Written By: Kathryne Mason
Distribution Manager
ODU field hockey head coach Beth Anders is without a doubt the field hockey equivalent of Mike Krzyzewski. For lovers of the game, it would be hard not to mention the words “Anders,” “field hockey” and “best” in the same sentence.
“Coach Anders really put Old Dominion on the map for top notch college field hockey programs,” Stephanie Garvin said.
Garvin, a sophomore and field hockey lover, who is also a Norfolk native and Maury High School graduate went on to say, “Every home game that wasn’t on a weekday my team would come and watch. The high schools around here are pretty lucky, they have a field hockey power house right in their backyard.”
Coach Anders initially made the announcement Jan. 10 that she would not be returning for herthirtieth season as ODU’s head field hockey coach. However an overwhelming shower of pleas from players, former players, and even President Broderick himself made her rethink her decision.
ODU sports website quoted Anders saying, “I have been very touched by all the calls and letters I have received from former and current players this week, as well as people through out the field hockey world and the ODU community…As a result, I have decided to remain at ODU for one more year and I look forward to coaching the 2012 team.”
In the 2011 season, coach Anders won her fifteenth CAA field hockey title and led the Lady Monarchs all the way to the NCAA “Final Four” for theseventeenth time. Coach Anders, who is the most successful winning field hockey coach of all time, has a record of nine national field hockey titles. The 2012 field hockey team will have 14 returning players, including All American Katie Nearhouse and National Rookie of the Year Kelsey Smither.
It is easy to see why coach Anders had to come back for one more season. The key to coach Anders success, both as a player and as a coach has clearly come from her love and dedication to the game.
If you’ve ever been to an ODU field hockey game, you can often hear or see her love. Pacing back and forth, shaking her head in a disapproving way, with both hands on her hips, you can easily tell when the girls aren’t playing up to her standard. Looking like a ticking time bomb ready to go off, coach Anders is known for being vocal on the sidelines. If you do something wrong, or make a stupid penalty, expect her to call you out on it, but at the same time, if you do something right, or astronomically amazing, she’ll make sure you know.
“Sometimes I feel bad for them, when I hear her yelling,” junior and club field hockey player Sydney McPfadden said. “But they seem to respond to it so I guess it works. To each their own”
With her own 90 mph penalty shot, coach Anders has made a legacy that will be hard for others to follow. As an athlete she was unstoppable, going to both the Pan American World Cup, the 1980 and 1984 Olympics and being an All-American college field hockey and lacrosse player.
As a coach, she’s unbeatable. With a NCAA record of 546 overall wins, an .808 winning percentage, 15 CAA titles, and nine national championship titles, coach Anders is the most winning coach of any Division I field hockey program in the entire nation.
As quoted by former ODU Athletic Director Jim Jarrett, “ No other coach or program in ODU history has enjoyed the kind of national success and dominance that the field hockey program has commanded and that is all due to Beth’s outstanding coaching and incredible knowledge of the game.”
With Anders at the helm of the Lady Monarchs, ODU’s Powhatan Sports Complex will host the 2012 and 2012 NCAA Field Hockey Final Four.
