Over the summer, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will rebrand and operate under a different name. They might as well rip the band-aid off and call it the Connecticut Conference, because it feels as though no matter the sport, the championship matchup perennially features the Fairfield Stags and the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

Monday’s matchup in women’s basketball marks the sixth time in the past three academic years that a MAAC Championship comes down to the rivals. The Bobcats faltered yet again and watched the Stags celebrate on the floor of Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. for the third consecutive year.

If not for a first minute goal in the 2023 women’s soccer championship game, Quinnipiac wouldn’t be in the win column. Their loss now puts them at 1-5 over that span.

“That rivalry, it keeps the fans going, it keeps us going,” Meghan Andersen, Fairfield’s junior road runner, said. She’s won the championship every season she’s been with the Stags, putting up nine points, two steals and two blocks to help secure this seasons’ game against the Bobcats.

While Quinnipiac came up short again, it’s hard to classify this season as anything but “successful,” in the words of Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri.

“One of the best in the program’s history,” Fabbri said. “But, we still wanted to cut those nets down and I wanted to bring these young ladies out for a little dance with March Madness.”

As it always is with collegiate sports, the nature of the beast is that a few of those young ladies will not return to play basketball in Hamden next season.

There’s senior guard Sydney Ryan, who joined the Bobcats for her final season after three years at Furman University. Her sister, first year guard Ella Ryan, became one of the most pivotal players for the Bobcats down the stretch. Sydney Ryan took the final shot that could have tied it for Quinnipiac. With 23 seconds left, her three-point attempt clunked off the rim and into the hands of Fairfield.

“If we had to do it all over again, we’d do the exact same thing, with the exact same person, with Sydney shooting it,” Fabbri said, placing no blame on the elder sister.

Then there’s the two four-year pillars of this roster. The ones that helped laid the groundwork of what Quinnipiac basketball has become. Senior forward Ella O’Donnell and graduate student guard Jackie Grisdale.

Fabbri made it more than evident that she will miss the duo. She called O’Donnell “one of the hardest working players I’ve ever coached,” bubbling with praise for how much the Ireland native improved since this time last year.

“She exemplifies the courage and the hard work and the program of what our foundation is laid upon by taking that leap of faith,” Fabbri said.

As for Grisdale, Fabbri wasted no time giving her her flowers. “I have been amazed and in awe of what she does. As a human, let alone a basketball player,” she said in her opening statement.

Grisdale rose to the top of a variety of Quinnipiac career records during her time in Hamden, most notably three-pointers, finishing with 231. Tomorrow brings unfamiliar territory for the Bobcats: the post-Grisdale era.

In a lot of ways, the former walk-on perfectly embodies what Quinnipiac basketball has become. Hard-working and selfless.

“I am so thankful for every moment that I’ve spent here,” Grisdale said. “I didn’t know where I was going to end up after high school, but I couldn’t have asked for a better path than this.”

She played every minute of both of Quinnipiac’s final two games. She never gave up on the team, firing a desperation three-pointer with eight seconds left that would’ve only impacted the margin of victory.

Grisdale and Fabbri both sported misty eyes and shaky voices after the game. Perhaps no moment better encapsulates their raw emotion than when Fabbri was asked how her seniors have made her a better person.

Deafening silence. Fabbri took 10 seconds to collect herself and her thoughts.

“It’s the reason you still coach, right?” she finally said. “They make me feel alive, they give me great purpose and… they make me want to be better because of what they’re sacrificing and doing every day for this program and university.”

It’s another disheartening, yet frustratingly familiar, end to the season for Fabbri’s Bobcats. As Grisdale and O’Donnell depart, one thing is surely staying put. The foundation of what Quinnipiac basketball has become, that they, alongside Fabbri, hammered into place.

“I couldn’t be prouder of [the team] and I know that they are going to continue to do amazing things,” Grisdale finished, before walking off the stage, wearing the Bobcat uniform for the final time.