Siblings are PDS team leaders
By: Justin Feil
Some names are just synonymous with sports.
It’s true for Princeton Day School’s Katie and Patrick Briody.
"You hear ‘Briody’ and you think lacrosse," said PDS girls’ coach Jill Thomas. "Katie loves it. They love it. It’s part of what they do as a family. They’ve all done other sports. This is the one they all do. It’s pretty cool that way."
The Briody’s older sister, Alyssa, was a standout with the Panther girls’ team before continuing her career at Amherst College. On Saturday, the Amherst junior had a career-high nine points on four goals and five assists to help the second-seeded Jeffs to a 17-8 win over Wesleyan University in the NESCAC Tournament quarterfinals. And Alyssa actually started playing lacrosse after her younger siblings.
Their father, Kevin, played at Pingry before going on to play collegiately at Bucknell University. Kevin was Patrick’s coach when he began playing in third grade with the Hopewell Valley Lacrosse program.
"He got me into it," Pat said. "He was always my coach up until eighth grade."
Katie started playing in fourth grade with the Hopewell program before joining the Princeton YMCA program for fifth and sixth grade. And even though Alyssa began later, all three have developed into top scoring threats for their respective teams. Thomas has coached both of the girls.
"They both can put the ball in the net," she said. "They do it with different styles. Alyssa was a horse for us. Now she’s helping someone do pretty well right now. Katie is playing with a lot of people. Back then, it was the fab four and we didn’t have much else. We’ve got some depth now. What’s nice about that is it’s a lot of people who can score.
"Katie gets five goals and five assists (in an 18-10 win over George on Saturday). She goes to goal but she’s making the extra pass and setting up people as well. That makes us a better team and harder to defend."
The PDS girls improved to 8-1 with the win and will play at West Windso-Plainsboro North on Wednesday after Monday’s scheduled game against Rutgers Prep.
Pat, too, was a boon to his PDS boys’ team before his season ended less than five minutes into a one-goal loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro South on Thursday. An attack player like his sisters, Pat was making a hard plant when he was hit on the side of the knee. His torn anterior cruciate ligament will be repaired in the next month and the PDS senior hopes to return full strength to play for Colby College next spring.
"It’s pretty devastating to lose your top goal scorer," said PDS head coach Pete Higgins after his team scored just two goals in a loss to Montgomery High on Saturday. "He’s very balanced. He’ll have three (goals) and three (assists). He sees the field. He shoots well. He shoots well on the run.
"He’s a very smart player. He has that good pedigree. Even if they try to lock on him, he can lose a guy. They don’t shadow him a lot because of that. It was hard to see him go down. He’s usually a tough kid so you knew it was pretty serious."
Pat’s role will be a little different for the remainder of the season. Higgins plans to use him to help coach the man-up situations.
"He really was the catalyst on the man-up," Higgins noted. "He was the one we tried to generate the ball through. We tried to rotate it to him so he could make the decision. Now, we’re going to tell him to call the man-up."
Said Briody, "It is nice. It’s hard to stand on the side. It’ll be nice to still be a part of the team. If I talk, usually people will listen. I’m kind of in a position to help everyone."
Pat got an earlier start than some do. In boys’ lacrosse, playing as a freshman is rare but he was put on the field for the Panthers.
"I played on the second middie line," Pat said. "I always played man-up and had a good stick. I just had to move the ball and control it. That’s where my role started on the team. I wasn’t using much dodging then.
"As I got older, I guess it’s natural to have more of a leadership role. This year, I knew I had to get the ball more. I had grown and improved. It fit naturally. I was ready for it."
Katie, too, is in more of a leadership role in this, her junior season. It’s a natural fit for her as well.
"She’s been a leader for a while," Thomas said. "She’s that kind of person. Some people are born to lead. She’s got a little bit of that in her. People look up to her. They look up to her on the field, and they look up to her off the field. They expect the best of her. She’s taken on challenge and worked hard to fill that role.
"It’s an incredibly tight group of girls, particularly the junior and senior classes. There are nine or 10 of them. That’s a good core."
Katie started to fit into the Panthers as a freshman. Like Alyssa, she began starting varsity as a freshman. Following her sister’s lead hasn’t been easy even if it was a goal.
"I would go to her games a lot when I was in middle school," Katie recalled. "It was really fun. It’s a completely different sport than in middle school. I remember thinking, I wanted to be better than her. If I could ever get to that level, that’d be good."
Alyssa hasn’t had the chance to see Katie, but if she did, she’d see a Panthers player that has developed into an offensive force. She and Pat have done it differently than their older sister has.
"Alyssa is more of a bulldozer," Pat said. "Katie and I have more finesse. She was always really strong. We’re not as big or strong as she is."
The Briodys have a rebounder and net at home that they use still, and on summer vacation it isn’t uncommon to have a catch with each other. Pat and Katie only get to see a few minutes of each other’s games here and there, but they see the similarities between their games that were honed by practices with their father as well as some attributes in each other’s style that they’d like to adopt for their own.
"She’s not afraid to get the ball," Pat said of Katie. "That works out the same way. We’re both confident in carrying the ball. She’s tougher than me. She gets down for the ball. She’ll play better defense than me. I wish I was more solid like that."
Said Katie of Pat, "He has a really hard shot. His stick skills are really different because boys have a pocket. But he’s really good with his left hand, as good as he is with his right hand. That’s mainly what I focus on, getting my left hand stronger."
The Briodys are all focused on improving. While Alyssa will work on bringing the nation’s sixth-ranked team a national championship, Katie can keep her focus on sharpening her stick skills in hopes of bringing PDS a girls’ title, and Pat will put his efforts into getting his knee strong enough for the next level of lacrosse. As they do so, all are strengthening the connection between the Briody name and the sport of lacrosse.