By Ron Egan
Pride field hockey coach Kathy DeAngelis took her position in 1998, taking over a program that had two winning seasons in nine years. Since that day in 1998, DeAngelis has helped the program reach new heights, including four consecutive winning seasons. Over the course of 136 games and 63 victories, DeAngelis has been on the sidelines for many of the teams’ biggest games.
However, on Sunday, with the opportunity for the Pride to make its first post-season appearance ever and her team battling CAA opponent Drexel University, DeAngelis was nowhere to be found. The reason for this, which many fans in attendance were unaware of, was that due to CAA rules, DeAngelis was not allowed to patrol the sidelines after she was ejected from the team’s last game against Towson University.
Due to her ejection from the Towson game the previous Sunday, DeAngelis was forced to watch her team from the stands, and later, the press box. Luckily for DeAngelis, her team was prepared, and secured a 1-0 victory to catapult the Pride into its first CAA tournament appearance ever.
“On one part of it, [watching from the stands] was inconceivable for me,” DeAngelis said. “On the flip side, when my team steps out to play, after 18 games, it is truly up to them.”
Although the Pride did not play its best game of the season, it played well enough to allow the team to make school history. Freshman Pemba Ramdoo led the way for the Pride with her seventh goal of the season, as she rocketed a pass from senior Alexandra Alonge out of midair past Dragon goaltender Katie Dougherty 30:31 into the first half.
The goal gave the Pride a 1-0 lead that, coupled with the play of goalkeeper Jessica Cowperthwait, proved insurmountable for the Dragons. Thanks to some acrobatic saves by the returning All-Conference goaltender, the Dragons were unable to put a shot past Cowperthwait to tie up the game and possibly extend their season. The best chance for the Dragons came less than ten minutes into the second half, but it was Cowperthwait who made a huge save on a shot above her to preserve the shutout. The strong play of her goalkeeper did not go unnoticed by DeAngelis.
“You have two types of players,” DeAngelis said. “Good players and great players. A great player can turn around failure into success, a good player cannot. Jess Cowperthwait is a great player and this was one of the finest games I have ever seen her play.”
Although the Dragons held the edge in both shots (9-6) and penalty corners (9-3), the strong play of Cowperthwait and the Pride defense kept the Dragons from taking advantage of their opportunities. With the win, the Pride now moves on, for the first time in school history, to face the top-seeded Tribe from the College of William & Mary. For the Pride; however, the approach to this game will be no different than any other, regardless of its historic implications.
“We will do everything we’ve been doing to continue our preparation,” DeAngelis said. “If we go into that game as we have every other game, we look forward to a good performance.”
The Pride will hope to have senior defensive back Katie Geissler for the game, as she has missed the past two weeks with a back injury. DeAngelis, who lists Geissler as day-to-day with her injury, will again look to upstart Shannon Alexander to continue to hold Geissler’s position on the field.
“Shannon has done nothing but step up to the challenge and executed,” DeAngelis said. “I’m really proud of how she has stepped up to this challenge.”
Regardless of who takes the field, the Pride know it will need to bring its best performance of the year to avenge a 5-1 loss earlier in the season at the hands of the Tribe.
“That game caught us off-guard,” DeAngelis said. “We were prepared, but we were not prepared for William & Mary. It gives us our best preparation, we know what we have been faced with.”
Thankfully for DeAngelis, a coach notorious for preparing every last detail against her opponents, she will be able to coach this game from the sideline, a far cry from any press box or grandstand.