Yesterday, a pair of school applications crossed vital numerical milestones, ones which mix teaching longevity, on-field expertise, and the willingness of universities to put money into the sport of subject hockey.
WIth a 3-0 highway win yesterday at Indiana, the College of Maryland grew to become the second Division I group to succeed in 800 wins as a program. And with a 3-2 win yesterday over Holy Cross, Sally Starr gained her five hundredth profession recreation at Boston College.
These are some fairly wonderful numbers which deserve a look-see, particularly in terms of the acumen of the top coaches — Starr at Boston College, and Missy Meharg of Maryland.
Each of those ladies have put many years into their craft. It’s fairly dizzying to see the shifts within the faculty recreation, particularly the change in sanctioning from the AIAW to the NCAA in 1982. And in case you check out a few of the early video games in each Boston College’s and Maryland’s histories, you see universities like Gallaudet, Trinity, and Rhode Island which not provide subject hockey.
You additionally see nice successes. Meharg and Sue Tyler have introduced the Terps eight nationwide championships, whereas Starr has guided the Terriers to 14 NCAA Tournaments and the 1987 ECAC subject hockey championship.
This, in addition to foresight by their respective universities, have yielded some wonderful residence amenities for each of those applications — the Discipline Hockey and Lacrosse Advanced in Faculty Park, Md., and New Stability Discipline in Allston, Mass.
I feel, nonetheless, that there are another parallels between these two collegiate applications and their well-respected head coaches. One is the truth that Meharg and Starr, like many profitable folks, encompass themselves with nice assistants.
Starr’s assistant coach, Tracey Paul, has been at BU for 20 years after her stellar scholastic profession at Escondido San Pasqual (Calif.), and has been a coach for the U.S. junior nationwide group, most just lately between 2021 and 2023.
Meharg’s affiliate head coach is Scott Tupper, who took the Canadian males’s subject hockey group to a few Olympics, scoring 126 targets in 322 worldwide appearances. Jenny Rizzo, the goalkeeping coach at Maryland, was within the U.S. ladies’s nationwide group pool for the previous couple of years.
One other commonality is that each groups have alumnae as a part of their applications — Liz Ryan at Boston College, Kasey (Tapman) Asper at Maryland.
However one factor that, I feel, serves as an fascinating parallel is that each Starr and Meharg loved vital success in different sports activities. Each performed lacrosse at a excessive degree — Meharg captaining the College of Delaware, and Starr enjoying for the U.S. ladies’s nationwide aspect within the late 70s.
They’re individuals who acknowledge the worth of the well-rounded and expert athlete, and have developed quite a few gamers over their careers.
A hearty “Nicely-played!” from this nook to the Boston College and Maryland applications and their milestones.
