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Grand Valley State 3-2 in Pittsburgh.

“We are a highly motivated team and program. Our girls are very passionate about the sport and have very high expectations and drive to succeed at the conference, regional and national level,” Gutheil said. “When we stepped off the field in Pittsburgh, our commitment turned to the underclassmen. Everything we did with recruiting was to be able to get to Tampa for the Final Four. That is going to continue to be our motivation. Even though we aren’t going to be able to play this fall, we are going to take every advantage of the time we have with a lot of new players coming into the program to grow and make the most of the situation we are in.”

Ciano, who played at Central Connecticut State and Manhattan, has quickly elevated the Saint Rose men from the bottom of the conference to contention for the top spot during his first four seasons as coach. The pursuit of the program’s first conference title will have to wait a bit longer.

”One thing I preach to the team is being resilient and resourceful,” Ciano said. “You grow through challenging times and you grow through darkness. You don’t grow as much when things are easy. I am a firm believer in making the most of difficult situations.

“Our team makeup is a little different than most. We have a good mixture of American kids and we also have student-athletes from various countries. The travel bans make us unsure when they would be able to get back in time. To have a little bit of clarity in an uncertain world is definitely good. The guys understand that we have a season and we’re looking forward to getting back together and hit the ground running.”

Gutheil’s 2019 squad featured an outstanding senior class. The Golden Knights have 15 new players and the veteran mentor sees having more time to prepare as helpful.

“Hopefully, this will give our new players a tremendous benefit in the spring. They don’t have to digest everything within a week,” Gutheil said. “They have an extended time span dealing with the training we have to do and the growth with the mental side of the game that we invest a lot of time into.”

jallen@timesunion. com 518-454-5062 @ Tusidelines

Philip Pavely / Special to times union Coach Laurie darling Gutheil, who led the women to the final four in 2019, says the delay will help with 15 new players.