‘You need to hit the reset button’
Navy coaches anxious about return once pause is lifted
Hurry up and wait.
That’s about all the varsity coaches could do after Navy athletics announced its pause would continue through the weekend.
A total of 27 sports (15 men, nine women, three co-ed) were either competing or practicing when Navy athletics were shut down on March 1 due to increased mitigation efforts in response to an uptick in positive coronavirus cases.
Men’s basketball was permitted to remain active since the players had been moved out of Bancroft Hall and therefore out of contact with the rest of the Brigade of Midshipmen.
However, every other varsity program impacted was forced to stop practicing and postpone upcoming competitions. Baseball was among the hardest hit, having seven games affected by the pause.
“It’s tough. After losing last season, the players and coaches were looking passionately to the beginning of season,” coach Paul Kostacopoulos said. “We’re already seeing the bumps in the road that are still there. The clear path is not upon us, which is the frustrating piece.”
Kostacopoulos said last weekend’s threegame series against Massachusetts probably will not be made up because of the travel involved. A single game against Towson has been rescheduled for May 5, while a postponed meeting with Mount St. Mary’s is still on hold.
Navy was supposed to open Patriot League play this weekend with a threegame series against Bucknell. Kostaco
poulos is waiting to hear from the Patriot League regarding the disposition of that.
“We don’t have clarity from the conference as to what makeup games would look like. At this point, I’m not quite sure how the process works,” said Kostacopoulos, noting Patriot League games will take precedence over nonconference contests.
Midshipmen are granted exercise time during the restriction of movement order pursuant to meeting the physical mission. That has enabled the baseball staff to keep players engaged to some extent.
Kostacopoulos said players have been able to come to Bishop Stadium one at a time to take batting practice in the cage. Pitchers have been able to keep their arms in shape through various individuals drills.
“We’re being as creative as we can to keep their bat speed, arm strength and hand-eye coordination sharp,” he said.
If Navy athletics returns to action following this weekend, Navy baseball would only have two days to prepare for its next scheduled game — Wednesday at home versus Mount St. Mary’s.
“When we get the OK to go back to work, we’re going to implement our normal process,” Kostacopoulos said. “We’ll be ready whenever the next game is allowed to be played.”
Volleyball is another sport that has seen a considerable amount of its scheduled wipe out. It had three matches postponed — a home-and-home weekend doubleheader against American (Feb. 19, 21) and a Friday night showdown with archrival Army (Feb. 26).
Volleyball, which is normally a fall sport, finally got the season going by sweeping Loyola Maryland on Feb. 26 and 27. Due to the pause, a total of five matches have been wiped out, including another against Army.
“We got hit with some bad luck. When we were available to play, our scheduled opponents were not,” Navy volleyball coach Paco Labrador said.
Volleyball is hoping to return to the floor on Wednesday to host Loyola. That is one of only three remaining matches on the schedule along with American (March 20) and Loyola again (March 21).
Labrador is hoping to make up as many of the eight postponed matches as possible. Rescheduling with American and Loyola is easier because of the proximity of the schools. Naturally, Navy has full intention of playing at least one match against Army so the Star can be awarded.
“We’re lucky there are some teams nearby where playing mid-week is not a strain,” Labrador said. “Beyond that, we’re really handcuffed as to which teams are available at times when we have openings to make up games.”
Labrador has the players reviewing film, studying scouting reports and learning skills via online sessions. Navy volleyball also held a virtual team bonding activity.
Labrador was looking forward to a full season during the spring, and now it appears that won’t happen. Even by adding midweek matches, there are only so many open dates available before the Patriot League Tournament, which is scheduled for April 2-3.
“This spring does feel like it’s going to be a bit of a setback,” he said. “We’re tired of practicing. We want to play games at this point.”
Navy women’s lacrosse was supposed to be playing Loyola Maryland in a Saturday showdown that would go a long way toward deciding the conference champion. The Greyhounds were the overwhelming favorite in the preseason Patriot League poll with the Midshipmen voted second.
Those two rivals met in the Patriot League Tournament final for five straight seasons from 2015 to 2019. The Midshipmen and Greyhounds were slated to meet twice with the second game being held on April 24 at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore.
Navy coach Cindy Timchal does not want to lose that home game against Loyola, even if it must be rescheduled for a midweek afternoon or evening.
“Everyone was looking forward to the Loyola game because it has become such a great rivalry,” Navy coach Cindy Timchal said. “We feel confident we’ll be able to make up that game.”
Navy would have opened Patriot League play last Saturday at home versus Bucknell. That contest has been shifted to May 1 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Timchal admits she was “caught off guard” by the decision to pause athletics and said the staff scrambled to develop individual workouts tailored to the field players and goalies.
“This ROM period is very strict. Two players can’t even play catch together, and no one can shoot on a goalie,” she said. “It’s going to be tough to make up for what we’ve lost. We have a lot of catching up to do. Whenever we get back at it, we’ll see where we are.”
Navy men’s lacrosse coach Joe Amplo echoed those concerns and believes after a two-week layoff the staff has to start from ground zero.
“You need to hit the reset button and go back to the basics. We’ll see where we are skills-wise and with retention,” Amplo said. “We are going back to lacrosse camp. We’ll have 15 stations planned for practice on Monday and the focus will be the fundamentals.”
Navy had a March 6 road game at Bucknell postponed and no makeup date has been set. Amplo noted the Patriot League created an open weekend (May 1-2) for playing rescheduled contests.
Navy has scheduled a home game against Virginia for May 1 but that would be canceled if a Patriot League makeup game took precedence.
“We expected at some point this season there would be some sort of disruption,” Amplo said. “If this was going to come at any point in the season, now would be the time.”
Navy wrestling finds itself in somewhat of a bind because of the pause, which in a best-case scenario will last two full weeks. The Midshipmen are sending nine competitors to the NCAA Championships, which gets underway March 18 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.