult it must be for the seniors. It feels unfinished, as if we need more time to write our story and these seniors especially deserve a more flushed out ending. It felt and still feels like a bad dream we can't wake up from."

"Obviously it was the worst news you could receive," Atwood explained. "It was heartbreaking for the team, but more so for the seniors because that was supposed to be our last go around. We had worked so hard in the offseason and preseason to play only a few games. It is especially tougher when you come off such a big win defeating the defending national champs. That gave us so much confidence going into following games for it only to be shutdown."

Resilience is something that is forged into all great student-athletes. Responding to adversity, no matter how challenging the circumstances are, is something that defines an athlete's character and is certainly a hallmark that holds true to the Bombers culture. The adjustment to our current reality, as COVID-19 continues impact our daily lives, has been a defining moment for many of us.
McCartney has taken a pragmatic approach to this drastic adjustment.

"As a college athlete, you really develop an intense competitive nature in everything you do," McCartney explained. "Unable to channel that competitiveness into lacrosse, I have been able to put that extra energy into other areas of my life that I am passionate about, such as schoolwork and running. The beauty of participating in Division III athletics is that you are free to focus on areas outside your given sport. As a result, when lacrosse was taken away from me, I was not entirely lost. I am still able to pursue a major I am extremely passionate about."
Ithaca College made the announcement this past week that the remainder of the semester was to be completed remotely. However, for IC men's lacrosse it has been a time to find strength together despite being physically apart, utilizing the unshakeable bond that was forged amongst the group throughout this unprecedented year.

"The toughest part was saying bye to all the kids on the team," Atwood said. "I know for me, I've talked to Coach Long a bunch on the phone and email, as well as stayed in touch with a lot of the kids on the team on a daily basis."

"To be completely honest, I still kind of processing how to handle this," Erickson said. "There just isn't a whole lot that I have in control for me to be comfortable. I can keep moving forward, focusing on these online classes and getting ready for next year, but there just wasn't the closure I was looking for this past year. I wanted to send the seniors off the right way, I wanted to finish the season as a team, and I wanted to wrap up my first year at Ithaca on a more positive note. The team still talks and we all can't wait for September already, which shows we all care for each other and want the best for the team."
 
"It sucks not playing lacrosse and being with your friends at Ithaca, but there is nothing we can do about it so you just got to be your best self while at home," Till said. "We have all been talking though, we're a family whether we are home or at school so we keep in touch a lot."
 
The NCAA has subsequently came out with an announcement giving the provision of an extra year of eligibility for student-athletes who compete in the spring. While this announcement has given some flexibility for a possible return, the announcement figures to have a lesser impact on Division III where athletic scholarships are not permitted. Atwood and McCartney both have positive messages to leave to those who are set to return to the program when life returns to normalcy in the hopeful not-distant future.
 
"As cliché as it sounds, playing lacrosse here was the best four years of my life," Atwood said. "The coaches and everyone on the team made it enjoyable and fun every single time we stepped on the field. I'm going to miss playing lacrosse a lot, but I will definitely miss being around the kids on the team a lot more."

"I feel as though athletes are best equipped to deal with the havoc COVID-19 has caused, as we have learned over our extensive athletic careers that life is definitely not fair," McCartney said. "This situation should be a lesson to all student-athletes to enjoy playing the sport they love alongside their best friends, as you never know when your time is up. Though it may be easy to get caught up stress of participating in athletics, I would highly suggest to not forget to have fun in what you do. Reflecting on my time as a Bomber, I am thankful for everything the athletic department has provided. I learned countless life skills that will help me succeed throughout life. It's always a great day to be a Bomber."

For Erickson, it is a mix of looking back and looking forward to the next chapter.

"I want to tell all the seniors how grateful I am for what they have done for me and this program," Erickson said. "It was mentioned time and time again that we needed a strong set of senior leaders at the forefront of the team, something that the upperclassmen worked unbelievably hard to achieve. These seniors were nothing but self-less, role models for my class to internalize as model Ithaca lacrosse players. They are phenomenal people both on and off the field, I am beyond thankful that they led the team this year."

"I am looking forward to getting another go with this team," Erickson continued. "It's a special feeling playing for this program with the people in it, something that is sure to drive me in the offseason. I'm looking forward to attacking this new year head on and being able to represent Ithaca Lacrosse again."