Flannery O’Donnell comes out to make a stop during a 3-0 loss at Allentown on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. (Staff photo by Samantha Sciarrotta.)
It was just another normal gym class at Notre Dame High School. There seemed to be nothing special about it when the bell rang for class to start.
Little did Flannery O’Donnell and Barb Major realize that the next 40 minutes would alter an aspect of their lives significantly.
O’Donnell, who had just completed her second season as a field player on the Irish JV field hockey team, volunteered to play goalie in a game of floor hockey. The gym teacher was Major, who is also the long-time Irish field hockey coach.
By the end of the class, Major knew she had her varsity goalie for the 2015 season. She had watched O’Donnell play goalie in soccer during class, but the idea didn’t click until she got in the cage for hockey.
“That was the turning point,” said ND assistant coach Cheryl Harris, who has known O’Donnell since her childhood and has worked closely with her in field hockey. “Barb told me there would be guys coming on to her with the ball, and she would be like ‘Go ahead, I dare you!’ She had really aggressive qualities. We had lost a really good goalie to graduation, and we needed one.”
After three days of pondering and discussing it, Major made O’Donnell the goalie offer.
“We just saw something in Flannery,” Harris said. “She’s not afraid to go after the ball.”
It didn’t take much convincing, since last spring in JV lacrosse, O’Donnell played in goal when the starter got a concussion.
“I had enjoyed being goalie in lacrosse, even though it was only one game,” she said in an e-mail.
Then, JV lacrosse coach Kevin Deal, also a field hockey assistant, reinforced the idea to O’Donnell that she might want to don the goalie’s equipment.
But O’Donnell was hesitant. She wasn’t sure if she would enjoy goalie as much as she did playing at midfield or on the defense.
“After talking with coach Harris and coach Major, I realized that I’d love field hockey, no matter if I was playing on the field or not,” she said. “If goalie was the position that would increase that playing time, then it was definitely where I wanted to be playing.”
Needless to say, this was not what O’Donnell envisioned by the end of her sophomore year.
“At this time last year, I had hoped I would be playing on the varsity this year,” she said. “But I never imagined it would be as a goalkeeper. I still can’t believe how much I’m loving being in that goal.”
O’Donnell’s aggressive nature came from growing up in a family of four in University Heights. Her older brother Jack played for the ND soccer team, and younger twin siblings Grace and Sean both play numerous sports, so there were plenty of backyard scuffles. Athletics are her genes, as her dad, Dan, was also a standout golfer at Notre Dame in ’80s.
O’Donnell played soccer through eighth grade and plays Hamilton PAL basketball, but she had no intentions of playing in high school. Urged by her mom, Meg, to play a fall sport in order to make friends her first year in a new school, she opted for field hockey and attended a few camps the summer before her freshman year. She immediately embraced the sport. After playing center-midfield for the freshman team, she was a midfielder and defender on the JV.
“She was my bulldog at center-mid,” said Harris, the Irish freshman coach. “She’s the one I could trust to go out there and make things happen.”
O’Donnell was confident she could make varsity as a field player this year but once the goalie job was offered, she worked hard to learn the position. Notre Dame’s team went to a camp at the University of Delaware, and O’Donnell made the commitment to go as a goalie.
That’s when the evolution started.
“It’s safe to say pretty much everything I learned about goalkeeping I know from the Delaware camp,” O’Donnell said. “It was easily one of the best parts of my summer. I could feel improvement in my skills every couple of hours, which was an amazing feeling. Even though it was such a hot week and I was covered in gear I was having way too much fun to ever consider it torture.”
The campers were all assigned to teams, and O’Donnell’s Japan squad was coached by the camp’s goalie coach, Kim Kinsella. A standout at Missouri State University, Kinsella led the nation in saves percentage and saves per season three times. She is currently the Blue Hens’ goalie coach.
“I would work with her all day, and the all the goalies would meet up to do training as well,” O’Donnell said. “Initially, all the other goalies were way better than me, but toward the end I felt as though I wasn’t far behind them in terms of skill level. Kim taught me the basics, techniques and strategies, and I had the privilege of working with the starting Delaware goalie (Emmeline Oltmans), who was an incredible player from the Netherlands. It was an amazing experience and made me into such a better goalie.”
O’Donnell deserved some credit for wanting to become better. She didn’t just do as she was told. She did so much more.
“Just watching her get coached, you could see the wheels turning,” Harris said. “Even when other athletes were getting told what they were doing wrong, she would listen to what was being said so that she could learn from other people.”
O’Donnell took her knowledge and went to work. Returning home, she attended team weight room sessions, followed by pick-up games for an hour. When she showed up for preseason camp, Harris was amazed at the strides O’Donnell made.
“For 10-plus years as a freshman coach, I’ve had to train a goalie from nothing to being a starting goalie,” said Harris, whose children went to University Heights Elementary School with Flannery. “Never have I witnessed what we’ve seen from her in such a short amount of time. You look at her and would never say she’s a first-year goalie. She’s got such heart and such determination. If she’s nervous, I’m never able to tell.”
What’s the secret?
“A lot of it is that she’s bright,” Harris said. “She’s very smart, she pays attention and she grows from her mistakes.”
O’Donnell actually shares some things in common with fellow Colonial Valley Conference goaltender Alyssa Langevin of Hamilton West. When asked what it was like to don the uniform the first time, O’Donnell echoed Langevin’s exact words: “I felt like a Transformer.” Also like Langevin, she is aided in goal by being a dancer. O’Donnell does Irish dancing.
“I have definitely noticed how it’s helping me in goal,” O’Donnell said. “Many years of dance allows me to be quick on my feet, and more flexible, especially when I’m extending my leg out to make a shot. It’s also important to get your body behind the ball, which is most efficient if you’re on your toes. I’m able to stay on my toes for as many corners or shots in a row as I have to, because I have 12 years of Irish dance under my belt.”
The Fighting Irish started 2-1, with O’Donnell posting shutouts in both wins. She was not tested in the opener and admitted it was tough to keep focus due to lack of action. She made four saves in a shutout of Stuart Country Day. She also realized she has to stay mentally tough after being scored upon.
“A large part of being goalie is mental,” she said. “Remaining positive though every game is often what’s most difficult, but most important.”
O’Donnell feels she is mastering the ability to put a goal behind her after being scored upon.
“Of course, as soon as I hear the ball hit the wood I get that ‘It’s all my fault’ feeling,” she said. “I just tell myself that I have to do everything in my power to not let it go in again. I also have amazing teammates, particularly the defense, who tend to blame it on themselves even when the goal was my fault. They always boost me up after I save or miss a shot, and that really helps me to always be positive in goal.”
Just as Major was positive about her new goalie after a fortuitous gym class.
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