Matlosz sees freshman season cut short due to COVID-19

SANDPOINT — When Conner Matlosz moved to Sandpoint from California he had no idea lacrosse even existed.

His first encounter with the sport came in the second grade when one of his friends brought a lacrosse stick to class. The sport peaked Matlosz’s interest and the summer after second grade he picked up a lacrosse stick and hasn’t put one down since.

The 2019 Sandpoint grad is now on the lacrosse team at Concordia University Wisconsin but unfortunately — just like every other spring athlete across the country — Matlosz had his freshman season with the Falcons cut short due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and he is back home in Sandpoint until August.

In just three days, Matlosz’s life at college went from normal to complete chaos. Following a 14-4 loss at the Milwaukee School of Engineering on March 11, Matlosz got a text from his coach halfway through the next day telling him and his teammates there was no practice and instead they were going to be in the film room. Matlosz had already received an email from the school telling him classes would be conducted online following spring break so he knew something was up.

In the film room, the projector was off and everyone was facing forward listening to head coach Michael Fahey tell the team that he expected the season to be canceled in the coming days. And sure enough it was and classes were moved online for the rest of the semester.

Once Matlosz began realizing the season might be in jeopardy he called his mom and told her to start looking at flights. By the time Saturday of that week rolled around, Matlosz had a flight home and he was back in town March 17.

Matlosz said it was like a whirlwind once the news broke that their season was over.

“Those three days felt like a month for me honestly,” he said. “It felt like everything was going in slow motion. It didn’t really feel real.”

Matlosz and his teammates were able to play six games this season but he feels bad for the seniors who won’t get a chance to go out on their own terms. The NCAA has granted spring athletes another year of eligibility so Matlosz and everyone on his team will have an extra year to play but he doesn’t plan on utilizing it and he’s not sure how many seniors will either.

Matlosz said it didn’t sink in until he got home that he won’t be playing lacrosse for the Falcons again this season and he misses it. Having that opportunity stripped away from him made him realize how much he takes for granted being able to play the sport he loves and spending time with his teammates in the dorms.

“You kind of forget to appreciate every moment that you have with the guys just every day,” he said.

The 19-year-old said he’s had a hard time adjusting to being home because he was in routine at college and is now struggling to stay focused on his homework.

Matlosz is currently working at SMS Auto & Marine but due to the stay-at-home order issued by the governor not many people are coming in looking to get a stereo put in their car so right now he’s doing odd jobs for the business and clearing trees at their property for his grandpa.

Matlosz realized he had a chance to play lacrosse collegiately after spending his junior and senior year of high school competing on a club team in Spokane. He noticed he was able to hang with elite players around the state and his eyes were opened even more to the possibility when he attended a camp at the University of Denver. The school scouted Matlosz for a little bit and nothing came of it.

But Matlosz didn’t want to go to a Division I school, he wanted to attend a university like Concordia Wisconsin that gave him a chance to focus on life after college while seeing plenty of playing time on the lacrosse field.

“In Division I, you’re more of an athlete-student versus a student-athlete,” he said. “All the athletics come first, you miss a lot of class during the season and its really intense and I didn’t want to get burned out from how intense it would be so I found the Division III level would be the best.”

Matlosz took four trips during the fall of his senior year to schools he was interested in: University of Dallas, Huntingdon College in Alabama, University of Dubuque in Iowa and of course, Concordia Wisconsin.

They all had their pros and cons except for the school in Mequon, Wisconsin. It felt like home and even Matlosz’s future teammates were wondering when he was going to come back for another visit. He felt a sense of comfort and he knew it was where he should spend the next four years of his life.

“It was a place that wanted me there as much as I wanted to be there,” he said.

Matlosz, a midfielder, appeared in three of the Falcons games this year serving as a faceoff specialist.

Matlosz isn’t looking to make a professional career out of lacrosse and is instead focused on earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing. He hopes to pursue a job in the motorsport, skiing or outdoors industry. Recently, he saw a job opening at Vermont SportsCar, a race car dealer that builds rally cars used across the U.S. and the world.

Matlosz reached out to the company and is hoping to land an internship with them in the future. He said working there is his dream job.