Katie O Donnell

Katie O'Donnell spent two weeks before the Women's Sports Foundation's annual awards dinner practicing walking in her five-inch heels - just in case. The former Wissahickon field hockey standout didn't think she would win the Sportswoman of the Year Award on Oct. 12 in New York, although she was among five finalists. To her surprise, the walking practice paid off. The University of Maryland senior won. "My brother Joe just told me to go to New York and enjoy myself," said O'Donnell, 21, who figured that's what she would do. "When I won, I had to walk all the way from the back [of the Waldorf Astoria hall]

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Security guard to University of Maryland staffer: "Which one is Katie O'Donnell?" Maryland staffer: "You'll know. " During warm-ups, the Wissahickon High School graduate, a senior at Maryland, may look like anyone else with a field hockey stick and a ponytail. But she could be the nation's most dominant college athlete. O'Donnell proved it again Friday, scoring all three goals in a 3-1 victory over Ohio State as the top-ranked Terps advanced to Sunday's national championship game against North Carolina.

Maryland won a tension-packed NCAA Division I field hockey final Sunday, taking the national championship with a 3-2 double-overtime victory over defending champion North Carolina. The game-winner in the 98th minute was scored by sophomore Megan Frazer on a feed from Wissahickon High graduate Katie O'Donnell after the senior had intercepted a pass. Two more minutes and the game would have gone to penalty strokes. "I really didn't have much energy left at the end of this game," O'Donnell said at a news conference afterward in College Park, Md. "I just ran five steps really hard to intercept it because I knew if it got past me, I'd be running all the way back to the end of the field.

Katie O'Donnell, a graduate of Wissahickon High School, was honored as national sportswoman of the year Tuesday night by the Women's Sports Foundation. A member of the national field hockey team and a University of Maryland star, O'Donnell was one of five finalists. She beat out a fellow Terrapin, lacrosse player Caitlyn McFadden; USA softball star Jennie Finch; Olympic hockey gold medalist Meghan Agosta; and USA water polo goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong. "I am still pinching myself to see if this is real," O'Donnell said in a statement.

Unbeaten West Chester Henderson, seeking its first Ches-Mont League National Division field hockey championship since 2004, took another step toward the title Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over host Downingtown East. Henderson (14-0-1) received two goals and an assist from sophomore Katie O'Donnell to extend its winning streak to 13 games. The only blemish on the Warriors' record is a 3-3 nonleague tie with Conestoga in their second game of the season. All three of Henderson's goals came off offensive penalty corners.

Unbeaten West Chester Henderson, seeking its first Ches-Mont League National Division field hockey championship since 2004, took another step toward the title Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over host Downingtown East. Henderson (14-0-1) received two goals and an assist from sophomore Katie O'Donnell to extend its wining streak to 13 games. The only blemish on the Warriors' record is a 3-3 nonleague tie with Conestoga in their second game of the season. All three of Henderson's goals came off offensive penalty corners.

Wissahickon field hockey coach Lucy Gil was recently analyzing the difference between last year's team, which won the District 1 Class AAA championship and advanced to the PIAA semifinals, and this year's team. A surprising 2-0 Suburban One League American Division loss to Springfield (Montgomery County) a week ago prompted Gil to do her analysis. "The difference is that last year's team played as hard as it could every single game," Gil said, after her Trojans thumped visiting Methacton, 6-0, in another conference game.

First-year Wissahickon field hockey coach Lucy Gil sent an e-mail yesterday morning to athletic director Tom Meier telling him she was "soooooo" nervous about yesterday afternoon's District 1 Class AAA championship game against Plymouth Whitemarsh. Meier responded with an e-mail of his own: "It's just another game. " Well, it didn't turn out to be just another game. Freshman standout Katie O'Donnell finally took care of Gil's churning stomach by scoring her 34th goal of the season to give the Trojans a stunning 3-2 overtime win at Methacton High.

Former Wissahickon High School star Katie O'Donnell beat out another former area standout yesterday and was named the Honda collegiate woman athlete of the year for field hockey. O'Donnell, a junior who led Maryland to a school-best 23-1 record and the runner-up spot to North Carolina in the NCAA Division I championship this season, finished ahead of three other nominees in the voting. They included Princeton sophomore Katie Reinprecht, a graduate of Mount St. Joseph. O'Donnell, a member of the U.S. national field hockey team since 2005, led the nation with 87 points and 31 assists this season and became the 24th player in NCAA history to reach 200 career points in only her third year of eligibility.

Wissahickon field hockey coach Lucy Gil, who built a very successful program in eight years, plans to tell her team at its annual season-ending banquet Sunday that she is stepping down. Gil's husband, Matthew MacNaughton, accepted a new position earlier this year in Maryland, and after their son graduates from Abington Friends in 2011, they plan to move to the Columbia, Md., area. From 2003 to 2010, Gil compiled a 151-37-3 record with the Trojans, winning six of the last eight Suburban One League American Conference championships.

