All eyes on the field turned to John Desko as he walked back from his car. The Syracuse men’s players stopped during their final practice March 12, two days before an anticipated game at Rutgers. They had questions.

Earlier that day, they watched “SportsCenter” in the locker room as league after league suspended their seasons in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. Syracuse still had a practice at 1 p.m., though. They tried to act normal and play as usual, as if there would definitively be a game.

At 3 p.m., Desko left, only to return later.

“We kind of had an inkling of what might be coming,” he said.

Desko would soon break the news all of sports dreaded: there wouldn’t be any. The ACC had been suspended spring sports, and then the 2020 season was officially canceled by the NCAA. The news rocked college lacrosse. But maybe it hurt a little bit more for Syracuse, which was unbeaten and ranked No. 1 nationally through five games, blowing away preseason projections and even some expectations of people within the program.

“People were starting to talk about Syracuse like they did 10 years ago,” junior midfielder Brendan Curry said.

The emotions spilled out. Senior Peter Dearth teared up during drills even before the announcement. After it was official, players remained on the field longer than usual. Curry sat next to two seniors on the field’s benches and let them cry to him.

Two weeks removed from the practice some called the “weirdest of their life,” Syracuse is still transitioning from the sudden halt to its season. Players are adapting to life without lacrosse, instead cooking pancakes with their sisters or painting the walls of their houses to pass time.

“I kind of get emotional when I take out my stick now,” Curry said. “Like, ‘God, this kind of sucks.’”

Some of them may have played their final games with the Orange without knowing it. Seniors have been led to believe the NCAA could grant an extra year of eligibility and have worked with academic advisors to plan for that possibly. Desko has not confirmed any player’s decisions so far, but “not all the seniors will use their years, especially the ones that weren't getting significant playing time,” he said.

After the March 12 practice, the team spent 72 hours straight with each other and parted ways the next Monday. Juniors rented an AirBNB in Hilton Head, S.C. Seniors remained in Syracuse. After the time together, they cleaned out their lockers class-by-class. Usually, they walk out of Ensley Athletic Center on a 75-degree May day, gear and stick in hand, ready to go home. This time, it was below freezing and snowy.

Syracuse was ranked the top team in the NCAA for the first time since 2017. That same year, the Orange were in a similar predicament as 2020, their fall season canceled after part of the team was infected with mumps. Desko remembers the constant disinfection of their locker room, the fear that anyone could be contagious.

That was just fall ball, though. This year, new additions, most notably sophomore Chase Scanlan, meshed into Pat March’s offense seamlessly. There was no “alpha” or “me guy” in the offense, Curry was quick to note. Players called it the closest team they’ve ever been on — a new sense of “swag” that wasn’t always there.

It’s hard to pinpoint when that began. A No. 1 ranking, which came after a win against Hobart on March 1, elevated the Orange to a new level. But some speculate maybe it started in the preseason, when scoring numbers weren’t always gaudy, but the talent was evident.

“Did I expect it in the offseason? I guess not,” Desko said. “But I knew we could potentially be there.”

Now with lots of free time, the Syracuse players are left to think about what could have been.

“There's no telling how the season would’ve went,” Dearth said. “We don't have a crystal ball or anything. We could have lost the next couple of games as easily as we could have won them.”

Desko, who said he can’t recall the last time he has had this much free time, has not talked much with players since that Thursday practice, but he will soon. Most of the communication comes from director of operations Roy Simmons III, who emails players updates about classes and restrictions.

After consoling the seniors all day following the final practice, Curry wanted to talk to someone, maybe for some perspective. He saw Simmons after Desko’s announcement and asked what he was thinking.

“I don’t know honestly,” Simmons told him. “But the sun will rise tomorrow.”