Dave Ryan is a play-by-play broadcaster for CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports and Westwood One Radio.

In the sports world, life as we know it changed drastically a little more than a year ago. It has touched of us all in so many ways. For some, it has amounted to only matter-of-fact inconveniences. For far too many, life-changing tragedy. 

Back on March 10, 2020, I had just called the Colonial Athletic Association basketball championship game on CBS Sports Network, watching Hofstra win its first conference tournament title since 2001. The joy on the players’, coaches’ and fans’ faces — the sheer jubilation that came with ending the long wait to get back to the “Big Dance” — was unforgettable. There were hugs, high-fives and championship t-shirts and hats passed out to anyone who wanted one. 

“It was extraordinary,” acting Hofstra head coach Mike Farrelly said. “We beat Northeastern for the title, we celebrated, but on the bus ride back to Long Island, we were reading more and more on social media about the shutdowns, and it hit home that maybe we wouldn’t get to play in the NCAA tournament after all. It was surreal.”

Surreal is a good word for it. Remember, on the basketball side, the Ivy League had already canceled its tournament, and other conferences were also showing signs of postponing, or at the very least, playing in front of empty arenas. The next day, I flew to Cleveland and got started preparing for the Mid-American Conference tournament semifinals. The quarterfinals started the next day at noon.

But on March 12, the morning of the quarterfinals, Twitter was buzzing about a possible MAC cancellation. Rumors were flying everywhere. As I arrived at Rocket Mortgage Field House, teams were on the court warming up, so at least it looked like things would proceed as scheduled. It didn’t last long.

As I walked through the tunnel to get to my courtside seat, teams were told to head back to their respective locker rooms. They never got back on the court. A few minutes later, the media assembled for a press conference, and MAC commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher announced that the league was canceling its tournament. One by one, every other conference tournament (those that weren’t complete already) either postponed, suspended play or simply canceled altogether. By week’s end, there were no games left. Shockingly, there was no NCAA tournament. The shutdowns were just getting started.

***

On the flight home, I read the Ivy League was canceling spring sports, too. My first thought was, “How can the NCAA hold a national lacrosse tournament without the powerhouse programs from the Ivy?”

The Patriot League wasn’t far behind. Then, every other conference and independent program canceled their seasons, too. I have been fortunate enough to call the NCAA lacrosse championship weekend in some form, whether it be on TV or national radio on Westwood One, since 2004. As was the case for so many, for me, there was nothing but an empty feeling knowing the rest of the regular season, all the way through championship Monday, would not take place. No trip to Philadelphia, no championship moments to remember, just that blank emptiness of an incomplete season.

As my flight left Cleveland and headed south, Lehigh was enjoying the start of a great season. The Mountain Hawks were 5-1 with wins over Utah, VMI and NJIT and a 2-0 start in the Patriot League with victories over Navy and Holy Cross. The only blemish was loss to No. 1 Virginia in Charlottesville.

“It was wild; we had just beaten Holy Cross and we were getting ready to play Army. Then the NBA and NHL were starting to shut down,” Lehigh coach Kevin Cassese recalled. “I called [Army coach] Joe Alberici, and at that point, we still had the choice to play. I thought, ‘Why not just play it to give our seniors one last hurrah?’ We were about to head up to West Point when both sides realized it just wasn’t possible. We had to cancel that game and our season was done just like that. That Friday, we held a team meeting, and we had to tell our players the season was probably over. There was a slight chance to return, but it wasn’t likely. There were a lot of tears. It was really tough.”

Cassese, like so many of us, didn’t understand the extent of what was starting to happen. 

“By that point, we had lots of hand sanitizer,” he said. “We were sanitizing the locker room with cases of aerosol spray.  We wore rubber gloves and masks, but none of us thought this would last more than a few weeks. We would lockdown for a short time and then move on.”

Another Cassese knew better. Todd Cassese, Kevin Cassese’s brother, is an internal medicine specialist and associate dean of medical education at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y. He said he and his colleagues began hearing about COVID-19 late in 2019, and the general consensus was that the virus would be something that could be dealt with medically. Their early assumptions were incorrect.

“By mid- to late-February, the New York State Department of Health was holding regular conference calls with the medical community,” Todd Cassese said. “At that point, the state was moving from a plan of thinking about the virus to a plan of mitigation. What did that mean? It meant the virus was coming. I knew we better do something. So my colleagues and I discussed an emergency plan, and by the next day, we had one in place. But those first weeks were harrowing. We had cases varying from those that didn’t need much treatment to so many people dying, often alone. It was a really terrible thing to go through.”

One of Todd Cassese’s first calls was to his brother. He tried to help the Lehigh coach understand the best way to approach the pandemic when it came to his team.

“Todd told me in the early stages that this would be very, very bad,” Kevin Cassese said. “He had the foresight to tell my parents not to come to the Navy or Holy Cross games last year. He said even then that this thing is here, and it’s spreading. We shared that information with our players and their families to make sure they were safe.”

For midfielder Andrew Eichelberger, it was devastating, confusing and scary all at the same time.

“When Coach Cassese sat us down and told us our season was essentially over, it was tough,” he said. “To be a senior, with my teammates, enjoying a great season at the time, to being shut down. I went from living with my best friends playing the sport we love, to going back home [to Woodlands, Texas] and going into lockdown.”

