THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610050233
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 85 lines
It's hard to get the images out of your mind, because you can't get them out of your sight.
Walk through Foreman Field or the Old Dominion athletic department building, and the reminders are there: NCAA championship plaques - seven in all. Colonial Athletic Association trophies. Pictures of All-Americans and ODU Hall of Famers and even a Rhodes Scholar. And on the door leading to the Old Dominion field hockey team's locker room, a sign listing the national championship years.
Yes, it's hard to forget that Old Dominion's field hockey program is one of the - if not the - best in the land.
``Sometimes,'' said former Cox standout and current Lady Monarch freshman Kim Miller, ``I'll look at that sign on the door and visualize `1996' right under the others.''
Actually, visualizing that eighth national championship isn't so far-fetched.
Though the Lady Monarchs have gone four years without an NCAA title, the pieces are in place for a return to the top. Old Dominion has a 9-1 record and is ranked No. 3 in the country. At 3-0 in the CAA, a fifth title (the CAA has sanctioned the sport for only six years) seems nearly certain, and an unprecedented 16th straight invitation to the 12-team NCAA tournament is likely.
Of course, all this talk was accelerated by their stunning 4-3 overtime win at defending national champion North Carolina several weeks ago.
So are the Lady Monarchs back? To coach Beth Anders, they never left.
``I laugh to myself every time I hear that,'' Anders said. ``We've been in every NCAA tournament held, we have a candidate (Samantha Salvia) up for NCAA Woman of the Year, and we've had more wins than any program in the country. You can take any one of the last four seasons and call it a `failure,' almost anyone else would call it a success.''
That may be. Last season the Lady Monarchs went 16-9 and finished the season ranked sixth nationally, a banner season for almost any of Division I's 78 programs. But the ``9'' on that ledger also represents as many losses as they endured in a six-year span, from 1988 to 1993.
And no matter what the Monarchs do, inevitably someone will make comparisons to those powerhouse teams of the early 1990s. The ones that pieced together a 66-game winning streak from 1990-1993, and the ones that set the standard for current Monarch teams, not to mention nearly every college field hockey team in the country.
``That team was just incredible,'' said Danielle Chellew, ODU's only senior and a freshman when the streak ended. ``But then the nucleus left and we started over again with new people. The fun part is watching a team like that play and then working to get back to that level.''
``What you get out of the team,'' added Mimi Smith, a sophomore from Ocean Lakes, ``is what you put in it.''
The Lady Monarchs eschew the polls, choosing to focus on individual games. But they'll still get the opportunity to judge themselves against the best of the country. 12 of the 20 games on the schedule are with teams currently in the Top 20, and a 13th, Michigan (a 7-0 ODU victim), received votes in the poll.
Two more national powers visit Old Dominon this weekend. Temple (4-6), which was ranked earlier in the season, is the opponent at Foreman Field at noon today while No. 8 Connecticut (10-0) comes calling at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Try talking about polls and records and the like with ODU players, though, and you won't quite get a ringing endorsement for the system.
``(The polls) are outside factors out of our control,'' said Chellew. ``We can't worry about things we can't control. We have to focus on not overlooking anyone on our schedule, whether it's North Carolina or VCU.''
Anders takes it one step further.
``I rank my team based (not on how they compare to other teams, but) on how I think they're playing to their potential,'' said Anders. ``I don't think they're there just yet, but I think they will be soon.''
Despite concerted efforts to focus on the task at hand, it's hard for the Lady Monarchs to not think about finishing No. 1.
``One of our top goals is to win the national championship,'' said Chellew. ``We can't sit around and dwell on it, but it is in the back of our minds.''
Said Smith: ``If we do what we're supposed to do, the end will take care of itself.''
But while they may win, don't ask them to win at any cost.
``Titles without unity, without caring for each other and the team, are useless,'' said Anders. ``You talk about success, and I say that if one of my kids aren't in class or are doing something inappropriate, that's unsuccessful.'' ILLUSTRATION: MIKE HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
Heather Simon, right, and the Old Dominion field hockey team are
currently ranked third in the nation with a 9-1 record. by CNB