STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Anthony Gilardi is a lacrosse coach by trade. Now, like many people across the country, he is homeschooling his two young children by necessity.
 
Gilardi just completed his first season as the head coach of the Stony Brook men's lacrosse team. A season that was suddenly cut short due to COVID-19.
 
"I think, like every coach in the country, the season ending so abruptly was extremely difficult to deal with," Gilardi said. "Each team is so unique, and this team was so fun to be around. To not be able to see them work and compete together and for each other any more was tough."
 
One week ago, Gilardi and his Seawolves were preparing to open America East Conference play against Hartford.

During the squad's practice last Thursday morning Gilardi received a text message that the season, along with the other spring teams' seasons at Stony Brook, were suspended until April 3. Just a few hours later, the NCAA announced all spring sports championships were canceled, thus ending the season.
 
"There were a lot of emotions in a small amount of time," Gilardi said. "To see all of the hard work, dedication and sacrifice that our student-athletes made from the start of the year until now, you just feel for them."
 
The Seawolves had posted an impressive 5-2 record. Three of the victories came in overtime. There also was a dramatic road win at Big Ten foe Rutgers.  
 
Yet there is a lot more than just wins and losses for a head coach with 49 student-athletes on the roster. A roster that included 11 seniors.

"To not have a Senior Day for our seniors and their parents to celebrate all they have done for Stony Brook University and Stony Brook lacrosse is tough," Gilardi said. "We will find a way to honor them next year and celebrate all they have done."

Despite the shortened season, Gilardi was able to take some positives from his first year as a head coach.

"The buy-in from our players and our staff, our culture and our vision will be the biggest positives I will take from this season," Gilardi said. "As a new coach with a large senior class, those guys believed in our culture, lived our culture and led our culture. They made the transition very seamless for me.
 
"The alumni support and involvement in our program was also a major positive. We really tried to engage and rally our alums. They responded better than we could have imagined." 
 
As time goes by, Gilardi will be able to look back on his first season and smile. After all, he was able to accomplish a lot on the field and even more off the field.
 
"We learned a lot, and will continue to learn a lot from this season," Gilardi said. "As a staff, we are doing a deep dive on every facet of our program, from the first practice to the last practice, to see areas we can improve, areas we need to enhance, and areas where we feel our strengths are."