How the NCAA’s eligibility vote impacts Syracuse seniors

UPDATED: May 20, 2020 at 5:24 p.m.

On Monday, the NCAA Division I Council voted to allow graduating seniors whose spring seasons ended prematurely an extra year of eligibility. According to Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, individual schools will ultimately decide how much scholarship aid to offer each athlete. 

According to the NCAA’s news release, teams will be allowed to carry more scholarship players to accommodate previously ineligible returning seniors and incoming freshmen. Schools will also be able to tap into the NCAA’s Student Assistance Fund to pay for scholarships for students who take advantage of the relief in 2020-21, the release said.

“The Council’s decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Penn. “The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that.”

A day after the NCAA canceled the winter and spring championship tournaments — and individual conferences suspended the remainder of all spring sports due to the novel coronavirus outbreak — it announced “eligibility relief is appropriate for all Division I student-athletes who participated in spring sports,” and details would be finalized at a later time. 

The option of extra eligibility is now official. At Syracuse, the decision impacts graduating seniors on the Orange lacrosse, track and field, women’s rowing, tennis and softball teams. Winter athletes were not granted another year of eligibility, according to Shams Charania.

Schools will have to consider many factors when deciding if and how many extra scholarships to award. The impact of the coronavirus on revenue sharing may come into play, with schools generating much less revenue than previously expected. Syracuse’s athletics department is self-sufficient and brought in record revenue in the most recently available year, and announced in a press release on April 17 that it will “support any senior from spring sports whose season was cut short and who wish to return.” Programs will also have to weigh scholarship money for returning seniors with incoming freshmen. 

“Inviting the spring sport student-athletes to come back to Syracuse to further their academic pursuits and experience closure for their collegiate athletics experience is the right thing to do,” Director of Athletics John Wildhack said.

Here’s a list of Syracuse athletes who have expressed interest in returning to SU next year with an extra year of eligibility, while some have also officially announced their decisions. 

Morgan Alexander, women’s lacrosse

Alexander was one of eight additional women’s lacrosse players that announce they’ll use the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility on May 20. The redshirt senior suffered a season-ending leg injury during a February practice — the fourth time Alexander missed games due to an injury at Syracuse. She finished the 2020 season with four goals and three assists for the Orange’s attack, while starting three of the four games she appeared in.

Vanessa Costantino, women’s lacrosse

Costantino, a midfielder who started seven games during her four seasons at SU, announced that she’ll use the NCAA’s eligibility relief on May 20. In 2020, she tallied eight points on 13 shots, but her best year with the Orange came in 2018 when she scored a career-high 15 goals and finished tied for seventh in total points (23).

Peter Dearth, men’s lacrosse

Dearth announced on April 20 that he’ll return for a fifth year, the third Syracuse men’s lacrosse senior at the time to do so. He appeared in the first four games for the No. 1 Orange this season, collecting 11 ground balls and scoring twice, before missing SU’s final game against Johns Hopkins due to injury. The short-stick defensive midfielder is one of nine Syracuse players who was named an All-American by Inside Lacrosse in 2020. “This team is ready to bring a championship back to upstate,” he said in an announcement post.

Kerry Defliese, women’s lacrosse

Defliese, a defender from Garden City, New York, has started 45 of the 49 games she’s appeared in over her four seasons with the Orange. She recorded 15 ground balls and eight caused turnovers during the shortened 2020 season, and announced her return for a fifth season on May 20. In 2019, she ranked second and third on Syracuse with 28 caused turnovers and 33 ground balls, respectively.

Declan Fischback, men’s rowing

On April 23, Fischback announced in an Instagram post that he’ll return for a fifth season with SU men’s rowing. The 6-foot-2 rower was in the second varsity eight boat during his junior and senior seasons, and placed 10th and 11th at IRA National Championship the past two years, respectively. Fischback will be completing his master’s degree in nutrition science at Falk College.

Asa Goldstock, women’s lacrosse

Goldstock, SU’s senior goalkeeper, tweeted “2021 can’t come soon enough” shortly after the NCAA announced relief would be appropriate on March 23. And on April 17, she officially announced she’ll return with the extra year of eligibility. Goldstock started all eight of SU’s games and recorded a 7.07 goals-against average. Two weeks before the season ended abruptly, she won the conference’s defensive player of the week award. 

Emily Hawryschuk, women’s lacrosse

Hawryschuk, a two-time All-American and sixth all-time SU point scorer announced her return on April 17. Through eight games, Hawryschuk was the second in the nation in goals-per-game (4.88) and goals (39). Hawryschuk was named Inside Lacrosse’s “Clutch Player of the Year” for her late-game heroics, after notching four goals in the final 12 minutes in a victory at Northwestern and a near-comeback against Stony Brook. After the game, Stony Brook head coach Joe Spallina called Hawryschuk a “top-two player in the country.” 

Alex Manfredi, men’s rowing

Manfredi, the varsity coxswain, posted an Instagram story with a photo of the men’s crew team at last season’s Intercollegiate Rowing Championships with the caption “Newhouse Grad School 2020-2021 let’s run it back.” Last season, Manfredi coxed the first varsity boat in a victory over Cornell and Navy that captured the Goes Trophy for the first time since 2011. He also steered the second varsity boat to an 11th place finish at last year’s IRA Championships.

