A

s the Loyola University women’s lacrosse team celebrated in Philadelphia on Saturday, March 7, after dismissing another top-10 opponent in the Penn Quakers, junior goalie Kaitlyn Larsson and her teammates ignored the old coaching edict.

Besides focusing on the next assignment against visiting Lehigh on March 14 to mark the Greyhounds’ Patriot League opener, Larsson looked ahead — way ahead.

How could she not fast forward to the bigger possibilities?

How could Loyola, a young team with only four seniors, a team that had improved to a surprising 5-0 and solidified its No. 3 ranking with a 19-15 win over then-unbeaten, No. 9 Penn, not get ahead of itself and dream about what might await in late spring?

Following their stunning two-week road blitz of non-conference heavyweights, during which they had crushed No. 4 Florida by 11 goals and embarrassed No. 19-ranked Penn State 22-12 before outlasting Penn in a shootout, the Greyhounds were bursting with confidence.  

“We always take it one game at a time. But you can’t help [looking ahead] when you’re playing unbelievably,” Larsson recalls. “You can’t help but see the future. We were chasing a No. 1 [ranking]. We were chasing [possibly] playing on Memorial Day weekend. We were capturing our potential.”

Then, in the space of a few scary days, the coronavirus changed everything, and Loyola’s dreams had been smashed.

By late March, the COVID-19 pandemic had killed tens of thousands and infected hundreds of thousands worldwide. It had spread from coast to coast in America, had taken more than 3,000 lives and was pummeling the nation’s economy and upending all facets of its every day life.

In the small world of Loyola University women’s lacrosse, the new normal has dropped some weighty life lessons for the Greyhounds to ponder. Like millions of other college students, the Greyhounds recently vacated their campus. Most have gone back home, where they continue their education via online classes.

Only five days after experiencing the high of defeating Penn and finishing Stage One of its 2020 season unbeaten, Loyola watched its season of heightened promise officially end on March 12.

That day, the Patriot League followed the Ivy League’s lead from a day earlier by announcing it was canceling the remainder of its entire spring sports schedule. By late March, organized sports activities around the globe and across all levels of amateur and pro competition were canceled or postponed.

And just like that, as quickly as the Loyola women had begun to contemplate making history — maybe by going to its first NCAA Division I tournament final four since 2003 and playing for the school’s first NCAA title — it was all over.

“[Following the Penn game], I really didn’t think this was going to happen. Maybe that was kind of naïve,” says Livy Rosenzweig, Loyola’s junior attacker and offensive leader. “We’d heard rumors earlier about classes going online. We thought that was as far as [the disruption] would go. We thought we’d still be practicing. No one thought that Penn game was going to be our last. We were devastated.”

“I’m waking up at home every day, thinking I shouldn’t be here,” adds junior midfielder Sam Fiedler, one of numerous offensive weapons who flourished during the Greyhounds’ 5-0 start. “Not having practice or games and it’s still March — it’s pretty heartbreaking.”

Over those five games, Loyola out-scored its opponents 88-50.

In Loyola’s season breakout game on Feb. 22, the Greyhounds stunned Florida in Gainesville by taking a 10-4 lead at halftime. They poured it on in a 17-6 rout. Fiedler personally outscored the Gators by scoring a career-high seven goals.

Clearly, Loyola had ramped up its game following season-opening home victories over local rivals Johns Hopkins and Towson by a combined 13 goals. In both of those victories, the Greyhounds battled turnover issues and clearing problems.

In Gainesville, Loyola was sharper and cleaner all around. It maximized its possessions with fewer miscues.

Led by Rosenzweig, it shared the ball with crisp passes and hurt the Gators with its cutting and picking and one-on-one athleticism. Its shooters were razor sharp. Its young defense, led by Larsson (11 saves) and sophomore defensive captain Katie Detwiler — she shut down reigning national player of the week Shannon Kavanaugh — stifled the Gators.

“We were so relaxed [at Florida], just playing our game,” says Fiedler, who scored a combined 16 goals over three road victories. “We were huddling up after each goal in the second half and saying, ‘Let’s just keep doing this.’ It felt like we were playing in the backyard.”

“We told them after the Towson game [a 14-10 win on Feb. 19] that we’re not going anywhere if we don’t cut down on the turnovers,” recalls Jen Adams, in her 12th year as the Loyola head coach, who spoke recently from her hometown of Adelaide, South Australia, where she visited her family.

