Marquette team finds a way to New York despite blizzard

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Marquette University's lacrosse team has a game against Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. The problem is, there are no flights coming in or out of the New York or New Jersey area.

"We were supposed to fly out today and play tomorrow, but now there's a whole snow storm going on so now we're playing Sunday," said freshman Paul Riportella. "I'm from New York so I'm excited to go back."

He and the rest of the team were in line at Mitchell International Airport Friday, hoping to get out to their game that almost didn't happen. That's because nearly all flights to Boston, Newark and New York were canceled.

"It's kind of annoying but we're flexible," added Riportella.

We spoke with Liz Schaaf who is a travel agent who works in the emergency services department at Adelman Travel. She says with nearly 3800 flights canceled to the northeast, the snow storms are having a ripple effect for the rest of the country.

"Those flights don't just go from New York to Chicago say those flights are going to continue on through the rest of the country so lot of flights out west even have been affected," said Schaaf.

Knowing that, the lacrosse team came up with a new game plan.

"We're just taking a trip down to Baltimore, practicing there tomorrow and we're having to bus out," said Riportella.

Marquette will then take a five-hour bus ride from Baltimore to Long Island.