The following article is sponsored on behalf of the Central Bucks West field hockey team by OPT4. To read about their services, please visit OPT4’s web site by clicking on the following link: http://www.opt4group.com/
Field hockey season never ends for many area players, and it’s the work done in the offseason that is the defining difference.
Central Bucks West is proof of that.
After back-to-back three-win seasons in the SOL Continental Conference, the Bucks won five games in 2011. In the three years since then, they owned second place to only eight-time conference champion Central Bucks South, winning 44 games in that three-year span after earning just 16 wins in the three preceding years.
“It makes such a difference in terms of where you’re able to take them,” Central Bucks West coach Courtney Lepping said. “When they have those basic skills because of playing indoor and because of being involved in club so much, it makes such a huge difference in what we can accomplish as a team.
“From last year to this year, it’s incredible the jumps they’ve made, and that’s because of how much they’re playing outside of the season.”
Twenty-four current players are competing on the club circuit, and there’s no mistaking the correlation between the program’s rise and its players’ involvement in offseason hockey programs.
“It makes such a difference because high school will give you one level, but club really prepares you for college,” said junior Cadera Smith, who is committed to play at the University of Richmond. “Instead of just picking up a stick in the fall and saying ‘Well, I haven’t play since last season,’ they have that experience behind them. They’ve been playing all summer long.”
“It’s so much fun to see people improve and grow with each other,” added junior Bryn Boylan, who recently was named to the U19 Indoor USA National Team. “Seeing the young players come in and how well they’re doing – I think the season is going to go well for us.”
Paving the way
Two of the pioneers in the program’s upward ascent are 2015 graduates Kim Hitchcock and Brianna DeAngelis.
“Bri and Kim are really perfect examples of how this started,” Lepping said. “They’ve been in club for a long time.
“That was kind of the push that’s happened over the last few years, and with our program rebuilding, it’s been because these kids have gotten involved in club early.”
Both Hitchcock and DeAngelis are veterans of the club circuit and both have turned their talents into scholarships to play at the Division One level.
“I originally started at FSC with all my friends,” said Hitchcock, who is continuing her field hockey career at James Madison University. “That’s where I met Bri.
“I grew up with my team at FSC.”
Hitchcock actually got her first taste of field hockey in second grade playing for DAA while DeAngelis began playing hockey as a rising seventh grader.
“I was a field player then – I didn’t even know the sport,” she said. “I never had played field hockey until I played club. I didn’t even know what it was.
“I actually thought field hockey was lacrosse. When I got the stick, I was like, ‘Oh, this is different.’”
The seed to play field hockey was planted by FSC Director Michelle Finnegan, whose daughter Reilly – a sophomore at CB East - was in the same karate class as DeAngelis.
She was talking to my mom and said she was starting a field hockey club and wanted to get more people,” DeAngelis said. “I tried it just for fun.”
What began as something of a lark for DeAngelis turned into her ticket to compete at the Division One level for Monmouth University. It was her move into goal in seventh grade that turned a hobby into a passion.
“I actually volunteered,” DeAngelis said. “The coaches asked if anybody wanted to play goalie, and I was like, ‘I don’t know the sport, so why not.’
“When I became a goalie during my indoor season, my parents thought I was going to hate it because I was getting scored on left and right, but apparently I walked off the field, and I was like, ‘I love it.’ Even when the balls were flying at me, I was like, ‘I love this.’ I wasn’t fazed at all.”
Hitchock and DeAngelis became friends during their FSC playing days, and both were the cornerstones of a program that went from also-ran to contender – Hitchcock a dangerous offensive weapon and DeAngelis in goal.
“That was amazing,” Hitchcock said of the program’s rise. “We have gone through several head coaches, but all of them were great. Our team really stuck together through all of that.
“We’ve always had really good players, and the captains throughout the years were amazing. They pulled the team together. Not to mention Erick (Fiorelli) was on the team.”
Both players point to their club experience as significant.
“I really loved it personally,” Hitchock said. “I know Courtney (Lepping) coaches a club team, the Souderton Strikers, and she really got the West team involved, which was absolutely amazing.
“I see FSC pinnies all over the team. One time I counted nine of us had FSC pinnies on. Indoor is a completely different game, so you’re really well rounded. I think it really improves your stick skills, agility and stick work indoors because it’s such a fast-paced game. It really helps with the fundamental skills.”
“I never just had the fall season – I’ve always done it all year,” DeAngelis added. “You need to keep your touches on the stick, and you still have to improve when you’re not in season so when you get back you’ve worked on so many things.
“You have to play in the offseason or you won’t get better.”
The new breed
Numerous CB West players competed in the National Festival over Thanksgiving break, and the list of players who competed at the club level is a lengthy one. It includes seniors Mikayla Darrows, Emily Halderson, Anna Hall, Macella Molenari, Courtney Westover and Ariana Wexler and juniors Lydia Bothwell, Bryn Boylan, Gretchen Heiber, Ryan Murray and Cadera Smith. From the sophomore class, Eva Altadonna, Danielle Dundas, Peyton Fischer, Olivia Fitzgerald, Laura Kubit, Maggie Loosmann, Taylor Mason, Kaci Murray, Bridget Naylor, Hanneliese Scheel and Lucy Varner played club hockey as did freshmen Anya DeAngelis and Casey Reichwein.
And that list includes only members of the varsity and junior varsity.
“The crazy difference is how every year preseason I can do more and more and more,” Lepping said. “We don’t have to spent so much time on the basics because of the fact that these kids are playing all year round.
“They were literally playing all winter with indoor. We had a bunch of kids that did NFCs and Junior Olympics in the spring and summer. They played in the 7v7s. They just are playing so much, so it makes it a lot easier to get more accomplished during the preseason, and the chemistry is already built. That’s a big thing.”
Smith and Boylan have been playing club field hockey since they were in fourth grade.
“It’s helped so much,” said Boylan. “It’s helped me improve my stick skills and keep my stick on the ball.
Boylan is one of more than a dozen West players involved with FSC.
“It’s a testimony to that program that they’re able to keep the kids coming,” said Lepping. “They’re getting good coaching – they’re seeing improvement, and I’m seeing improvement.”
Smith has been a member of the WC Eagles since she was in seventh grade.
“They really prep you for college with running and the skills,” she said. “They make sure you’re up to speed, and they really care about you. I love it there.”
For Boylan, club hockey is just a part of her offseason schedule. She also plays club lacrosse during the summer.
“The schedule is a little hectic at times, and my parents are driving me all over the place – I really appreciate that,” she said. “I love both sports, so it’s good for me.”
Lepping heartily endorses her players investing their time and energy into more than one sport, which is hardly a surprise. The West coach not only was a first team All-American and National Player of the Year for Lock Haven’s softball team that captured the NCAA Division II National Championship, she also was an All-American field hockey player at the collegiate level as well.
“The great part is that they’re not just becoming one-sport athletes,” Lepping said. “We have a ton of lacrosse players on this team as well, so it’s not like it’s overtaking their lives, and they’re focusing solely on field hockey.
“They’re doing a great job of being balanced, playing multiple sports and being involved in their programs.”
LITTLE FSC: Top row from left, Carolyn Collins, Riley Donnelly, Taylor Mason, Bryn Boylan, bottom row from left, Cadera Smith, Casey Reichwein, Peyton Fischer, Sophie Boyle and Finley Ueland (Provided photo)
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