By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- They were looking to create some final memories as collegiate athletes during farewell seasons this spring.
Baseball, softball, lacrosse and tennis players, track and field performers, golfers and equestrian riders in their senior years had one last chance to compete before leaving their campuses for good.
But the coronavirus pandemic has prevented that from happening for members of the Class of 2020 in addition to others in graduate school with a year of athletics eligibility remaining.
Stonehill College and Bridgewater State University, like other colleges throughout the nation, had to cancel their spring sports seasons last week due to the pandemic.
The NCAA has decided to offer another year of eligibility to any senior who missed taking part in a final season this spring.
That would mean returning to school after earning a degree, perhaps taking graduate courses, in order to play next spring.
The decision is a difficult one for student-athletes in the home stretch of college life.
Some area athletes will be coming back to make up that final season. Others will be walking away immediately, and there are those still pondering the decision.
Here’s a look at eight spring sports competitors, four each from Stonehill and Bridgewater State, and the situations they are in:
Jayci Andrews, BSU Track & Field
The Plymouth resident finished the 2019 season by winning the NCAA Division 3 championship in the 60-meter hurdles in March and the 100 hurdles in May.
Because she did not compete in the spring of 2017 due to a broken foot, she had one year of eligibility remaining and was returning to the Bears this spring to bid for another national title.
That plan was altered with the season canceled, and now Andrews, who is due to graduate this spring, is hoping to come back in the spring of 2021 for her last season at BSU.
“I’m going to try to see if I can come back and finish that season,” said Andrews, who is in her fifth year at the school. “That’s what I want to do.
“I just want to challenge myself further. I want to see how much I can improve. If I have the season, I don’t want to waste it. I don’t want to look back and say, ‘Oh, I should have done it.’”
Andrews, the only BSU track and field athlete with two NCAA titles, was unable to compete on the indoor team because she had only one season of outdoor eligibility to go. She had been training since January to prepare for the spring season.
“My excitement was uncontrollable,” said Andrews of this season. “Now it’s just not going to happen. I just want to try my best to finish it out.”
Rob Duarte, Stonehill Baseball
The Raynham resident became the full-time starter at first base last season, when he hit .262 with four homers.
“I can’t imagine myself playing anywhere else,” said the Bridgewater-Raynham graduate. “I couldn’t ask for a better career than at Stonehill.”
Duarte wanted one more shot playing for the Skyhawks but only got 13 games in this season. The accounting major is looking to find a way to get back for the 2021 season.
“It’s just a weird way to go out and not the way I wanted to do that,” said Duarte, one of four captains. “I think (getting) closure and realizing the potential we had are the reasons (to come back). We can make a run at winning the conference. If everyone works hard these next 11 months, we can be good.”
Duarte said the other captains, Michael White, Jeremiah Vargas and John Oraechowski, are also interested in returning along with another senior.
Victoria McDonough, BSU Lacrosse
The Marshfield resident is just 17 assists away from becoming the program’s all-time leader, and she said her plans for 2021 “are up in the air.”
McDonough, who has 140 assists and 280 points to rank ninth, could have become the sixth BSU player to reach 300 career points this spring.
“I haven’t decided,” said McDonough about a return after graduating this year. “I haven’t said no, but I don’t have an exact reason to stay next year other than lacrosse. If I could figure something out, I would look into it.”
McDonough said she prefers getting an assist to a goal, so the record for assists at BSU would have been meaningful.
“I like to do the assists more and that was reachable for me, so that’s kind of a heartbreaker,” she said.
Cassie Holmgren, Stonehill Softball
The Brockton High graduate transferred to Stonehill in 2018 after two years at UMass-Amherst.
She did not play softball at Amherst and was dealing with a hip ailment, but appeared in 21 games as a junior at Stonehill last season and played seven games for the Skyhawks in Florida this season.
Holmgren, a first baseman, would like to return in 2021, but she already has plans to attend graduate school at Northeastern University.
“It was truly heartbreaking to have the season end because we were doing so well in Florida and the team chemistry was great,” said the accounting major. “Losing everything so sudden is just so crazy.
“It was probably the best two years of my life. I’m so happy there and met some great girls on the team. I prepared all summer for this last year. It’s so disheartening.”
Jenny Heller, BSU Softball
The former Bridgewater-Raynham standout was a first-team All-MASCAC selection the past two seasons, hitting .402 and .374. After sitting out the 2017 season, Heller came back this season as a graduate student studying mental health counseling.
Heller is in a two-year graduate program, and because of her commitments to school she may not be available to play in 2021.
“The way everything falls, next year at this time I’ll be in an internship and I don’t know if I’ll have the time,” said Heller. “I’ll take this summer and see what works and all that other stuff.
“I talked with my family and said I played for 16 years or so, since I was 6 or 7. It’s an era that’s over. It’s satisfying and I’m grateful for what everything everybody has done.”
Heller was excited about the Bears’ prospects this spring.
“This season, as far as I’m concerned, was going to be the season for my team,” she said. “My team is spectacular. I love everybody on it. It hits hard that we can’t play and I can’t play with the people I love.”
Jennifer Wheaton, Stonehill Lacrosse
The attack from Dartmouth sat out all but four games due to an injury, then returned to register 28 goals and 30 assists last season. After only playing two seasons, Wheaton is considering a return next year.
“I am still thinking about it and have a few weeks,” she said. “I’m not really leaning one way. The way we ended the season, it’s a lack of closure. We had high expectations for this team. We thought there was something special. Having to give that up makes it hard.
“The five seniors want one more shot, but we also recognize it could be time to move on.”
Jonathan Livolsi, BSU Baseball
The B-R graduate transferred to BSU last year and led the Bears with 29 RBI and had 12 doubles. The economics major doesn’t plan to come back after graduating.
“I don’t think so. I don’t see myself doing that,” he said. “It’s definitely not the way I thought it would end. I don’t think anyone saw this one coming.
“It was fun playing here. I really enjoyed playing with all the guys on the team this year. I think we were really good. I think we would have done really well in the MASCAC.”
Kaity Healey, Stonehill Lacrosse
Healey was able to play just three games in 2018 due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament, then had 35 goals and nine assists when she returned last year.
Now Healey is losing another season with the Skyhawks.
“I was looking forward to it so much. It is heartbreaking. We were playing so well,” she said. “You put in so much hard work for the past seven or eight months and it’s so devastating when it ends so early when we had so much potential to be a great team. We didn’t get the chance to show how good we were going to be this year.”
The marketing major said she is looking into graduate school in order to play again.
“I’m still in the process of deciding,” she said. “I’m thinking about it. It’s a tough decision. It’ll be a quick decision."