As the clock struck midnight, flipping the calendar to Sept. 1 and kicking off the contact period for the next round of college lacrosse stars, there might not have been a busier person in lacrosse than Joe Spallina.

“What else is new, right?” he said.

The Stony Brook women’s lacrosse head coach was, of course, making calls, sending emails and initiating contact with the players he hopes will spearhead his program for years to come. He was also fielding calls for the Team 91 Long Island 2022 Smash squad he coaches, comprised of some of the top 2022s around.

Sometimes you recruit a kid and you just know they 100% fit the fabric of your program and thats what I love about what we’ve built @StonyBrookWLAX #Franchise

— Joe Spallina (@JoeSpallina) September 2, 2020

Perhaps most importantly, he was helping navigate his eldest son, Joey Spallina, through his own recruitment. The Mount Sinai High School (N.Y.) attackman was named Inside Lacrosse’s No. 1 recruit in his class earlier this week.

“He’s amped up,” Joe Spallina said. “It’s something that’s been lingering for a while, especially with him playing with the 2020s for all those years. It’s finally time for him.”

The suitors are expected to line up for Joey Spallina, a crafty attackman with a powerful shot and a shooter’s mindset. He can add to his highlight reel of must-see goals after just about every game he plays.

And his experience is second to none among his peers. Having played up with Team 91 Long Island 2020 Crush prized recruits like Xavier Arline (Navy) and Brennan O’Neill (Duke), he thrived as an off-ball scorer. Because of his size and strength — he’s also an accomplished running back on his high school football team — Spallina is a rare breed.

“For him, he has a style of play that’s a little different,” Joe Spallina said. “He loves the game and has a passion for the game. I think there’s a great appreciation for that through coaches and coaches wanting to build their recruiting class around him.

“It’ll be exciting and stressful and fun all in one.”

The Spallinas aren’t alone in navigating recruiting from both a coach and parent perspective. Virginia women’s coach Julie Myers’ son, Timmy, is a lefthanded offensive midfielder on the DC Express who is expected to receive significant interest.

“Tomorrow is going to be crazy,” Julie Myers said Monday evening, mere hours before recruiting opened.

“There are just so many moving pieces. It’s intriguing and exciting to think there might be answers coming out of the month of September. We’re coming out of six months of such uncertainty that it’s intriguing to get some answers.”

Recruiting in the age of COVID-19 has changed the game. Coaches are working off highlight reels and limited game film that occasionally isn’t of the highest quality. Some game tapes without announcers make it extremely difficult to identify players.

Myers said the hardest part about recruiting this year is that coaches are all working off the same tapes. They’re seeing the same things. While Spallina prefers watching game tape because he can see how players react to bad shots, fouls and the like, these are still all traits that every coach can see if he or she can get access to film.

“I think we’re all starting off from a starting point that’s probably not ideal for anyone,” Myers said. “I don’t think, realistically, we’ll be able to see them play live before we make decisions and offers are out.”

Because of this, Myers said the conversations “become really important.” Myers said she tries to connect the dots by speaking to coaches and families but also to family friends and others associated with the players. Anything to get a feel for a player’s character and drive.

With some high schools in session and others operating virtually, contact on Sept. 1 was often a game of phone tag.

“This Sept. 1 is going to be a school day for so many,” Myers said. “We will send emails to kids [at midnight] so they know they’re on our call list. We certainly want kids to wake up in the morning to know if they should expect a call from Virginia or not.”

In a vote by IWLCA coaches, 87 percent were in favor of pushing back the date of first contact to July 1, 2021. The NCAA declined to approve that waiver. While Myers was in favor of pushing the date back, her son wasn’t. He was ready and anxious to begin his recruitment.

“I really was in favor to pushing it to July 1 so we could see kids play with our own eyes,” she said. “He was in the background saying, ‘Mom, I want it to start Sept. 1.’”

Spallina and Myers aren’t the only coaches in this scenario. North Carolina and U.S. women’s national team coach Jenny Levy’s son, Alec, is a 2022. Maryland’s Cathy Reese is navigating building the next Terps dynasty while also helping her son, Riley. Former Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala is also helping his son, Dominic — IL’s No. 2 recruit — find his next team.

With uncertainty abound given the upcoming spring season and how the postponement of many fall sports could impact lacrosse, there’s some semblance of normalcy with Sept. 1 recruiting — even if some college coaches are working double-time with their own children.

“They’re usually pretty smart from being around the game for so long,” Myers said of lacrosse-playing children of coaches. “It’s really cool to see your peers’ kids excel and do well.”