Donnelly directs Stuart’s defense
By: Bob Nuse
Katie Donnelly knows there isn’t a whole lot of glory in playing defense. But that doesn’t bother her one bit.
"I love playing sweeper," the Stuart Country Day School junior said. "Even though you don’t get to score, I feel like it’s a team effort when we score a goal. Whenever someone scores, hopefully I’ve helped that happen and it doesn’t matter who gets the credit for the goal."
On the field hockey field, Donnelly is generally more concerned with stopping the opposition from scoring than she is with scoring herself. She was the starting sweeper for the Tartans last year when they won the state prep tournament championship. And this fall, she’s back for another year at the key defensive position.
"She is one of the most poised and focused players in the back you’ll ever see," Stuart coach Missy Bruvick said. "Her timing and stickwork are excellent. As a sweeper she can combine great timing with the mental ability to know what to do with the ball when she gets it."
Last week Donnelly helped the Stuart defense record a pair of shutouts, first in a scoreless tie with Notre Dame, then again two days later in a 2-0 win over Blair. The shutouts were the second and third of the season for Stuart, which recorded its fourth this week in an 8-0 win over Morristown-Beard.
Katie Donnelly is the Gold’s Gym/Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
Donnelly is the first to admit she is just a part of an overall defensive effort that has helped the Tartans excel over the past year-and-a-half. She returns in the back along with Chris Salmastrelli and Lauren Sheelui, while sophomore Rachel Claudio is the newcomer in the group. And then there is goalie Hannah Murnen, who has proven very tough to score on.
"It also helps us that the attack we have keeps the ball up there as much as it does," said Donnelly, a Princeton resident. "It makes it so we don’t have to stop as many shots. And when we do see shots, Hannah is there and she’s a great goalie. One reason I love sweeper so much is that you get the one-on-one with the breakaways and you’re the last line of defense. And then if they get past you, Hannah is there and she is amazing.
"We all work together and it’s a group effort back there."
While Donnelly has certainly played well at sweeper over the past two seasons, it wasn’t a position she played while learning the game. In fact, she was an offensive player for six years before making the move to defense last year.
"I started playing field hockey in the fourth grade in a suburb outside of Philadelphia," she said. "When I started I was on attack and I was there in middle school and all the way through my freshman year here. Then sophomore year they moved me back to sweeper and I’ve been there ever since. It’s a huge change from offense to defense."
But a change that Donnelly has been able to make with little difficulty. Last year her play helped the Tartans to a championship season. This year they’re looking for more of the same.
"That would be amazing," she said. "The team is different every year and we have a lot of new players this year. I think we have the potential to do what we did last year. We lost some good players, but we also have a lot of good players back."
And they have a lot of good players in the back as well, with Donnelly leading the way from her sweeper position.