Sept. 29, 2016
By Mandy Bell, GoPSUSports.com Student Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK - In 2014, Penn State junior forward Kasey Morano finished her high school career taking the New Jersey title home to Eastern Regional High School. In the middle of smiles and celebration, her younger sister and teammate Madison Morano had other feelings.
"It was one of the happiest days of my life and she just starts crying," Kasey said. "She told me she would miss me and we thought we'd never play together again. That was definitely my favorite memory of us because it was a mixture of happy and sad emotions. I have a picture of her crying and me holding her and it is my favorite picture."
Little did the Morano sisters know that in two years, they would be together again at Penn State.
Growing up, both Kasey and Maddie started playing field hockey early in elementary school. Kasey began when she was in second grade and Maddie started in kindergarten. Both wanted to be exactly like their mom, who played collegiate field hockey at Lock Haven University.
"In our hometown, we didn't have field hockey," Maddie said. "[Our mom] started the program. That's why we played in camps with a bunch of older girls because there wasn't a program for us. She got us really involved and taught us how much you can love the sport."
At ages five and seven, the Morano sisters were taking part in camps with the local high school coach competing with girls who were much older than they were.
"We were the youngest ones at the camps," Kasey said. "We weren't very good obviously, but we did our best. It was just fun. We played a lot of kid games. We actually did a middle school league when we were younger, so we always were playing more competitive leagues against older kids."
Playing against higher-level competition paid off when Penn State head coach Char Morett-Curtiss showed interest in both of the Morano sisters when they reached high school.
"We had eyes on both of them," Morett-Curtiss said. "They couldn't make the full week of our camp, so we had them up here for two days and I think they just really loved Penn State at that point. Their brother was here, so I think that made it a little more comfortable for them. Kasey was a little unsure with her decision, but Maddie always new she wanted a big time athletic program, wanted the big school and wanted the school spirit."
"Before I even came here, Penn State was never in my mind," Kasey said. "For some reason, not sure if it was because my older brother went here and I didn't want to go to the same school as he did, but I just didn't want to go to Penn State. Then my dad made me visit here and I just knew it was the school for me. I didn't want to like it, but I loved it. There was something about it. I was definitely fighting it, but I just couldn't help it."
Both girls approached colleges separately and picked the schools that they wanted to go to without discussing it with each other. It just so happened to be the same school.
With Maddie just beginning her freshman year, it is the first season that Morett-Curtiss has the Morano sisters on her Penn State squad.
"I don't even think about them being sisters," Morett-Curtiss said. "I've coached so many. I think I've coached seven sets of sisters since I've been here. Because they play two different positions, I don't think of them as sisters so much, but when you see them together there's no doubt about it."
Off the field, Kasey and Maddie are nearly inseparable. During preseason, Maddie went to Kasey's apartment every day after practice and even during the season the two are together for the majority of the time off of the field.
At the beginning of the season against Bucknell, the Morano sisters shared a special moment on the field when Maddie assisted Kasey for a goal.
"It was funny because I had the ball and Kasey was wide open," Maddie said. "There was a girl right in front of me, so if I didn't pass it to [Kasey] it would've been really bad. I was trying to trick the defenders so it didn't look like I was going to pass it to her and it apparently fooled Kasey because she told me she was freaking out thinking I wasn't going to pass it to her."
"I thought she wasn't going to pass it to me and that would've started some problems," Kasey said. "That would've looked so bad, like we are sisters."
After that goal, Kasey and Maddie's parents were able to have a special moment in the crowd watching their two daughters work together on the field.
"I feel like I owe a lot to my mom because she really wanted the dream for us just as much as we did," Kasey said. "Don't get me wrong, we wanted to kill her sometimes. We would be playing and she would take us off the field if we were being fresh. But, she just really pushed and she would always say, `You'll thank me one day' and we'd just be like `Alright, Mom,' and roll our eyes. But she was so right."
After this week's homestand, the Nittany Lions will be back on the road again. The sisters just found out that they will be rooming together on the next road trip and they couldn't be more excited.
Penn State will host Michigan State on Friday at 5 p.m. at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex.