Today: Mar 28, 2024

Athletes cleared off remaining snow on outdoor field

Jared Klim – Special to the Southern News 

It’s safe to say the amount of snow that fell on campus this year was overwhelming. The amount of snow days alone was enough to cause numerous snow days. But what was very under the radar was how the amount of snow was affecting spring athletics.

The fields had to be cleared somehow, and men’s lacrosse captain, Christos Kehagias, explains “I’m good friends with the captain of the girls lacrosse team, Jen McCarthy, so I would just give her a call and tell her we are going out at these certain times we usually would go out from 4 to 6 o’clock. But even with both teams out there we only got about 20 to 30 yards off the field.”

The snow on the field was really cutting in to the men’s season, Kehagias said. “We had to do it ourselves because they were just going to let it melt. But we had a game February 22 that got canceled because of the snow. We had six games canceled because of the snow alone.”

The massive amounts of snow kept preseason practice in various locations for both teams, with the men having to practice in Pelz gym, as well as in commuter lot 9 next to Brownell Hall and with the women having to practice indoors, according to Kehagias and women’s’ head coach, Maureen Spellman.

This massive snow took a toll on the women’s lacrosse team as well. According to the Southern Connecticut Athletics website, the women had two games canceled in mid and late March along with a game that was played at Albertus Magnus College because of the snow that accumulated.

“I have been here 19 and a half years, and in one winter, in consecutive weeks this is probably the most snow I have ever seen here,”  said Tony Aceto, SCSU’S coordinator of athletic facilities.

He said the students were not required to clear off the snow. “There is no procure to remove the snow because the state is self insured so if any damage should occur to that field, then we are out a lot of money.” Aceto went on to say that club sports reached out to him for permission to clean the field by shovel, which he had agreed to.

“They also gave us what we needed; they gave us the shovels to clean off the field,” said Christos Kehagias.

The lacrosse team was able to clear some of the field off and start to practice as the snow melted as the temperature picked up within the last few weeks.

With it now being April and both teams’ seasons now in full swing the snow has finally melted and head coach of women’s lacrosse, Maureen Spellman, is optimistic for a different situation in the future,  “You can’t control Mother Nature. And I know facilities and Jay (Moran) our new athletic director are doing everything to make sure that this does not happen again, and work over the summer to clear the turf.”

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