Montville's McNamara living hockey dream at Boston College
When Kathleen McNamara applied to Boston College, she "never had a plan" to continue to play hockey. She'd resigned herself to choose her school solely based on academics, leaving her favorite sport behind.
But McNamara "never accepted it, or postponed thinking about " giving up the sport. Even after her final season at Morristown-Beard ended, she kept playing in the spring and training in through the summer. At the Beantown Classic last July, McNamara got the push she needed to re-introduce herself to the Boston College coaches from her former coach, Lawrenceville's Nicole Uliasz.
McNamara, who had played for Eagles assistant Courtney Kennedy at a USA Hockey development camp, e-mailed the staff again, and Uliasz reached out to them by phone.
A couple of days before she arrived in Boston, McNamara heard from Boston College head coach Katie King-Crowley, inviting her to com by the office after she moved in. When McNamara arrived, the coaches gave her a practice schedule and started talking about rearranging her classes.
"It was all surreal," said McNamara, a 5-foot-7 defenseman from Montville. "They said, 'We have to do all the paperwork, and you have to try out. But we know you're a hard worker. We knew you're gutsy because you wouldn't do this otherwise. We'll give this a shot.' I walked out of there like, 'Did this just happen?'"
McNamara successfully skated on to the No. 1 women's team in the United States. She posted a photo on Instagram in late September, and not even her hockey friends believed it.
Though Crowley said having walk-ons at Boston College is not unprecedented, it is quite rare.
"I don't really blame them, because my head wasn’t wrapped around it for a little while," McNamara said. "I might mess up a lot, but those few plays when I can get it, and have adjusted to the speed and make a nice play reassure me I'm supposed to be here."
McNamara's next goal is "to really earn my spot on the team" and work her way into playing time. She has already appeared in two games, both against archrival Boston University in early November.
"We knew what kind of kid she was before getting here. Kathleen's awesome," Crowley said. "She's been extremely positive. She comes to practice every day with a smile on her face and works extremely hard."
McNamara played at Morristown-Beard for four years, a forward as a freshman and sophomore before sliding to defense, her more natural position. She appeared in all but one WIHLMA game over her career, contributing 20 goals and 54 assists. McNamara received the Crimson Award for her dedication and support of her teammates last winter.
"In her own mind, she said, 'I'm going to go and try,'" said Morristown-Beard coach Bruce Driver, who credited McNamara's spring play with the Jersey Wolves boys bantam team for some of her improvement.
"It's a tribute to her and how badly she wanted to do it."
Ice hockey
Junior Katherine Chester (Mendham/Morristown-Beard) made 14 of her 37 saves in the third period as Connecticut College blanked Trinity, 2-0, on Saturday night. Chester also made 34 saves in the Camels' 4-2 defeat of Trinity on Friday.
Freshman forward Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon/Morristown-Beard) scored RIT's lone goal 14 seconds into the second period of a 3-1 loss to Providence on Saturday. She also scored for the Tigers in a 5-1 loss to Providence the day before, opening the new year with a two-game streak.
Track and field
Sophomore Bria Saunders (Parsippany) won the 200 (24.82) and third in the 600 at Rutgers' own invitational. Senior Kyle Holder (Randolph) was part of the Scarlet Knights' winning 4x800 and was second in the 600. ... Monmouth freshman Greg Stickle (Randolph) and junior Malcolm Chavis (Roxbury) finished fourth and fifth in the 400 meters. Chavis, Stickle and junior Dylan Capwell (Hopatcong) were part of the Hawks' second-place 4x400. Monmouth junior Troy Andretta (Kinnelon) was third in the weight throw. ... Lafayette senior Devin Smith (Andover/Pope John) finished fourth in the 60-meter dash (personal best 7.76) and third in the 200. Leopards junior Cory Pressl (Mendham) was sixth in the 60-meter hurdles in a personal best 8.91.
Mount St. Mary junior Chase Boyle (Parsippany Hills) won the weight throw with an IC4A-qualifying mark of 17.55 meters at the George Mason Father Diamond Invitational. He also finished fourth in the shot put.
Tulane freshman McKenzie Melius (Mountain Lakes) was eighth in the mile at the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational on Friday.
Binghamton grad student Collin Frost (Randolph) was third in the mile at Cornell's Southern Tier Collegiate Open on Friday.
Lehigh junior Katie Hatler (Jefferson) finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles (9.07), and 19th of 55 in the 200 at the Villanova Open on Friday. TCNJ junior Andrew Tedeschi (Montville) was sixth in the 3,000. Lions senior Marisa Lerit (Morristown) was ninth in the 3,000.
Swimming
North Carolina junior Abby Fisher (Kinnelon) won the 200-yard breaststroke in a dual-meet defeat of Navy on Saturday.
Freshman Liza MacCowatt (Morristown-Beard) was part of Middlebury's winning 200 free and 200 medley relays and second in the 50 breaststroke in a dual-meet victory against Colby on Saturday.
Junior Maya Scheidl (Mendham) won the 100-yard freestyle and was part of Chicago's 400 free relay in a tri-meet on Saturday.
Sophomore Meghan Thompson (Kinnelon) was third in the 200-yard freestyle and fourth in the 50 free as Lehigh fell to Army on Friday night.
Wrestling
Coe junior Jan Rosenberg (Morris Hills) won three matches at the NWCA National Duals on Friday. Rosenberg (125) had technical falls against Coast Guard and Luther, as well as a forfeit win against Merchant Marine. Coe sophomore Ryan Harrington (Mendham) also had three wins, extending his streak to 13 straight
Men's basketball
Dan Weiss (Montville) scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help guide Susquehanna to a 91-72 win over USMMA on Saturday afternoon.
Junior Ryan Kelley (Roxbury) scored a game-high 23 points in Arcadia's 76-58 loss to Stevenson on Saturday.
Carroll Rich (Morris Knolls) scored 20 points for Ithaca in its 84-81 loss to Alfred on Saturday.
Sophomore Rashaan Spencer (Mount Olive) scored 22 points for Centenary in its 70-64 loss to Cabrini.
Sophomore Sam McClellan (West Morris) scored a career-high 10 points in Muhlenberg's 75-64 loss to Johns Hopkins.
Women's basketball
Senior center Sam Lapszynski (Jefferson) scored 24 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds in Niagara's 67-57 victory over Rider on Sunday afternoon.
Samantha Tabakman (Pequannock) finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, one block and one steal in Rhode Island's 57-50 win over Richmond.
Guard Amanda Berntsen (Chatham) scored five points and dished out four assists in Princeton's 50-48 loss to Penn.
Sophomore Lauren Moses (Randolph) scored 10 points in Virginia's come-from-behind 52-50 win over Wake Forest on Sunday.
Senior forward Jessica Porada (Morris Catholic) finished with a team-high 15 points for Ursinus in its 62-50 win over McDaniel.
Sophomore Charlotte Schum (Morris Catholic) scored 11 points in TCNJ's 62-37 win over New Jersey City University.
Junior Liz Malman (Mendham) scored 18 points for Connecticut College in its 66-53 win over Middlebury.
Junior Liana Ilutzi (East Hanover) recorded eight points and five assists in MIT's 75-30 win over Mount Holyoke College.
Staff Writer Jane Havsy: 973-428-6682; jhavsy@gannettnj.com; www.dailyrecord.com/writerjane/Staff writer Dan Canova contributed to this report.