It's a culture about sports that charter scfaithhools don't always have, according to O'Donnell, and one that could encourage her girls to pursue soccer in college, whether for NCAA-sanctioned programs or club teams.
Central won the Public League championship eight straight years, after routinely and methodically going through its league opponents during the regular season.
But last season was different.
In the spring, Franklin Towne split two regular-season games with Central - the Coyotes' May 16 victory snapping the Lancers' 117-game winning streak in the Public League - and then went on to beat Central, 2-1, in the league final.
"Last season, we kind of set the goal we weren't going to lose to them [the Lancers] again, and that drove everything we did. We prepared ourselves," O'Donnell said. "It was huge - they talked about it every single day."
The success hasn't stopped there for O'Donnell and the Coyotes, who didn't have much time off between their June playoff game to this year's preseason.
"Winning, it convinced them that all this hard work and practice paid off," O'Donnell said of her players.
Earlier this season, Franklin Towne defeated Faith Christian, a PIAA state-playoff team last spring, 4-3. The win was huge for the Coyotes, who don't get to face many nonleague opponents.
"The next thing, as far as coaching I want to see, if we can compete with the schools from the archdiocese," O'Donnell said. "How do [the Coyotes] compare to private schools or the surrounding suburbs?
"It was difficult this year to get nonleague matchups," she added.
O'Donnell said she hopes to face two Catholic League teams - St. Hubert and Archbishop Ryan - in 2013, when her squad will be full of experienced veterans who have helped to shape the program the past few years.
While she recognizes that facing the likes of the Bambies and the Ragdolls will be a big challenge, O'Donnell is excited to see how her Coyotes will perform.
Maybe they'll even accomplish a few more firsts along the way.
Indians and injuries. After his team went 19-4 and won the Suburban One League National Conference last season, Council Rock North coach Larry Sullivan knew that his Indians were going to have a tough time repeating that success.
Things were looking promising for North, though, when it started the season undefeated behind the play of seniors Nicole Moonan and Sarah Cannon.
Then, the Indians lost two key seniors, Adrianna Rosario and Alexis Steele, to serious knee injuries. So now, Sullivan is shuffling around players, depending on the experience of Moonan and Cannon, but also looking to some of his younger players to step up.
"I have sophomores coaches would die for," Sullivan said.
One of those sophomores is Michaela Finneyfrock, who has seven goals this year. Add in freshman sensation Tori Hill, and Sullivan hopes his squad is ready for an Oct. 15 rematch with Neshaminy, the only team to defeat the Indians so far this season.
Now 8-1, C.R. North is using the loss against the Redskins as a "reality check," Sullivan said.
He hopes that the next time the two teams meet, the game will "mean something," as it could determine the regular-season conference champion.
Contact Kate Harman at rallysports@phillynews.com.
