NE-10 shifts gears with the fall season canceled

When Northeast-10 Conference officials made the decision to postpone fall sports to the spring due to COVID-19, Southern Connecticut State coaches were optimistic that athletes would still have a season to look forward to this academic school year.

On Wednesday, those hopes were dashed when officials decided to cancel fall sports for this academic year.

As spring has grown closer, Southern women’s soccer coach Adam Cohen saw this coming.

“We were all looking forward to being able to compete in the spring,” Cohen said. “But getting so close to the spring season and seeing COVID-19 cases on the rise, I could see this decision coming.

“It’s disappointing and it affects individuals in different ways. The graduating seniors held out hope they could play in the spring and that is taken away now. It’s been a slow, drawn out process in these uncertain times. The athletes are disappointed, but we’re still optimistic, we’re changing gears, the athletes are resilient and adapting.”

Cohen said one positive is the opportunity to use the spring as an extended preseason to prepare for the 2021 fall season. Cohen said the majority of the seniors will return in the fall and most of the current roster will stay in tact.

“With seniors returning and freshmen coming in, roster management will be a challenge in the fall,” Cohen said. “But there is a lot of good that comes with that and it’s always a positive when you can improve your depth.”

Cohen said the key moving forward is to have patience, especially with the mental aspect of dealing with COVID-19 and a canceled sports season.

“You need to be patient with athletes, especially with seniors coming back with the academic ramifications, financial ramifications and athletic ramifications. It’s about life and how the stress of all that impacts their mental wellness.

“We meet weekly with the players individually and as a group to deal with the mental aspect of things and we also have a mental performance coach. The Southern Campus Counseling Center has been an outstanding resource.”

Like Cohen, Southern field hockey coach Kelley Frassinelli is disappointed the fall season is canceled but saw it coming.

“We were fortunate that the fall season was originally moved to the spring,” Frassinelli said. “But this decision to cancel the fall season is something I expected with rising COVID-19 cases and something we have discussed with the athletes. Our athletes are disappointed and it’s hard for our seniors. For them, it’s about finishing a four-year career.

“Now the seniors are focused on preparing for graduation and moving on to the next step in their lives. I might have one of my four seniors coming back to compete in the fall. With the vaccine here, hopefully that will lower the number of COVID-19 cases and we’ll be able to have a fall season this coming fall.”