THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511030204
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 32 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
ON A COX field hockey team that starts seven seniors, Katie McDonald is the future.
At the least, a very large part of it.
``Katie will get her day in the sun next year, that's what we're hoping for,'' said Nancy Fowlkes, coach of the six-time defending state champion Falcons. ``She'll probably move to center forward and she'll get a lot more chances.''
As the lone returnee on the forward line, McDonald will have some mighty big shoes to fill since the Falcons have averaged almost seven goals a game this year.
``But Katie's always done that when I asked her to,'' Fowlkes said. ``Whether I ask her to do something specific or just step up, she does it.''
It's not like scoring will be new to McDonald. After last Thursday's Beach District championship game with Bayside, the Cox junior had registered 25 goals - not bad considering she plays alongside Kim Miller, who ranks among the highest-scoring players in the history of the game. McDonald's contributions are more impressive when you consider that the Falcons - like most field hockey teams - attack from the right side and McDonald plays on the left wing.
``If I have a feeling I can get the ball, I'll run in,'' McDonald said. ``And sometimes the crossing passes get through and I like to be there to punch them back in. If we're playing a strong team, I usually stay spread out for stuff like that.''
McDonald saw sporadic action last year, but the Cox front line was the most powerful in state history - with Miller's 50 goals aided by Kirsty Hale's 48. Now, with the team possessing only one big gun, the role of McDonald and others has become much more important.
And it's been good practice for when McDonald steps into the limelight next fall.
``Playing next to Kim . . . she's such a great player and she makes the rest of us look so much better,'' McDonald said. ``But I play hard because that's the way I play.
``We're all like that.''
McDonald got her start in the sport in part because of her sister, Kelly - now a junior with NCAA defending national champion James Madison.
``I was in the fifth grade and Kelly told me I should try it,'' McDonald said. ``I got into the spring league the following year and really liked it.''
McDonald played junior high and then middle school hockey at Great Neck and had her first experience with Fowlkes in the eighth grade.
``Man, I had been waiting on that. You hear so many great things about her,'' she said. ``She's so intense and it was great to be coached by a person who could really get me to push myself harder.
``She moved me to the left wing from the right wing in the 10th grade and I got to play some last year.''
McDonald, Fowlkes said, has all the tools to be a great player.
``Katie has a game face and she doesn't take it off until the game's over,'' Fowlkes said. ``She's a definite player in every way - mentally and physically.
``In the last three games, I've asked her to do some things for us and she's showed me she has the kind of mental toughness that makes the great players great.''
Next year, she'll get even more of a chance to prove it.
Cox takes its next step toward tying the national record of 10 overall state titles when the Falcons host the Eastern Region tournament.
Cox and Eastern District champion Maury will get byes into the semifinal round on Wednesday.
In Tuesday's quarterfinals, Eastern runner-up Lake Taylor takes on Peninsula champion Tabb at noon followed by Beach runner-up Bayside against Peninsula runner-up Lafayette at 2 p.m.
At noon Wednesday, Cox faces the Lake Taylor-Tabb winner followed by Maury against the Bayside-Lafayette winner at 2 p.m.
Both teams from Thursday's 2 p.m. final will qualify for the Group AAA quarterfinals the following week at Oakton High in Northern Virginia - site of last year's state tournament. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON
Cox High's Katie McDonald, a junior, has registered 25 goals, not
bad considering she plays alongside Kim Miller, who ranks among the
highest-scoring players in the history of the game.
by CNB