O'Donnell impresses Wissahickon coach

Wissahickon field hockey coach Lucy Gil didn't have as much time to follow Katie O'Donnell in the Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA field hockey playoffs as she would have liked.

But Gil wasn't surprised to see the former Trojans standout lead Maryland to championships in both tournaments.

Maryland won the NCAA title with a 3-2 win Sunday over North Carolina, the same team it beat for the ACC title.

"I've never seen a player like her," said Gil, who became Wissahickon's coach the same year O'Donnell was a freshman.

Now that O'Donnell is graduating from Maryland, Gil said she is expecting even bigger things from the 5-foot-1 dynamo on the international scene.

"She's a once-in-a-lifetime player," said Gil, who remembers being told about O'Donnell by the mother of Marci Byrnes, another one of Gil's standouts who went on to play for Duke.

"Mrs. Byrnes told me there was this little eighth-grader coming who could play. Katie taught me a lot about coaching," Gil said. "She's a special player and a special person."

Now that O'Donnell will be in position to devote full time to field hockey, Gil expects her to turn the tide for the United States in terms of international competition.

"That's my prediction, and I'm sticking to it," Gil said with a laugh.

Glad to be back. Last season, Mount St. Joseph, normally a regular in the PIAA playoffs, was among the missing. The Magic's goal was to make it back to the state tourney this season.

The Magic made it and, after finishing second to Wissahickon in the District 1 Class AAA field hockey playoffs, managed to go farther in the PIAA tourney than any other district Class AAA team.

The Magic reached the semifinals before losing to Cocalico, the District 3 fifth-place team, 2-0, on Tuesday.

Coach Lois Weber said she wasn't sure whether it was the emotional 2-1 quarterfinal win over Northampton on Nov. 13, but the Magic wasn't as sharp as usual for the next game against Cocalico.

"Cocalico spread the field very well, and we didn't react to it as we should have," Weber said. "We didn't have an answer for [Jordan] Page."

Page scored one Eagles goal and assisted on the other.

Weber will lose six seniors to graduation, but the Sabia twins, Brooke and Allie, who scored 31 goals between them; Jenna Seybert, Emilee Ehert and Laura Pacheco are among the experienced returnees.

"I'm optimistic about next year," Weber said, adding that she hoped the Magic would finally get past the semifinals. This season was the second time in four years they've been thwarted in the semis.

Magical season. Council Rock North field hockey coach Heather Whalin can look back on this season and smile, recounting how her relatively young team came to believe in itself.

The Indians began the season losing two of their first four games, one to perennially strong Wissahickon in a non-league matchup and the other in a surprise to Truman. But they righted themselves and won 12 in a row in closing out the regular season and winning the National Conference championship in the Suburban One League.

Whalin said it was in the district playoffs in which her team (16-5) found itself and made things promising for next season.

North, seeded No. 6, won its first two disrict playoff games and had to face No. 3 Owen J. Roberts in the quarterfinals. It beat the Wildcats, 1-0, and went on to make the state's elite eight.

"We clinched a state berth with the win, and the kids realized they were capable of beating a team that, on paper, should destroy them," said Whalin. "It showed in their eyes. They outshot us and outcornered us, but we won.

"We were a young team this year with only three senior starters, Amanda Krause, Becky Ely and Jackie Sagan."

Krause proved to be one of the area's top goalies. Ely scored all but one of the Indians' goals in the postseason, and Sagan was a staunch defender.

With them gone, Whalin will be looking for underclassmen such as Gabby Tofig, Abby Kuzma, Kara Maglie and Hannah Plappert to step up.

"This was a magical season, and I feel we have a good shot at repeating as conference champ next season," Whalin said.