Huff doesn’t speak as if she’s in disbelief. She laughs at jokes and makes some of her own. Same goes for Kerrigan Miller, another USC senior facing this new reality.
“I’m not really one to dwell on the negative,” Miller said. “It’s not how I was raised. Obviously, things like this happen. You can’t foresee any of this coming about, but I’m enjoying being home.”
Miller said her mother, a true “Long Island lax mom,” might have taken the news harder than her daughter. “She loves lacrosse season,” Miller said.
But that doesn’t mean this has been easy for the standout midfielder from Bayport (N.Y.). Miller said this USC team was as talented — if not, more so — than any other team she’d ever played on.
“The team chemistry from freshmen to seniors, I’ve never been on a team where there was no concern about classes,” Miller said.
Huff echoed that sentiment, saying that freshmen always felt comfortable just walking into the senior house to hang out. That made the team truly special, she said.
The last 10 days have been something of whirlwind. Miller said she and her teammates were basically rushed out of school, mostly in an effort to travel home from the West Coast before any potential travel restrictions were put in place.
The Women of Troy have had FaceTime chats, and they have a Wednesday morning “team meeting” planned on Zoom — a video chatting app that allows for more users than FaceTime. It’s expected to include all 32 players and coach Lindsey Munday. Maybe more.
“Lacrosse is lacrosse and you love it, but for me, what I’ve taken from it, is my teammates,” Huff said. “I’m still talking to them every day. They’re still making me laugh. You cherish those relationships so much more.
“It’s sad. I miss them all.”