This is Sideline Stories. A platform where NE10 student-athletes can share their collegiate experiences in an unfiltered environment - using their voices to promote growth and positive change in our league and in all of NCAA Division II athletics.

Katie Daley, a senior on the Saint Michael's women's lacrosse team, received the news about sport cancellations due to COVID-19 while with her teammates. She reflects on her recent experiences in this edition of Sideline Stories...

As with many athletes around the NE10 and college athletes around the country, I am still trying to make sense of everything that has happened within the past week.

As a senior spring athlete, there are no words to express the loss I feel when I think about my senior season. My team had not even had the chance to play a game together. Our first game was scheduled for Saturday, March 14th, and our season was ended on March 12th.

While it would be so easy to talk about the sadness and anger I feel, I think it is more important to talk about the good things my team experienced through this. My team came together and exemplified the family that we are. As Stephen Hawking once said, “You don’t know how strong you are until being strong is your only option."

Preseason workouts are never the easiest, but you push through because it all becomes worth it when you step onto the field for each game. When my team first found out that our school had suspended athletics until April 13th, we were in the middle of our last preseason agility/lift session. Obviously, that is news no athlete ever wants to hear.

However, I must say that I will be forever grateful that my team found out when we were with each other and our coaches. There were a lot of tears in the weight room that night, but there was also a lot of love. Love for each other and love for the sport.

The next day, our coach and captains decided our practice time would be spent having an intra-squad scrimmage. As a team, we decided we wanted to wear our uniforms because we had finally gotten new uniforms and we obviously wanted the chance to wear them (especially the seniors).

At this point, it was still unclear if we would get the last two weeks of our season or not, but our underclassmen were not taking any chances. They came together in less than 24 hours to make this scrimmage an impromptu senior game. Together, they decorated one of the houses that our teammates live in as if it was the locker room on Senior Day; but their efforts did not stop there. When we got to the field, they had made posters and decorated the bench. Along with our teammates’ efforts, our friends also came out to support.

After a game filled with good lacrosse, competitive efforts, and tons of laughs, we then found out about the NCAA’s decision to cancel spring sports. Upon hearing those words from our coach, the world stood still, my heart dropped, and I could not stop the tears from falling.

It was difficult walking off the field that day, but one thing that made it easier was how my team rallied around itself. I truly believe that we are so lucky that we were together both times we heard such news because there is no one who understands the pain quite like your teammates.

I will forever be grateful for the time I got to spend representing the NE10 and Saint Michael’s College. To all the other seniors, especially to Katrina, Kaelyn, and Lilly who I got to play beside for my college career, I am so sorry this is happening. I feel your pain.

-Katie Daley