Championship collection grows for Kelley

Where Kara Kelley goes, titles seem to follow.

After collecting four state championships in her five years as a varsity athlete at Dedham High, Kelley didn’t figure on her cache of crowns growing when she took her talents to Bowdoin College in 2006.

Less than three years later, Kelley has added two more trophies to her personal case as she became a national champion for the second time as a member of the Polar Bears field hockey team when they edged Tufts 3-2 in double overtime in the NCAA Division III Championship November 23 at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania.

“Last year after we won I said that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, then we went back this year and won so I guess I can’t say it anymore,” said Kelley, a junior. “I never thought coming from high school to Bowdoin I’d have chance to win one national championship, let alone two.”

The win made it back-to-back crowns for Bowdoin, which finished 20-2. The Polar Bears fell down just 1:13 into the final but responded with two goals in the next 10 minutes, both set up by Kelley shots.

Tufts tied it up midway through the second half, which is how it stayed until senior forward Lindsay McNamara delivered the title with strike in the second overtime. Kelley, who also had an assist in a 3-2 national semifinal win over the host Bears, was named to the All-Tournament Team.

After seeing infrequent time on last year’s champs. Kelley started all 22 games for the Polar Bears at left back this fall, scoring two goals and adding six assists. One of those goals was the game-winner in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship, a 1-0 win over Tufts, which helped her garner NESCAC Player of the Week honors.

But while Kelley’s free hits and work on penalty corners gives her a chance to get involved offensively, her main duty for the Polar Bears has been preventing goals, a stark contrast from her days as a Marauder when she racked up points at center midfield on the pitch and as a forward on the ice, leaving Dedham as the ice hockey team’s all-time leading scorer.

 “It was an adjustment,” said Kelley. “I’ve always been so offensive-minded, even in ice hockey, going back to play defense was a whole new concept, a new game. I’ve learned so much.”

Another difference between Bowdoin and her days on Whiting Avenue is playing without twin sister Kathryn, currently a standout defenseman for the unbeaten Holy Cross ice hockey squad and a teammate on all four of the field hockey and ice hockey state titlists. But despite all of the changes, the sociology and education major could not be happier up in Brunswick, Maine.

“I can’t picture myself anywhere else,” said Kelley. “It’s so strange to think that it’s already more than halfway through.”

Joining Kelley in becoming a multiple national champion was Kate Gormley, a 2005 Nobles grad. The Chestnut Hill native made 21 starts in the midfield, scoring two goals and four assists while earning NESCAC All-Academic recognition.

Kelley and Gormley denied a couple of former Porkers in the final. Sophomore Melissa Burke of Walpole was a top reserve forward for Tufts, tying for fourth on the team with six goals. The Jumbos were led by the NESCAC Coach of the Year, former Porker star Tina McDavitt.

The area was represented in both the NCAA Division I and II field hockey tournaments as well. Dedham’s Katie Kelly and Walpole’s Nikki Panciocco helped UMass-Amherst into the Division I draw for the second straight year, where they lost to 3-2 to Syracuse in the first round.

Kelly, a sophomore, was second on the team in scoring with 11 goals and five assists, including at hat trick in the Atlantic-10 semifinals against St. Joseph’s. Panciocco started 18 games on defense as a freshman.

Norwood’s Laura Sullivan and Dedham’s Nicole Murphy squared off in a Division II semifinal, with Sullivan’s UMass-Lowell River Hawks prevailing over Murphy’s Bentley Falcons, 3-2. UMass-Lowell went on to drop the final to Bloomsburg State, 6-2.

Sullivan was named a womensfieldhockey.com First Team and a NFHCA Second Team All-American in her junior campaign as one of the anchors of the River Hawk defense. Murphy was second on the Falcons in scoring with 11 goals and five assists as a junior. Murphy had the game-winning goal in the NE-10 Tournament semifinals and assisted on the winner in the finals.

In other local field hockey news, Allison Doliner of Norwood and Jaclyn Germano of Westwood, were recently named captains at Merrimack College.