Former middie starring on attack for Madison school
By: Jim Green
It finally struck Kaity Ryan while she was working out last week during spring break.
The Hopewell Valley Central High School class of 2002 graduate hadn’t realized what a difference sports had made in her life until one of her Drew University athletic trainers commented on her heavy workout regimen.
"She said to me, ‘Wow, that’s a tough workout you must be college athlete,’" said Ryan, a Pennington native. "It feels good to know I’ve worked hard, and my hard work’s paid off."
Although she might never have anticipated it when she entered CHS as a freshman in 1999, Ryan is a college athlete and a really good one, at that. The former Lady Bulldog lacrosse star has gone on to be a three-year starting attack at Drew University in Madison, helping the Rangers capture the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Women’s Mid-Atlantic Lacrosse championship last season.
That’s not bad for someone who hadn’t played a minute of lacrosse prior to arriving at HoVal.
"I had grown up playing sports I played softball for a few years, soccer and basketball," she said. "When I got to high school, a lot of my friends played lacrosse, and they converted me. They loved it, and as soon as I started playing it, I loved it. It’s just a great sport. It was the first time that I have played a sport and loved it, not just in the games, but also at practice."
Ryan drew on her experience from other sports particularly basketball and soccer to make her a strong midfielder for HoVal. And, along with seven classmates who also happened to be best friends, she helped the Lady Bulldogs enjoy tremendous success during her four years with the team.
As a junior class in 2001, this talented group which included Ryan, Abby Brewster, Sue Bielamowicz, Jessie Prewitt, Megan Hagerty, Amanda Bradshaw, Melissa Conley and Kaley Bell carried the Lady Bulldogs all the way to the North Jersey Public B final of the state tournament.
"That was one of Hopewell’s best years," said Ryan, who played defensive midfield. "To be one of the top eight teams in New Jersey is a big deal. It was a big deal because Hopewell had never done that, and it was really cool to represent Central Jersey and to represent a small school.
"It was just a cool feeling, it really was. It was the first time sports began to really mean something to me. It gave you perspective, because it was the complete state. It really felt like a big deal."
The friendship shared by the eight juniors on the team helped build great chemistry, on and off the field.
"All eight of us were best friends, and we only had two seniors, so it was basically a team of juniors and sophomores led by Katie Carroll, who was our senior captain," Ryan said. "That was such a young team, but we were so skilled and competitive and so full of heart that we were able to get to the quarterfinals. That was amazing."
As a result of her success with the Lady Bulldogs, Ryan began to see college lacrosse as an option something she wouldn’t even have dreamt of two years earlier.
"I really did not see that on my horizon at all," she said. "It’s just one of those things that happened. I’d never put the two (athletics and college) together. When I started looking at schools, I started looking at the lacrosse programs. I really was not expecting myself to be here. I’m so glad I am, because I really think it helps my college experience be a full one. It’s what made me come to Drew, and it’s what’s kept me at Drew."
More specifically, it was the aggressive recruiting of Drew coach Kim Christos that convinced Ryan to join the Rangers. During the fall of 2001, Christos called Ryan who was considering Division I options in an attempt to get her to consider Division III Drew.
"It was the first time a coach called and tried to sell the school on me," Ryan said. "It wasn’t me trying to convince a coach. It was just a great feeling to have Kim call me and say, ‘You’re my top recruit, and we want you.’ Why wouldn’t I go to a school where I was wanted?"
Ryan admitted being caught off guard by the idea that she was Christos’ top recruit.
"It was one of those, are you sure you’re talking to the right person?" she said. "It was neat, because I was on a great team in high school, and it was one of those feelings where your hard work comes to a head. That was the culmination of my high school career. It felt great."
Christos said the intangibles that Ryan brings to the lacrosse field made her desirable to the Rangers.
"When I look for student athletes, I look for the ones with the fire in the belly, and Kaity has that fire in her," Christos said. "She has that competitive edge. I knew if she played Division I, she’d be just as good a player, but at Division III, she could really excel. Kaity has that fire that, when the going gets rough, she’s the one who wants the ball."
Choosing the guaranteed playing time over the possibility of learning from the sidelines, Ryan picked Drew.
"We lucked out, and we got her," Christos said.
In the spring of 2002, the eight Hopewell juniors became seniors and led the Lady Bulldogs to a 14-2 regular season and a trip to the North Jersey Public A semifinals. The greatness of that class is illustrated by the fact that six of the eight including Ryan went on to play college lacrosse following graduation.