With the help of Lehigh’s strength coaches, Eichelberger had a plan to stay in game shape.

“I decided to come back for another year,” he said, taking advantage of a ruling allowing spring student-athletes impacted by the pandemic to play another season. “Along with my teammates like Christian McHugh, Conor Gaffney and Crew Cintron, we all thought it was best to continue our playing careers and our education at Lehigh. So, back home I did everything from hiking and running with a weighted backpack full of textbooks to wall ball to finding collegiate players in the Houston area who could meet to play 7-on-7 games. It wasn’t easy finding places to let us play, but we managed.”

While Todd Cassese was in the epicenter of the pandemic, Lehigh remained on lockdown. It wasn’t until late summer that Kevin Cassese was, following his brother’s advice, able to safely open some of his summer camps.

“He was right in the middle of it,” Kevin Cassese said. “I was and still am super worried about him. He was tasked with tracking everything about the virus. Cause, treatment, you name it. It was a monumental task. For him, it’s his job — he’s going to work. But no one can know how that feels unless you are on the front lines.”

When the team returned to Bethlehem for the fall semester, most classes were online. Living arrangements had to be altered. It wasn’t the same — not by a long shot

“Fall ball was a disaster for us,” Kevin Cassese said. “We had all of this anxiety. Our players came back to campus not knowing if we could practice. We didn’t have any scrimmages. We had small groups on the field, one at a time. We were all being tested regularly. We had a lot of virtual meetings. It wasn’t a normal fall, or anything close to it.”

In October, Cassese said “the bottom fell out.” After one full practice, Lehigh’s entire athletic department was put on pause. Lehigh had just that one team practice and was shut down twice in the fall semester.

Then came Thanksgiving break, and players had to remain on lockdown. They had Thanksgiving dinners dropped at their doorsteps by generous donors. Their coach worried about their mental health.

Once the players cleared quarantine, they went home for the holidays and took classes online. Finally, on February 1, Lehigh was able to return to campus — and the lacrosse field.

“We had four guys pull hamstrings on the first day,” Kevin Cassese said. “We had one player test positive [for COVID-19], but through contact tracing, it affected 12 of our players. We were supposed to start the season February 20 against Albany, but I called [Albany coach Scott Marr] and said it didn’t look good for us to come up there. He said, ‘You have 12 players out? We have 23 in quarantine!’”

It had been nearly a year since Lehigh played a game. With just 21 players at practice and only three total defensemen, playing that game against Albany “would have been a total disaster,” Cassese said. The game was ultimately postponed.

Then, finally, almost all of his players cleared quarantine, meaning Lehigh could really prepare for a season.

“With Todd’s advice, we learned how to move forward,” Kevin Cassese said. “We learned how to operate, with testing, living arrangements — everything is different than it used to be for a college lacrosse program. I have the constant fear that someone will pop positive and that their roommates could be exposed. We have set up what we call pods — a small group of players who do not play the same position as roommates. These pods will lift weights together and practice in the same part of the field together.

“We travel differently. No overnight trips anymore. We take two busses to allow for social distancing. The coaches drive in a separate minivan.”

All of the caution and advice from his brother finally paid off the next week against NJIT.

“It was great to listen in on offensive and defensive meetings, at least for a few hours, and not worry about COVID,” Cassese said. “It had been 358 days since we had played a game. I found real solace in that. It had been so long since I spoke on a game day about a game we were going to play. It was a relief.”

***

The 2021 season for the Mountain Hawks feels a lot like 2020. Lehigh is 5-0 and making waves nationally.

Kevin and Todd Cassese speak and text regularly, and the message is clear: “I encourage Kevin and the Lehigh program to do 3 things — stay patient, stay adaptable and stay flexible,” Todd Cassese said. “At the start of this, I told him it was going to be rocky, if lacrosse happened at all. There was no certainty to COVID whatsoever. Now, the push is to continue to be safe with masks and social distancing and to move forward with vaccinations for all who want them. With lacrosse being an outdoor sport, it has the advantage of the weather warming up now to lessen virus transmission. With that being said, I don’t see a lot changing over the next year. It depends on how many people get vaccinated, how effective they are against variants. So, I expect cancellations and postponements. But I also expect that there will be a champion crowned this year.”

For Eichelberger, returning to Lehigh the right move. He already has a degree in engineering and is now pursuing an engineering masters with a focus on technical entrepreneurship. 

“It’s taken me a bit to find my stride, but I am getting closer,” he said. “I’m so glad I came back. The next thing would be to see the stands packed again. Lehigh is allowing families to return to games, but a full house would be awesome to see. We just have to do it safely.”

Todd Cassese agrees. He thinks a lacrosse player’s biggest challenge in 2021 is to stay in a smaller bubble — basically to avoid “what it means to be that age,” like avoiding social gatherings, to make lacrosse and academics priorities. He sees a brighter future ahead.

“I think there will be a return to sports as we once knew them, or at least a lot closer to the past,” Todd Cassese said. “As long as people act with some degree of safety, we will avoid another lockdown.” 

Thanks largely in part to the Cassese brothers, one a coach leading a program and one a doctor who has advised the team, Lehigh is once again in a position to play meaningful games.

“It took a program-wide effort,” the coach said. “Our trainer, Danielle Scanlon, has been an absolute star, just terrific in getting us through the pandemic.

“But having a brother who is such an expert has been an incredible advantage.”