ODU Field Hockey senior raising the bar, igniting Monarch flames early in the year
Written By: Brian Jerry
Staff Writer
Coming off a thrilling upset of the number-one ranked Maryland Terrapins at the Powhatan Sports Complex, the Old Dominion University Field Hockey Monarchs continued their instant 2011 tear with a 4-1 dismantling of the number-seven Virginia Cavaliers.
Much of the Monarchs’ perfect 4-0 start is attributed to five-foot-six inch senior forward Kathryn Kirk. The Warwick High School product and Lititz, Pennsylvania native has catapulted her team to the number-two ranking in the nation behind three goals (good for second best on the team), on seven short handed opportunities with seven points in four games played. Kirk sports a .429 short-handed percentage with .714 shots on goal.
The senior forward is coming off a terrific junior campaign, starting all 24 games for ODU, leading all juniors in points (13), goals (four) and assists (five) in 2010. Selected to the 2011 Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Field Hockey Team, Kirk is committed to a strong senior send-off this season. She is excited about the team’s record after recent team struggles during her tenure at ODU.
“It’s really exciting to be doing so well,” Kirk said. Since I’ve been here since my freshman year, we haven’t ever started out very well, we’ve always ended pretty well. Our starts have never been the best so starting out 4-0, it’s really exciting, actually, it’s awesome.”
Despite early success achieved by the team, Kirk was confident in her squad’s ability after putting in extensive pregame work.
Head Coach Beth Anders, along with assistants Rich Sutton and Katelyn Smither stressed the importance of pushing the team in practice in order to see results on the playing field.
“Just keep working hard everyday, that’s probably their most important thing. Work hard everyday at practice and good things will come.”
Kirk’s mindset before every game at Powhatan Sports Complex and every game in between:
“It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing. All we think about is we have to go out and do what we plan to do. Go out and accomplish everything we’ve planned in practice and we’ll get that done. If we get that done, then a positive result will come.”
The senior forward participated in offseason preparation and conditioning programs, which has proven to help her, see results during games.
“Our spring season is always tough on us but we always get through it. Then summer comes and we all stayed out here, we took classes,” Kirk said. “We were all out here together. We got to workout together and stuff. A lot of us played in “High Performance” so that helped us a lot individually. Once we got together, then we decided to just work together to get what we had to do done.”
Despite all that hard work back home, Kirk feels as if the Monarchs need to be tested on the road(Fix indent)in order to get a feel of their potential after four straight games at the Complex.
“ Being on the road is totally different, we’re used to our field and being on a different field is going to be different, but I think it’ll be good for us.”
Coming off a terrific junior year last season, Kirk feels she hasn’t hit her complete stride as a player or even scratched the surface of what she can really do. The coaching staff works to get as much out of team as possible.
“The coaches are always saying, you have more in you, you have more in you, and I really think I do” Kirk said.
Speaking of the forward’s past success, Kirk’s role as a leader has also increased in the locker room during her senior campaign, according to the coaching staff’s expectations.
“They expect a lot out of all the upper-classmen. I’m an upper-classmen and I should be helping lead the team with all the others. It’s a lot of fun but I know they expect a lot of me and I’m trying to give that to them,” Kirk said.
After back-to-back home victories over top ten ranked opponents Maryland (number-one) and Virginia (number-seven), the Monarchs have catapulted themselves into the number-two ranking in the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Top 25 Rankings. Nevertheless, ODU has not been taken by total surprise by their instant success. Instead, they simply point in the direction of their everyday work ethic and dedication to their craft.
“I think we knew that we wanted to go pretty far this year so I don’t think we’re surprised. We’re just really excited that we’re doing so well and we know that we can go further and further every weekend that we have a game,” Kirk said.
On the kind of player she would you like to be remembered as when all is said and done at the end of the year as her collegiate career comes to an end, Kirk said,
“I think just a strong, passionate player. One that works hard everyday at practice, gets into the games, and has that mindset where they’re not going to lose. They’re going to win every situation and every game.”
In essence, a continuous grind-it-out work ethic is what’s needed in order for the Field Hockey Monarchs to carry their success even further. Simply put, what is it going to take for Kathryn Kirk and the Old Dominion University Monarchs to plaster their school name on an NCAA trophy?
“Just hard work everyday. We work hard everyday at practice and that’s all you really need. Just have your mind set on that and we’ll get there.”
