With Fresno State Athletics announcing in a statement on Thursday that all spring competitions are canceled due to the COVID-19 concerns, the last Fresno State game of the spring may have played out at the soccer and lacrosse stadium.
The Fresno State women’s lacrosse (2-5) team took on the visiting Yale Bulldogs (3-2), whose regular season was suspended by the Ivy League on Wednesday.
The final game of the spring semester went into sudden-death overtime as Fresno State things up at 12 with two minutes left to go in regulation. Junior attacker Megan Walaitis hit that game-tying goal after Fresno State had scored two goals in 40 seconds.
Fresno State’s defense managed to hold off Yale all the way through regulation.
In sudden-death overtime, Fresno State won the draw and held possession for over two minutes of the three-minute period. Members of the Fresno State lacrosse team were nervously cheering on their teammates as they tried to attack Yale’s defense.
With four seconds remaining in overtime, Yale managed to find the back of the net and win the game, 13-12. Even in defeat, Fresno State interim head coach Kara Concheck praised her team.
“I’m taking today as a win for us,” said Concheck.
Senior Marina Mayo led Fresno State in scoring as she earned her first hat trick of the season. Along with Mayo, sophomore Sydney Skalstad also scored three goals against Yale, earning her sixth hat trick of the season. Walaitis scored two goals and senior Tiffiny Wallace, senior Kayla Galet, freshman midfielder Bailey Truex and junior midfielder Hannah Krats each scored one goal.
Since it was also Fresno State’s final game of the season, both teams held an impromptu Senior Day, honoring players who would be competing in their last game.
“We were definitely not anticipating this to really happen,” said Concheck. “You never can prepare for anything like this. We definitely had a positive mindset going into our game today… My message to the team today was to leave it out there, lay it all on the line because this could potentially be our last game of our 2020 season.”
The Fresno State lacrosse team honored all seven seniors after the game: Galet, Mayo, Wallace, Laurel Maunder, Olivia Mannon, Jordyn Pandolfo and Kayle Kaesbauer.
“We try to come onto the field knowing that it can potentially be the last game,” said Wallace. ”You don’t know when you’re going to get injured or something like that. So, we try to come out onto the field and play our hearts out every single time.”
Yale head coach Erica Bamford contacted Concheck before arriving in Fresno and asked if Fresno State could honor her seniors after Thursday’s game.
This is because the Ivy League presidents announced in a unanimous decision to cancel all spring athletics practice and competition through the remainder of the academic year in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Yale was supposed to go on and play UC Davis on Sunday.
The team had two seniors who were honored — senior attacker Vannessa Yu and defender Bronwyn Davies. Some of their family members had to reschedule their plans and make last-minute flight changes in order to make it to Thursday’s game.
After the game, Concheck was left wondering how she and her team will deal with the uncertainty in the upcoming months.
“I think a lot of people in athletics are questioning, ‘What do we do from here.’ Getting back to square one and going to the drawing board and seeing what this looks like moving forward,” Concheck said. “What do I do for work these next few months now? Coaching is my passion. A lot of people aren’t going to be able to do what they love to do right now, and that is definitely hard right now.”
