The Return of Sports Amid the Ongoing Pandemic

Photo Courtesy / ESUWarriors.com

Jonathan Mostafa

Contributing Writer

East Stroudsburg University athletics and Warrior Baseball makes a return this spring for the first time since the start of the pandemic in March of last year.

This year the team heads in ranked number nine in the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) preseason division two polling.

There are currently ranked number two in the PSAC division polling, which was released earlier this month.

Long time veteran head coach John Kochmansky will start his 14th season with the team, along with his coaching and management staff.

This staff includes assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Read Brown, volunteer assistant Joe Tomachick and first season team manager Matt Haverstick.

Baseball will not be the only thing on the list of Warrior athletics to look out for. ESU women’s swimming will kick off their 2021 season with a PSAC invitational at Carlisle on Saturday, February 27th. 

The women’s swim team is led by head coach Fan Yang, and graduate assistant Olivia Lukshides. 

Also taking to the field this spring with be ESU’s Women’s softball team. Their season opener will be a home game against Wilmington, on Saturday, March 6.

The team is led by Jaime Wohlbach, entering her fifth season as head coach, as well as assistant coach Erica Molinaro, and graduate assistant Madison Vicendese.

Also on Saturday March 6, ESU women’s lacrosse will start their season at Georgian Court in Lakewood, NJ. 

The team is led by head coach Xeni Barakos-Yoder, assistant coach Rachel Ward, graduate assistant Amber Neumann, and student assistant Emily Digiovanni.  

The return of athletics is one of many steps towards having some sense of normalcy in our lives here at East Stroudsburg University. 

As we all know, our sports were brought to an abrupt halt almost a year ago due to Covid-19.

Athletes, coaches, and teams had to adapt around the pandemic to figure out what the next step was.

Many senior athletes missed out on their final year playing before graduating and rising athletes wondered where their future was headed.

It has been an arduous road but alas, sports are slowly but surely making a comeback at East Stroudsburg University.

Soon the vacant fields and arenas will be filled with the sounds of our season that we are all waiting for.

We can only hope that this momentum of in person sporting events continues into the fall for sports like football and basketball, sports that many people are missing.

While it is uncertain what protocols will be in place when it comes to fan attendance, there are a few ways to follow along with all the action.

Get all the scores and up to date news on ESU’s athletics website at ESUWarriors.com

You can also catch the call of all the home ESU men’s baseball games on the universities own radio station, 90.3 WESS, stream the station at https://quantum.esu.edu/clubs/wess/listen-2/

Email Jonathan at:

jmostafa@live.esu.edu