Lacrosse Returns with Shortened Season, Extra Precautions
Currently, players must wear face coverings on the field but can take mask and water breaks on the sidelines. Photo: Nafisa Haque
By NAFISA HAQUE
After a year-long Covid-related hiatus, lacrosse has finally returned, bringing joy to many student-athletes, though the return comes with several changes and precautions.
Players can only enter through one entrance and must arrive in full gear, since the locker rooms are shut down. They must also fill out an NYC health screening form.
While masks are required on the field, players are given multiple mask and water breaks “to prevent people from overheating or passing out,” co-captain Dulene Pierre ‘21 explained.
“There were several games where we had to endure scorching hot weather while wearing masks,” Co-captain Anna Chen ‘21 said. “We are given short mask breaks during the halves, which allows us to rehydrate and relax for a short while.”
Both teams only have 2-3 practices a week at Midwood Field now due to capacity limits. The girls team practices on Mondays and Wednesdays, while the boys team practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The teams alternate Fridays.
Having fewer practices “kind of brought us back to our roots, as we started practicing at Marine Park on days we didn’t have the field,” starting attack Lal Karim ‘21 said. “We spent a lot of time at Marine Park during the off-season and even before we had an actual field.”
As another Covid precaution, Midwood’s teams are only allowed to play against other Brooklyn teams. This results in the girls team playing against just four schools: Madison, Fort Hamilton, John Dewey, and Brooklyn Tech, two times each. Students are expected to find their own means of transportation to their away games, via MetroCards, as compared to taking yellow buses in previous years.
Weather has also been a bigger problem than in previous years, perhaps due to the adjusted schedule.
Co-captain Shelly Yousoufov ‘21 said, “Having a season that’s pushed back later than usual means playing games in June, and that sadly means lots of thunderstorms.” The team has “had to pull games aside and wait for storms to stop a couple of times,” she said.
PSAL rules dictate that students have to wait at least 30 minutes before returning to the field after any sight of thunder or lightning. In June alone, three games were delayed or ultimately canceled because of weather.
In a rematch against Madison’s girls team, extreme rain followed by thunder and lightning limited the teams to only ten minutes of playtime.
But players did not let the thunderstorm steal their spirit. Midfielder Maya Kusnick ‘23 reminisced about the team having “a good time” singing Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” (featuring the lyric “feel the rain on your skin”). Pierre said the girls team also started singing and dancing to “Umbrella” by Rihanna.
Signs of lightning kept the Midwood and Fort Hamilton boys teams off the field for 30 minutes in the middle of a rematch. Midwood eventually took the win, 13-3. But the boys had to reschedule and ultimately cancel a game against Brooklyn Tech that was also delayed by weather.
Karim said, “We started playing and then five minutes in, we saw huge flashes of lightning.” After getting off the field while it poured, they “waited for an hour and a half, and then had to go home since the referees were leaving.”
Games have also gotten shorter due to the “running clock.” Chen explained that “rather than stopping the clock at every penalty or draw, the time now continues to wind down.” This leads to “games being a lot shorter, forcing us to utilize time on the field properly,” Chen said.
For both boys and girls, player numbers dwindled this year, leaving each team with less than 30 players. To put that in perspective, over 80 girls showed up to tryouts last year, and 50 made the cut.
“Tryouts this year changed a lot,” said Ms. Maggie Allen, the girls lacrosse coach. “There were no cuts. Each girl who came was given a spot on the team.”
“Younger players have had to step up and play,” boys coach Zachary Alexander explained. “Normally they would have a year to be on the team without being asked to play a lot of minutes on varsity.”
The girls team had to temporarily cancel junior varsity, but Ms. Allen, who has been coaching JV for four years, plans on returning to the role next spring.
Despite having fewer players, both teams thrived. Captain Ian Kenny ‘21 said, “My teammates stepped up to give our team better depth.”
The boys and girls teams split practice days at Midwood Field due to new capacity rules. Photo: Nafisa Haque
Covid-19 has been mentally draining on students, so being able to play lacrosse has been an escape, though managing school and sports has been as challenging as ever.
Kusnick said, “Balancing remote learning with lacrosse can be difficult.” Often she “had to join a lot of Zooms on the way to games, which definitely makes it hard to focus.”
AP exams sometimes coincide with lacrosse practice or games. Kusnick said, “AP work and practice time can be tough to manage. The trick is just taking it one step at a time.”
Pierre said that while mental health is different for everyone, when she is on the field “all [her] problems go away.” “I just feel so much joy,” she said, “because I’m surrounded by a bunch of beautiful, kindhearted human beings who distract me from whatever problems I might be facing outside of the sport.”
Even with Covid concerns and limited playtime, many athletes are glad to have any season at all, especially the seniors who are wrapping up their high school careers.
Co-captain Angela Song ‘21 said she “entered this season thinking it would cave in at some point due to the pandemic,” but “being there on the field again is the most heartening way for us seniors to conclude our high school experience.”
Captain Julian Lam ‘21 said, “At one point we didn’t know if we would have a season at all.” However, the boys team held their ground, and “through the off-season, all of our key players did their part in working hard and improving as individuals.”
There were no playoffs this year, meaning no championships.
“I expected the season to be more intense and competitive,” Mahanoor Ashfaq ‘24 said, “but it wasn’t, since we didn’t have playoffs or the championship.”
Kenny said that while he felt disappointed in having a reduced lacrosse experience as a senior, he is still very proud of the team, which won the division championship in 2018. “I love the way our seniors came together over the past four years to make another championship run,” he said, “regardless of how this season turns out. It’s amazing to see how much each of us has grown as both a person and a player.”
Chen said, “Without championships, the focus of our team is to simply have fun, while also striving to bring everything we have to each practice and game.”
Ms. Allen said this year’s focus is to “allow the players to play a sport they love or want to learn while having fun and socializing as a team.”
Similarly, Mr. Alexander, who has been coaching for over 11 years — six with Midwood — said, “Coaching during Covid has forced me to be much more flexible with my expectations for what a lacrosse season should be.”
It is clear that lacrosse is more than just a sport to the players. Lam said, “I’m cherishing every game we do get, making memories with the teammates that I love.”
“I’ve never experienced a love as deep as the one I’ve felt for lacrosse and the team,” Song said. “Despite being a cynical clown all four years, I’ll have a hard time saying goodbye to everyone.”