The Vermont men’s lacrosse team was selected as the preseason favorite in America East. The Catamounts only had the chance to play four games on the schedule before the 2020 season came to a screeching halt. The COVID-19 Pandemic put a complete stop to NCAA spring sports mid-March.
The Catamounts were fresh off a win over twin state rival Dartmouth and preparing to face a tough UMBC team when they found out their season was officially over.
“My initial reaction was trying to wrap my head around everything and how long this set back was gonna be, we went from practicing for UMBC in preparation to Friday afternoon everything was shutdown indefinitely” said head coach Chris Feifs.
Players have returned to their homes to finish up the Spring 2020 semester online. The Catamounts entered the season hungry for a conference title and will stay motivated.
“My hope and my thought with our particular team is with that we’ve had to go through the past three years losing in the finals twice, to now having our season cut short only really continues to motivate us” said Feifs.
The Cats entered the 2020 season in top shape. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned with the overall cardio level in my team right now, but I think with our strength program that we have at Vermont with coach Hickock there I have 100% confidence he’s gonna get these guys ready to go” said Feifs.
Since the NCAA is granting an extra year of eligibility to spring sport athletes, it’s possible that the lethal seniors on the UVM roster could be back for the 2021 season.
“Right now there’s so many financial implications with this quarantine it’s hard to know yet how many of them an actually make that a reality. We’ve gone through different scenarios….so far only one guy can definitively say he’s gonna be back but the rest of our guys are waiting to see how much longer this goes on before they fully commit”
Whether a number of seniors return in 2021 or not, the Catamounts will be hungrier than ever for an America East title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
