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pair of nonconference matches. The Nit- tany Lions were swept by UC San Diego on March 11 in the 4rst of those matches. The next day, their match at UC Irvine was canceled when the Big West an- nounced that it was halting its spring sports season. Penn State's conference, the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball As- sociation, announced that same day that it was planning to continue its season, even a7er EIVA members Harvard and Princeton pulled out following the Ivy League's decision to suspend all sports activities. But within hours of the EIVA's decision, Penn State announced that it was discontinuing its spring sports sea- son in conjunction with the Big Ten's de- cision to cancel all remaining competition. The decision to halt competition may have cost the men's lacrosse team a shot at the national championship. Coming o6 an historic 2019 season in which they reached the NCAA semi4nals for the 4rst time ever, the Nittany Lions were 5-2 and were ranked seventh in the USILA coaches poll as of early March. They were on the team bus, returning from a spring break trip to South Carolina, when they found out via Twitter that their season was over. Nearly three months have passed since they closed their campaign with a 22-7 rout of Furman, and it's still unclear when a semblance of normalcy will return to college athletics. But the coaches of Penn State's Olympic sports are already preparing for a resumption of team activ- ities, whenever that may be. The teams that are going to come out ahead are the ones that put their downtime to good use. Said Cooper, "I really do believe that the programs – meaning the kids individually – that really use this time wisely, are going to be further ahead than the pro- grams that don't." Another factor that will determine which teams excel is the willingness of senior players to take the NCAA up on its o6er to prolong the eligibility of spring sports athletes. Some schools, such as Wisconsin, have already said that they will not petition on behalf of their ath- letes for an extra year. But Penn State has taken the opposite stance, as athletic di- rector Sandy Barbour said in April that the Nittany Lions will welcome back any seniors from the spring sports who wish to return in 2021. That 4gures to bode well for coach Je6 Tambroni's team, as 4ve seniors have said they plan to come back for one last title chase. That list is headlined by attacker Mac O'Keefe, the leading goal-scorer in school history. Also set to return are Nick Cardile, Colby Kneese, Gerard Arceri and T.J. Connellan. The Lions have su6ered a big loss, as the program's all-time points and assists leader, Grant Ament, will not be back. But O'Keefe's return should give the Lions a big li7. Tambroni called him "the best shooter and goal-scorer that I've ever been around. That is a huge asset to the program." Cooper's baseball team, which was 10- 5 when its season was shut down, will bring back in4elder Gavin Homer, while Nadeau and catcher Jacob Padilla have opted not to return. "I just want to play the game as long as it allows me to," Homer told GoPSUsports.com. "I got two years in, and I felt like we had some un- 4nished business." A7er their season-ending game at Miami, the Nittany Lions stayed overnight in Oxford. The next morning, they ate breakfast then 4led onto their bus for the trip back to University Park. Cooper told them he didn't have any words that would soothe the disappoint- ment, but he reminded them that what they were doing was for the greater good. "This is uncharted territory," he said. "There is something going on in the world right now, and this is what needs to be done. Our guys have always been ex- tremely sel5ess. While they want to com- pete and play and represent Penn State, they also understood this was a decision that needed to be made." ■ JOE KRENTZMAN & SON, INC. • Buyers and Brokers of Steel, Iron and Nonferrous Metals • Industrial Scrap Buyers • Container Service Available • Large Service Territory Since 1903 Lewistown, PA • Hollidaysburg, PA • DuBois, PA (800) 543-2000 • www.krentzman.net F irst i n S cra p

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