Ex-Dowling players find ready-made alternative
34 miles away at NYIT BY MEGAN SCHNEIDER
L STICKING TOGETHER
ess than one week after Dowling College announced its closure May 31 due to financial struggles, the former Golden Lions women’s lacrosse team shifted from hitting the panic button to opening a new door and continuing to make history at NYIT. “They literally told us at 5 o’clock one day that it was closing at 5 o’clock the next day,” said former Dowling athletic director Melody
women’s lacrosse program, with approximately $320,000 allotted from its scholarship pool. The Bears will compete in the ECC, the same conference Dowling played in. With that built-in chemistry and familiarity, Bailey expects NYIT to be competitive immediately. “We’re going to practice like we did over there — just with a new name,” Handras said. “New name, new field. Same rules, same expectations.” USL
USlaxmagazine.com February 2017 US LACROSSE MAGAZINE 31
Cope, who is now the associate athletic director at St. Joseph’s Long Island. “Everyone knew that New York Tech had been thinking about adding lacrosse, and so the second that Dowling was closing, the conversations started. ‘Is this something that you want to do, and if so, would you be interested in taking a look at our coach?’”
NYIT contacted Dowling coach Kerri Handras that day to gauge her interest, a dialogue that prompted athletic director Duane Bailey, also a US Lacrosse board member, to approach president Edward Guiliano about adding women’s lacrosse for the 2016-17 season — and not just any team, but one coming off of its first-ever NCAA tournament victory. NYIT’s original five-year plan plotted to add women’s lacrosse no earlier
than 2020. But within 48 hours of his conversation with Guiliano, Bailey drafted a proposal and received the green light to hire Handras, which was announced on June 6 and effective June 13. NYIT also would offer scholarships to as many Dowling players who wanted to make the 34-mile trip west with her. Fourteen players — including top scorer Katie Meinecke and 10 other players who started games for Dowling during its 17-4 campaign — followed Handras. So did two previously signed recruits. “We wanted to stick together because we’ve built this from the ground up and we went so far last year,” said senior goalie and captain Lauren Young, who earned first team all-conference honors in 2016. “For us to really finish it out together would be the best thing. When Coach contacted us, we all basically jumped on it.” Upon being hired, Handras invited her Dowling team to campus to meet with Bailey, administrators and counselors to get a better understanding of the school and look into potential new majors, since NYIT didn’t offer education like Dowling. However, she still encouraged her players to look elsewhere if they desired. Handras, who also coached soccer at Dowling, received many emails from interested coaches — including East Coast Conference rivals — joking her phone nearly broke. “I said, ‘Don’t sell yourselves
short. You are worth something to somebody,’” Handras said. “[But] they were waiting on me and saying, ‘If this is what’s going to happen, we want to be there and be a part of it.’” NYIT invested $475,000 in its
©NYIT
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