As the weather here in the northeast begins to turn colder and leaves start to hit the ground, it is always a sign for sports players and fans alike that indoor winter sports are coming. That sentiment rings just as true here at MCLA, as men’s and women’s hockey teams and men’s basketball have all begun their respective seasons.
However, one major sport from the group is missing. On Tuesday, October 15, Athletic Director Laura Mooney, along with recently hired Head Coach, Will Brown, informed the players on the roster that the 2024-25 MCLA Women’s Basketball season would be canceled, with the main reason being due to a lack of players on the current roster.
In an interview with The Beacon, Mooney says that it was “the worst thing” to make the ultimate decision that there would be no season, and she understands the trickling effect that it has not just with MCLA, but other schools in the MASCAC as well.
“To go into a meeting and to tell a bunch of student-athletes who just love their sport and want to play their sport that it’s not going to happen this year is soul-crushing, and it’s terrible,” she said. “Every other [MASCAC] school just lost two games that they were counting, and it’s October, so it’s hard to pick up games in that short window. It’s bad from a publicity standpoint, for the college, from a recruitment base, and things like that.”
Upon hearing the news, players were understandably upset and appalled. In the blink of an eye, they had suddenly lost something they loved, while simultaneously having to watch other winter sports teams still be able to have their respective seasons. Not to mention, for some of these women athletes, basketball may have been the reason they chose to come to MCLA in the first place.
“I’m not gonna lie to you, we’re upset,” said junior forward Ashlyn Bill ‘26. “We were super stoked for the season and wanted nothing more than to just be on the court and doing what we love. It’s hard to watch all the other teams get into the season and not be able to have ours.”
“I was sad, disappointed, and angry,” added junior guard Kristie Zator ‘26. “Losing the basketball season after losing cross country was hard for me. One of the main reasons I came to MCLA was the opportunity I’d have to play all the sports I love, so losing both in the span of a few months was extremely disappointing.”
With weeks before the kickoff of MCLA’s 2024-25 school year, the Head Coach at the time, David Bostick, made the decision to resign from MCLA and take over the same position at Skidmore College. With that, some players, including last year’s leading scorer Zaylee Ramos, decided to transfer out of the school as well, already putting the small roster in serious jeopardy and forcing the school to have to take off some of the games from their schedule if they were to go through with their season this year.
Only two-and-a-half weeks before the actual decision was made, the school went and hired Brown, a respective coach within the sport after a decorated 20-season career as head coach of the Division I University of Albany Men’s Basketball team. In his time with the Great Danes, he won two American East regular season championships in 2006 and 2015, five American East tournament championships in 2006, 2007, 2013, 2014, and 2015, and was the American East Coach of the Year in 2015, and was hoping to bring those same expectations over to the Trailblazers.
However, the bottom line as to why the cancellation of the season occurred was due to the lack of numbers on the roster; MCLA has not had 15 players on the Women’s Basketball roster since the 2016-17 season and has played with 11 or fewer players in each of the last four seasons. Entering this year, only six players were officially rostered.
“The numbers are just really small,” said Mooney. “Only one new student-athlete was brought in, so that is also problematic, and as things shook out with deposits and then people showing up on campus, we were kind of waiting to see how many are gonna be here and be a part of the Women’s roster. It’s not just one thing for sure, it’s like a whole mix. But it really comes down to the roster and the health and safety of the student-athletes.”
Continuing, she said, “Playing a game with five or six players is really challenging at the collegiate level. Let’s say someone fouls or someone gets injured. It puts us in a really tough position, and it’s not isolated to just this year. Our roster has not been healthy for a long time.”
For some players, the signs of possibly having no season this year were there, but they still tried to remain positive throughout the whole process, including junior forward and team captain, Hailey Peabody ‘26.
“Honestly, there were some signs early on, like struggles with recruitment and [Bostick] leaving and injuries,” she said. “We all knew the roster was thin, but we were hopeful things would work out. It’s disappointing that it came to this.”
Others, however, such as Bill, believe that there truly were never any signs and that the hiring of Brown signified the green light to continue playing on.
“I don’t feel like we really had any warning that they wanted to cancel our season,” she said. “We figured that once our coach had been hired, we were going to make do with what we had like we’ve done in the last few seasons I’ve been here. Obviously, with our low numbers, we knew this season would be a struggle, and maybe our record wouldn’t necessarily be winning, but we’re hopeful that it would be an improvement nonetheless”
While it’s certain there will be no season for this academic year, the plan for MCLA is to be right back in the thick of it for the 2025-26 season and beyond. Mooney believes that with Brown at the helm, he will be able to bring in a competitive roster to compete for a MASCAC title in the coming years.
“The ability to recruit was our main focus when we brought Will in, and I’m confident that he’s going to be able to bring in a full roster and be competitive for next year,” she said. “When I look at our really successful recruiters, they have the ability to sell, and Will has the ability to sell. He’s somewhere recruiting every single day, so he’s out there, and he will be out there working to recruit until there are no more basketball games.”
In addition to recruitment, current players on the roster will be able to continue practicing throughout the school year without losing any of their NCAA eligibility, allowing each player to be able to hone their skills and come back as better versions of themselves by the time they are able to play in an actual game setting.
“Will is going to continue to have practices with those students who are able to keep going and who have a desire to keep going to player development for next year,” said Mooney. “He’s going to continue doing that for the entire year because it doesn’t affect their eligibility due to the fact that there is no competitive piece. So that is a bonus, if you will, that they’ll be able to almost do one-on-one individual sessions to work on whatever they need to work on for next year.”
Many players indeed have bought into what the future holds, and believe with Coach Brown at the helm, they will be able to go places that they envisioned when each of them decided to join the program.
“Moving forward, we’re focusing on staying in shape and maintaining our skills, and we’re also looking at ways to stay involved with the community and support each other through workouts and team activities,” said Peabody. “With Coach Brown’s leadership, I truly believe the program has a bright future. He’s dedicated to rebuilding the roster and fostering a positive culture, so I’m excited to see where it goes from here.”
While many throughout the MCLA community are disappointed by the decision, plenty view it as a minor setback for a major comeback. The school has made it a priority for a season to be played for next season and beyond and hopes that by taking a year to focus on restructuring the program, they will be able to bring home that coveted MASCAC championship for the first time in program history.
