Three SOL field hockey teams will be fighting for a chance to play for the District One AAA title. Springfield (Montco) will vie for a spot in the District AA title game.
By Mary Jane Souder
Coaching field hockey wasn’t on Casey Hughes’ to-do list this fall.
As a matter of fact, taking over the helm of a field hockey program couldn’t have been further from her mind.
Until, that is, several people told the former Souderton and Lock Haven standout that Central Bucks West was looking for a head coach and suggested she apply.
“I applied for it thinking I was completely under qualified to coach,” said Hughes, who graduated from Lock Haven in December of 2011. “My coaching experience was limited. I coached clinics and camps at Lock Haven, I coached camp for Mrs. Harris at Harleysville Hockey Camp, and I helped out (my sister) Courtney (Hughes) with her Souderton Strikers club team in the winter, but nothing that really made me think I was qualified for the position.
“For me, I just went to the interview thinking, ‘Hey, it’s a great interview experience,’ and not really thinking anything of it. The job market is tough and I have a degree in health and physical education, so I’m thinking, ‘Maybe if I do coach, it will help,’ but at the same time, I’m thinking ‘I don’t know if I’m ready to be a head coach because it could be overwhelming to run the whole program.’”
West athletic director Sean Kelly apparently thought Hughes was ready, and during her second interview, he offered her the job.
“It overwhelmed me, so I didn’t give them an answer because I didn’t think I was going to be offered the job,” Hughes said. “After thinking about it, I was like, ‘You know what – why not?’
“It’s an opportunity I didn’t see coming, but I went for it and said, ‘yes.’”
And so began an unlikely journey.
Hughes’ first order of business was the not-so-little matter of finding a coaching staff. The only coach in place in the entire program was freshman coach Debi Mason, who – in the absence of a head coach - ran optional summer practices, went to camp at Lafayette with the squad and coached the team in a summer league at Palisades.
“August was approaching, and I’m frantically doing phone interviews with people,” Hughes recalled. “The people I thought could help me out couldn’t commit the time.
“It was very tough. It got to the point where I had been through 12 people and would offer them jobs after 10 or 15 minutes of a job interview, and no one was accepting it. I was freaking out. That was probably the most stress there was. I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t be the only person with this team.’”
Joanna Irey, a CB South grad who had played two years at the University of Albany, was Hughes’ first hire. With Irey in place to coach the junior varsity, Hughes hired her sister, Souderton softball coach Courtney Hughes, and former teammate Christine Dudek to split the position of varsity assistant. Hughes and Dudek both boasted collegiate playing experience, Hughes at Lock Haven and Dudek at Penn State.
“We all work well together, which is nice,” Hughes said. “My biggest concern having Courtney was, ‘Court, I’m the head coach.’ She’s the head coach at Souderton, and she’s got five years on me, but it’s been good.
“They respect my decisions as the leader of the coaching unit. What’s so nice is the players coming into the season didn’t have a coach for so long and kind of thought of themselves as the misfits that no one wanted, and they were just happy to have a coach. They didn’t care who it was or what I was like. They were just happy to have a coach.”
Happy hardly covers it.
For the seniors, Hughes was their third coach in three years, and she was a late hire after several other candidates accepted the position but then reneged for various reasons.
“It was really hard,” senior Mackenzie Gallagher said. “We kind of felt like an unwanted team for a little while. We went through a couple of coaches that would maybe coach us during the summer. We kept getting e-mails from our athletic director, but something would happen, and it would fall through.
“When coach Hughes finally said, ‘I’m going to be your coach,’ we were all just relieved that someone chose us and said, ‘We’ll work with West, and we’ll give it all we’ve got.’”
Hughes gave it all she had, and with the aid of her staff, she led a West squad that last year won seven games and lost 11 to unexpected heights.
“Going into the season, I had been told that it was a solid team, but they needed to be pushed,” Hughes said. “I didn’t know what to expect, and I don’t think Sean Kelly or Kevin Munnelly, the head principal, expected me to take them to districts or states.
“During my interview, we talked about the five-year plan – ‘what’s your plan to get this team to the next level?’ To be where we are today is truly astounding.”
Where the Bucks (16-5) find themselves on Thursday is playing Unionville, the district’s fourth-seeded squad, for a spot in Saturday’s district title game. They have already clinched their first state tournament berth in 15 years.
“My goals going into the season were I wanted a team that was going to work well together, I wanted them to be .500 or better,” Hughes said. “Playoffs were maybe in the back of my mind but not really a goal I verbalized to anyone.
“My big thing through the season was, ‘Let’s take it one game at a time and see where we go.’”
The Bucks opened the season with a five-game winning streak, and they were off and running, finishing second only to second-seeded Central Bucks South in the Continental Conference standings.
“I know how tough the league is that they play in,” Hughes said. “Being a Souderton kid that made districts every year I played on varsity and went to states two out of my three years, that’s something I’ve always been a part of in hockey.