Bradshaw and Bielamowicz teamed to help Colgate University reach the NCAA Tournament last season, with Bielamowicz earning Patriot League defensive player of the year honors. Brewster plays at Bucknell University, while Bell is at Kenyon College. Conley played at The College of Holy Cross for two years before her career was cut short by a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
"At the time we graduated, it didn’t seem like a unique thing," Ryan said. "In retrospect, it’s a pretty amazing thing. Not only did they play in college, a lot of them are doing really well."
Not the least of which is Ryan, whose ambidextrous skill with a lacrosse stick convinced Christos to mover her to attack for Drew.
"She has a great shot," Christos said. "She can go equally well to her left hand and her right. When I noticed that, I immediately thought she could play both ends of the field."
Ryan took to the position like a natural, playing in all 19 games of her freshman season and starting six as Drew went 14-5. For the first time in her lacrosse life, she was asked to be a scorer, and she responded with 15 goals and 16 assists.
"That’s kind of reflection of Kim’s coaching," Ryan said. "She switched me to attack, and I definitely learned how to work on the attack and change my mindset toward the game. I love it now. I really like playing attack."
Ryan’s progression as an offensive player continued last season, when she tallied 29 goals and 16 assists as the Rangers went 16-4 and captured the school’s second ECAC championship. With Ryan playing a key role from her attack position, the top-seeded Rangers defeated Union College 16-11 in the championship game.
"We came off a big loss to Scranton to lose the MAC (Middle Atlantic Conference), which meant we weren’t going to the NCAA Tournament, which is everyone’s goal," Ryan said. "We really turned it around and said, you know what, it doesn’t matter if we don’t go to the NCAAs, because if we win the ECAC, that would say a lot, too. It was really a good feeling to end the season on a win. That was the first time it’s happened for me."
Despite all of her success as an attack, Ryan’s team-first attitude to the game of lacrosse has not changed.
"My dad comes to most of my games, but when he can’t get to one, he’ll always call after the game and ask how many goals and how many assists I had," she said. "Obviously, a team wouldn’t win without that stuff, but they’ve never been that important to me. I guess that comes from playing midfield in high school and, growing up, I’ve never been the superstar goal scorer. I just want to come off the field every game with that feeling I left it all out on the field."
Christos does not believe stats can describe how important Ryan who has played in every game of her college career is to the Rangers.
"She’s a spark on the fast break I like her to get the ball in transition," Christos said. "She’s got great field vision, as well. She can score a goal, but she can find the open player, as well, when needed.
"She keeps getting better every year. Her freshman year, she was trying to figure out her new role. Then she stepped into her role as a sophomore, and this year she’s really turned it on. There’s no stats to show how many midfield connections she’s had, and that’s her real asset."
Ryan also has a natural take-charge personality, which makes her invaluable as a leader on the field.
"She’s been a leader since her freshman year," Christos said. "She didn’t think twice about taking the last shot. She definitely has the confidence that she can get the job done."
That leadership has become even more vital this season, as the hard-luck Rangers have gotten off to a 1-3 start, with the three losses coming by a combined four goals.
"Now that she’s a junior, she’s stepped into a leadership role," Christos said. "She knows how to lead her teammates constructively, and she really plays by example. She gets fired up, then the players around her get fired up. She’s intense on the field. Off the field, she’s got this amazing smile that’s radiating."
Ryan believes the Rangers, who are missing Christos out on maternity leave since Feb. 24 still will be heard from this season.
"It’s tough, because when you look at the record, it’s like, where are all the ‘W’s?" Ryan said. "But every game we’ve lost by a goal or two goals. We’re competing in the games, and it’s really tough, because I think it’s one of those seasons where we’ll peak at the end of the season, which would be the ideal time."
Regardless of what the Rangers accomplish over the next two years, Ryan already has proven herself on the lacrosse field. Now 21 and a year from graduating, she is beginning to look at life after athletics.
Ryan, who is majoring in art history with minors in writing and arts administration, is hoping to work for an auction house after college. She plans to apply to a handful of New York-based houses including the famous Christie’s for an internship next fall.
"I want a job that will pay me to travel and pay me to write," she said with a laugh. "Then I’ll be happy."
The same qualities that helped her go from picking up a lacrosse stick for the first time to a college star in a span of seven years should help her when she enters the real world.
"I have a healthy sense of competition, and self discipline is something that’s so important and so undervalued, and that’s something that a lot of people don’t develop until later in life," she said. "I feel I have a strong sense of who I am and where I come from and a healthy philosophy on life, and that’s a product of Hopewell and Drew."