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LoHud featured Lacrosse Coach Tom Mariano in "Major League Lacrosse: Life in the bubble was filled with twists and turns"
Tom Mariano stopped home only long enough to check in with his family through a screen door, then headed for a hotel to begin 10 days of isolation.
An untimely turn of events inside the Major League Lacrosse bubble over the weekend almost derailed the abbreviated season and inspired the Chesapeake Bayhawks head coach to proceed with an increased level of caution. Health protocols were triggered Saturday after a team member reported feeling symptomatic.
“I think at that point, every one of us was convinced that we had it,” Mariano said.
Tests of players and personnel revealed three positive cases on the Bayhawks.
Chesapeake quickly decided to withdraw from the semifinals along with the Connecticut Hammerheads, forcing the MLL to cancel the semifinals. The Boston Cannons also had five players leave ahead of a 13-10 win over the Denver Outlaws in Sunday’s championship game.
It made this blur of a season even more frantic.
“A lot of people have died from this and that was my only concern,” said Mariano, who is also the head men’s lacrosse coach at Pace University. “I supported the players on this. I gave them all of the information we had and they made the decision not to play. We felt we were going to win the whole thing, but this was bigger than lacrosse. I’m proud of these guys. We came in as a team and we left as a team.”