“We were starting to settle in as a team and recognize the confidence we should be playing with as we approached Florida. We’d gotten the season-opening jitters out,” Adams added. “They found out they could trust each other. They meshed. They started to develop their identity.”

A year after losing seven starters to graduation and nine seniors overall from a squad that finished 16-5 and lost in the NCAA tournament’s second round, this younger Loyola team found its 2020 footing with dramatic strides.

On February 29, one week after the explosion at Florida, the Greyhounds destroyed Penn State by converting 22 of 37 shot attempts and scoring 11 times in each half. Eleven different Greyhounds scored — a sign of the emerging, dangerous offensive balance that defined the 5-0 start.

Rosenzweig, a three-year starter and an excellent finisher but especially deadly as a distributor, kept the offense humming at Penn State with five assists, moving her into second place in career helpers at Loyola.

The 22 goals marked the most Loyola had scored against a ranked opponent since 1997. That year, the Greyhounds made the Division I finala s part of an eight-team tournament. The NCAA expanded to 16 teams in 2003 and included 27 schools last year.

At Penn, a bunch of Greyhounds again took turns beating the Quakers, as Loyola pulled away from a 7-7 tie at halftime with 12 second-half scores.

Rosenzweig had four points and controlled her 200th career draw. Freshman attacker Emily Wills continued to blossom with a career-high eight points, including five assists.

Junior midfielder Elli Kluegel followed her four-goal day at Penn State with four more tallies. Sophomore midfielder Jillian Wilson had four goals and a career-high 10 draw controls. Fiedler had five goals, including the 100th of her career. Larsson, a first-year starter in goal, matched her career-high with 12 saves.

Following the Penn game, Adams says she was talking with a Quakers assistant coach and learned Penn was considering canceling its flight to Durham to transport the team to Duke by bus for its scheduled contest on March 14.

“It was because of the coronavirus. That started some chatter between me and my coaches,” Adams says. “We were coming off of spring break. Everybody was headed back to classes in a couple of days. It still felt like business as usual.”

By mid-week, business as usual was done. On Thursday, Donna Woodruff, Loyola’s athletics director, addressed the team with the awful news that the Patriot League had pulled the plug on all spring sports.

“Once the Ivy League canceled, I really started to worry. But I will never forget going to look at film for Lehigh [preparation] and hearing the news,” Larsson says. “You couldn’t get a word out of anybody in that room — coaches included — because everybody was crying hysterically.”

“I’ve tried to put this in perspective and keep it in check. We all understand the gravity and scope of [COVID-19] and how much bigger than us this is,” Adams says. “COVID-19 has taken a lot. But I think it’s also going to give a lot of lessons we couldn’t have learned otherwise.”

“It’s easy [for players] to feel ripped off and frustrated. This is their passion, a part of the core makeup of their DNA as student-athletes, and it’s been taken away,” she adds. “It’s important for us to be optimistic and hopeful for the future. We got to play those five games and see so much of what we can do. We’ve got a blueprint to work with.”

The Greyhounds ended their shortened season ranked sixth in Division I in scoring offense (17.6 goals per game), third in fewest turnovers (11.4) and fifth in points per game (26.4) and save percentage (.528).

Presuming the 2021 season goes off as scheduled, Loyola is built to continue its dominance the Patriot League. Since joining the league in 2013, the Greyhounds have never lost a regular-season conference game.

With the NCAA’s decision to grant an extra year of eligibility to all spring sports athletes, the core of Loyola’s junior- and sophomore-led squad figures to be together for two more years. Current seniors Holly Lloyd, Meaghan Quinn, Caitlyn Gunn and graduate student Lindsay Gamer are eligible to return for one more season.

Adams says she expects “a lot of players” to take advantage of the eligibility addition.

For now, the players are scattered, working on completing an unusual semester, working out on their own by engaging in wall ball and conditioning competitions online, staying in touch through social media and Zoom.

It is not a fun compromise for teammates so accustomed to bonding in person this time of year. But it’s the best they can do.

“We would joke about leaving each other for a weekend and how it feels like months,” Rosenzweig says. “Now, we’re not going to see everyone together for [at least] five more months. That is hard.”

“This [sudden end of the season] took us out at the knees a little bit, and the COVID-19 situation is so fluid,” says Adams, noting how summer recruiting events could be eliminated by the virus. The NCAA already announced the suspension of in-person recruiting through May 31.

“But we’ve got a good sense of what it’s going to take [to be successful next year]. We only played five games, but I put my head on the pillow knowing we did all we could in those five games,” she adds. “This team is only going to keep getting better.”