By Ryan McCord
Just how young is women’s lacrosse head coach Abby Morgan? University President Stuart Rabinowitz recently introduced the CAA’s youngest field general (27) to his wife as “our 12-year-old lacrosse coach.”
Morgan succeeded Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe as the eighth head coach in the program’s history in August. Only time will tell if the University of Connecticut graduate has the coaching pedigree to take the Pride to an elite level nationally. As for the 2007 season, however, Morgan speaks optimistically for a variety of reasons in her unique ability to relate to players and that her basketball IQ can be practical and perhaps innovative in improving the team defensively.
“Lacrosse is just a faster version of basketball with a little soccer combination,” said Morgan, who turned down the opportunity to play two sports in college.
In attempt to create more turnovers this season, Morgan sought out the “art of taking a charge” from men’s head basketball coach Tom Pecora and assistant coach Mike Kelly. Three different drills were inherited from the hardwood to the turf.
“We worked on it and loved it,” Morgan explained.
For the majority of her adolescence, Morgan figured she would utilize basketball as her ticket to a college scholarship, but reaching the Pennsylvania state finals her senior year in lacrosse caught Connecticut’s eye. She committed to play attack for the Huskies and started for four years, yet she embraced and couldn’t help but admire the pageantry surrounding college basketball in the Nutmeg State.
“There’s nothing like it,” Morgan explained. “It’s absolutely insane. We couldn’t get tickets to the women’s games. I remember the first time I saw Diana Taurasi. We were at the bookstore and I whispered to my friend, ‘That’s her! That’s her!'”
That was only a handful of years ago, and Morgan suggests that reason alone can only work in her favor in leading a program. Combining her familiarity with a new generation of athletes and athletics in general have helped her in recognizing a “new school” philosophy that seems to be the growing trend in every sport at all levels: young coaches who are prone to expecting the unexpected, and are technologically savvy with a bottomless tank of energy for leading bigger, stronger, faster athletes carrying more responsibilities than ever before.
“One thing I learned from Shelley [Klaes-Bawcombe] though is that you have to have a life outside of lacrosse,” Morgan said.
“Sometimes when we sit and eat as a coaching staff we have to make an effort for no lacrosse talk. You have to watch yourself because it can overcome you.”
When Morgan is not dissecting lacrosse X’s and O’s, she enjoys attending other athletic events on campus or just catching highlights of sports and entertainment on ESPN or MTV. An avid water skier, during the summer time Morgan spends time with her family on the beach in Charleston, South Carolina.
Like this year’s seniors, Morgan came to Hofstra in 2004 as an assistant, and began working with the attack position. According to Morgan, there’s a special bond with the upperclassmen, having shared a common set of goals throughout their respected careers at the University.
“We’re expecting great things,” Morgan said. “This is a determined group. Especially the seniors and juniors who have been in the [CAA] championship game and lost twice.”
Morgan will rely on a trio of captains – fifth-year senior Becky Thorn, vocal senior leader Kim Kozlowski and “The Mayor”, junior goalkeeper Maisie Osteen – in her assistance of leading the team to their first conference title since winning the America East in 2001.
“We don’t have to redo the foundation,” Morgan said. “They all realize that we’re so close. Their only belief is that we’re No. 1.”