Unbeaten West Chester Henderson, seeking its first Ches-Mont League National Division field hockey championship since 2004, took another step toward the title Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over host Downingtown East. Henderson (14-0-1) received two goals and an assist from sophomore Katie O'Donnell to extend its winning streak to 13 games. The only blemish on the Warriors' record is a 3-3 nonleague tie with Conestoga in their second game of the season. All three of Henderson's goals came off offensive penalty corners.

Unbeaten West Chester Henderson, seeking its first Ches-Mont League National Division field hockey championship since 2004, took another step toward the title Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over host Downingtown East. Henderson (14-0-1) received two goals and an assist from sophomore Katie O'Donnell to extend its wining streak to 13 games. The only blemish on the Warriors' record is a 3-3 nonleague tie with Conestoga in their second game of the season. All three of Henderson's goals came off offensive penalty corners.

Maryland field hockey standout Katie O'Donnell , a Wissahickon High graduate, was named Thursday as the recipient of the Mary Garber Award given to the Atlantic Coast Conference's female athlete of the year. O'Donnell, who received 28 of the 43 votes cast by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association, is the only player in NCAA field hockey history to be named a four-time first-team all-American and a four-time ACC offensive player of the year. North Carolina promoted defensive coordinator Everett Withers to interim head football coach, one day after Butch Davis was fired amid an NCAA investigation into improper benefits and academic misconduct in the program.

After the passage of Title IX, the 1999 Women's World Cup remains the most significant women's sporting event ever held in this country. As far as team sports go, what else is even close? Among all events, it's way up the list. I understand why Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs deserves its place in the history books. But in terms of real impact, a soccer team filling stadiums and getting massive media attention - and winning, as the country stopped to watch - that had far more influence than a top women's player, already a worldwide star, beating an old man, great schemer that Riggs was. A generation of athletes - including all the women now playing in college - grew up thinking it was no big deal that women filled those stadiums and got that massive media attention solely because of their athletic skill.

Wissahickon field hockey coach Lucy Gil, who built a very successful program in eight years, plans to tell her team at its annual season-ending banquet Sunday that she is stepping down. Gil's husband, Matthew MacNaughton, accepted a new position earlier this year in Maryland, and after their son graduates from Abington Friends in 2011, they plan to move to the Columbia, Md., area. From 2003 to 2010, Gil compiled a 151-37-3 record with the Trojans, winning six of the last eight Suburban One League American Conference championships.

Maryland won a tension-packed NCAA Division I field hockey final Sunday, taking the national championship with a 3-2 double-overtime victory over defending champion North Carolina. The game-winner in the 98th minute was scored by sophomore Megan Frazer on a feed from Wissahickon High graduate Katie O'Donnell after the senior had intercepted a pass. Two more minutes and the game would have gone to penalty strokes. "I really didn't have much energy left at the end of this game," O'Donnell said at a news conference afterward in College Park, Md. "I just ran five steps really hard to intercept it because I knew if it got past me, I'd be running all the way back to the end of the field.

Wissahickon field hockey coach Lucy Gil didn't have as much time to follow Katie O'Donnell in the Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA field hockey playoffs as she would have liked. But Gil wasn't surprised to see the former Trojans standout lead Maryland to championships in both tournaments. Maryland won the NCAA title with a 3-2 win Sunday over North Carolina, the same team it had beaten for the ACC crown. "I've never seen a player like her," said Gil, who became Wissahickon's coach the year O'Donnell was a freshman.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Security guard to University of Maryland staffer: "Which one is Katie O'Donnell?" Maryland staffer: "You'll know. " During warm-ups, the Wissahickon High School graduate, a senior at Maryland, may look like anyone else with a field hockey stick and a ponytail. But she could be the nation's most dominant college athlete. O'Donnell proved it again Friday, scoring all three goals in a 3-1 victory over Ohio State as the top-ranked Terps advanced to Sunday's national championship game against North Carolina.

Katie O'Donnell spent two weeks before the Women's Sports Foundation's annual awards dinner practicing walking in her five-inch heels - just in case. The former Wissahickon field hockey standout didn't think she would win the Sportswoman of the Year Award on Oct. 12 in New York, although she was among five finalists. To her surprise, the walking practice paid off. The University of Maryland senior won. "My brother Joe just told me to go to New York and enjoy myself," said O'Donnell, 21, who figured that's what she would do. "When I won, I had to walk all the way from the back [of the Waldorf Astoria hall]

Katie O'Donnell spent two weeks before the Women's Sports Foundation's annual awards dinner practicing walking in her five-inch heels - just in case. The former Wissahickon field hockey standout didn't think she would win the Sportswoman of the Year Award on Oct. 12 in New York, although she was among five finalists. To her surprise, the walking practice paid off. The University of Maryland senior won. "My brother Joe just told me to go to New York and enjoy myself," said O'Donnell, 21, who figured that's what she would do. "When I won, I had to walk all the way from the back [of the Waldorf Astoria hall]