“I don’t know how it would have been if we had started with five losses. It might have been a little different, but for the most part, this team just works so hard.”
While hard work is at the foundation of Hughes’ coaching philosophy, so is having fun and doing things just for fun. Midway through the season, the team did a canopy tour at Spring Mountain where Hughes is employed as a tour guide.
“I know I need to keep them motivated and together as a team,” the Bucks’ coach said. “We had a fun 5K where they dressed up at the end of the preseason, which is something I took from Mary Ann Harris. We did a fun fallfest a couple of weeks ago – wore Halloween costumes and did pumpkins.”
The combination of fun, hard work and the resulting confidence has been a winning combination.
“Coach Hughes has done so much for our team,” Gallagher said. “She’s just such a good addition to us. She’s so young and happy and exciting. She really wants the best from us, and we like playing for her.”
When Kelly introduced Hughes at a preseason parent meeting, he used the familiar phrase ‘good things come to those who wait.’
“That’s something I think about,” Hughes said. “It’s been a rewarding season. I’ve learned a lot about myself as a coach and what I want to do and how to motivate a group of players and the cohesion that’s involved.
“This is a great, talented group of players, and they worked hard for me from the first day of preseason up until now. I’ve been blessed to have the team I have and to fall into an opportunity that maybe I wasn’t the most qualified for, but it was my golden opportunity, and I took it. It’s really worked out for me so far.”
The Bucks will face Unionville at Lower Merion High School on Thursday at 2 p.m.
#2 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH vs. #3 WISSAHICKON at Council Rock North, 3 p.m.
Central Bucks South
- 19-1 overall
- 13-1 SOL Continental Conference champions (sixth consecutive conference crown)
- Defeated Wissahickon 5-0 on Sept. 6.
- Only loss of season to North Penn (1-0) on Oct. 2
- Winners of seven in a row
- Defeated Council Rock South 2-0 in the second round of districts
Last game: Despite dominating play, the Titans needed some late-game heroics by junior Megan Hamilton – who scored with 26 seconds remaining in regulation – to eke out a 1-0 win over Haverford in last Friday’s quarterfinal game.
Wissahickon
- 17-3 overall
- 13-1 SOL American Conference champions
- Only losses of the season came at the hands of second-seeded Central Bucks South, Villa Maria Academy (top-seeded in the Class AA bracket) and Springfield (third seed in Class AA)
- Trojans boast a 10-game winning streak
Last game: The Trojans – who received the hat trick from senior Emily Gallagher and four assists from senior Jackie Hibbs - defeated West Chester Henderson 4-3 in last Friday’s quarterfinal round. It looked as though the Trojans were on their way to an easy win when they opened up a 3-0 halftime lead only to watch the Warriors, behind three second half goals by Katie O’Donnell, rally to make things interesting.
#4 UNIONVILLE vs. #9 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST at Lower Merion, 2 p.m.
Central Bucks West
- 16-5 overall
- 9-5 SOL Continental Conference (second place)
- Opened season with five straight wins and went on to earn first district berth since 2008
- Defeated Methacton 2-1 in the opening round of districts and followed that with a 1-0 upset of eighth-seeded Neshaminy in the second round.
Last game: A goal by senior Heather Zezzo sent the Bucks into halftime with a 1-0 lead over Conestoga, and that lead grew to 2-0 when Erick Fiorelli scored on a defensive deflection. The Pioneers rallied to knot the score, but sophomore Kim Hitchcock scored the game winner with 4:30 remaining in regulation.
Unionville
- Ches-Mont League American Conference champions
- After a first round bye, the Indians defeated Hatboro-Horsham 4-1 in a second round game.
Last games: Erin Karcher scored during corner play with 12:46 remaining in regulation to propel Unionville to a 3-2 win over Mount St. Joseph Academy on Friday. Five minutes earlier, Brielle Hartzell scored to tie the game.
CLASS AA
#2 UPPER PERKIOMEN vs. #3 SPRINGFIELD (Montco) at Wissahickon, 2 p.m.
Springfield (Montco)
- 13-2-1 overall
- 11-2-1 SOL American Conference (second place)
Last game: Defeated Merion Mercy 2-1 in overtime in last Thursday’s district quarterfinal game. The two teams were deadlocked 0-0 at halftime. Libby Field scored a second half goal for the Spartans only to watch Merion Mercy knot the score in the closing seconds of regulation. Julie Cardamone won it with a goal at the 9:57 mark of OT.
Upper Perkiomen
- 17-3-1 overall
- 11-1-1 PAC-10 Frontier Division champions
- Led by high-scoring Casey Umstead’s 36 goals
- Defeated Souderton 5-2 in season opener and notched 4-2 regular season win over fifth-seeded Gwynedd-Mercy
Last game: Upper Perk used second half goals by Sami Stalford and Devon Kriebel to break a 1-1 tie with New Hope-Solebury on its way to a 3-1 win in quarterfinal action.
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