Toni Martin, softball

When the NCAA canceled spring and the remainder of winter sports, Martin retweeted former teammate Logan Paul, who wrote “FIFTH YEARS FOR EVERYONE @NCAASOFTBALL.” A day later, Martin also retweeted a petition to reverse the decision to “suspended until further notice” instead of outright canceled. Martin started all 20 games for SU in 2020, recording 12 RBI — tied for second-most on the team. On April 16, she officially announced her return.

Nick Mellen, men’s lacrosse

Mellen, one of the cornerstones of No. 1 Syracuse’s defense, expressed interest in returning on Monday night, tweeting in part: “See you soon.” But on April 13, Mellen posted on Instagram that despite the possibility for a sixth year, he “decided to close this chapter of my life and figure out ‘what’s next.’”

Lila Nazarian, women’s lacrosse

Nazarian, a senior defender, tweeted in response to head coach Gary Gait’s end-of-season message with the hashtag “#STILLABOARD.” She also joked about how her extra year of eligibility will allow her to continue using the Spotify student discount. The Baltimore native started only one game in the past two years and recorded eight ground balls this season. However, during her sophomore season, she started in 12 of Syracuse’s 19 games, tallying 19 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers. On May 20, her return for 2021 was officially announced.

Cara Quimby, women’s lacrosse

Quimby announced on May 20 that she’ll return for a sixth year with the NCAA’s eligibility relief. After redshirting her first year at Syracuse, Quimby scored 34 goals and 50 points over the next four seasons. During the 2020 season, she tallied six points — including two-goal performances against Binghamton and Virginia Tech.

Miranda Ramirez, tennis

Syracuse tennis announced on its Twitter account that Ramirez will return for a fifth season. “I am incredibly excited for the opportunity to play one more year with my teammates and for the Syracuse family,” Ramirez said. For three years, Ramirez partnered with Gabriela Knutson for doubles and, as a sophomore, the two were ranked No. 8 in the country. She won her first seven singles matches in 2020, and is pursuing a graduate degree in accounting — while also earning an ACC postgraduate scholarship.

Bella Recchion, women’s lacrosse

Recchion, a midfielder who appeared in 20 games over her four seasons at Syracuse, announced that she’ll use the NCAA’s eligibility relief on May 20. She scored goals against Canisius and Colgate in 2020, her only points in the shortened season, and has tallied six goals and three assists during her collegiate career.

Stephen Rehfuss, men’s lacrosse

The Syracuse attack ranked third nationally with 3.6 assists per game during the Orange’s shortened 2020 season, and announced his decision to use the fifth year on April 27. With his return, No. 1 Syracuse’s top three attack will remain intact — including Rehfuss, Scanlan and Cook. The unit notched 25 goals and 27 assists over five games in 2020. Rehfuss, an All-American honorable mention last season, has recorded 80 career assists, the 18th most in Syracuse history.

Alexa Romero, softball

Romero, Syracuse’s ace pitcher, announced on Twitter that she’ll be returning for her final year of eligibility. She was the first SU athlete to officially declare — with a retweet from the official Syracuse softball account — that she’ll use the NCAA relief.

Romero’s in the top-five in nine different pitching categories in SU program history. In 2018, Romero held opposing batters to a .141 average, a school record.

Ella Simkins, women’s lacrosse

Over the last three seasons, Simkins has started every game at defense for Syracuse — including the Orange’s eight in 2020. Her 15 ground balls during the shortened season were good for second on SU, trailing goalie Asa Goldstock, and scored her only goal of her collegiate career against Stony Brook on Feb. 20. And on May 20, Simkins announced that she’ll return for a fifth year with the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility.

Jamie Trimboli, men’s lacrosse

According to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle’s Leo Roth, Trimboli will return for the extra year of eligibility “as long as everything works out financially.” He was part of a first midfield line, along with Tucker Dordevic and Brendan Curry, that Hobart head coach Greg Raymond called the best in the country after Syracuse defeated the Statesmen on Feb. 28. Trimboli finished second on the Orange with 17 goals and 20 points in five games this season, and officially announced his intent to return on April 23.

Danny Varello, men’s lacrosse 

After the NCAA’s announcement, Varello tweeted “THE PARTY NEVER ENDS.” Varello had also previously retweeted several reports of the NCAA potentially awarding spring athletes extra eligibility and on Sunday night, wrote he was “praying for good news.” Syracuse’s faceoff man finished second in the Atlantic Coast Conference — behind only teammate Jakob Phaup — in faceoff percentage in 2020, and officially announced his decision to return on April 15.

Morgan Widner, women’s lacrosse

Widner announced her return for the 2021 season along with seven other teammates on May 20. After starting all 22 games during her freshman year, Widner started 23 more over the next three seasons — while also recording 225 draw controls over her collegiate career. In 2020, she appeared in eight games, tallied 24 draw controls and caused one turnover.

Guzal Yusupova, tennis

Syracuse’s No. 1 singles player Guzal Yusupova announced via Syracuse tennis’ Twitter account that she will return to SU for a fifth season. “I am excited and thankful for the opportunity that our coaches, the Athletic Department, and Syracuse University have given us to fully finish our senior year,” Yusupova said in the tweet. Last season, Yusupova finished 23-20, including an 8-13 spring record.

If you’re an athlete at Syracuse interested in using an extra year of eligibility or would like to share your thoughts on this topic, email sports@dailyorange.com. This list will be updated with further reporting.