Katie Dembrowski started her first collegiate game against Old Dominion Aug. 28th, 2015 in Norfolk, Virginia and although Penn State lost the game, 2-1, she started a streak that still stands today, as she has started in every game since.
Dembrowski, who has started in 78 consecutive games, was one of 10 freshmen who joined the Penn State field hockey team in 2015 and was tasked with starting right away. Penn State went 9-10 during Dembrowski's freshman year but the team made a run in the Big Ten Tournament, reaching the semifinals.
The following season Penn State won 17 games as it captured the 2016 Big Ten Tournament championship and made an appearance in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Princeton. Last season, Penn State matched its win total from Dembrowski's sophomore year with 17 wins and although it lost in overtime to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament final, the team defeated Delaware in the first round of the NCAA tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals against UConn.
Since Dembrowski joined Penn State, the team has gone farther in the postseason each year, and she has evolved along with the team.
"I think ever since then we've just been experiencing big games and we have more big games under our belt and I think as a senior class that's how we've gained our leadership and been able to get our team to where we are now," Dembrowski said.
Dembrowski was named as one of the team's co-captains this season but the senior had to learn how to be the leader she is today.
When Dembrowski joined the team with nine other freshmen, they were all like "a deer in headlights" since they were playing important minutes. However, Dembrowski and this year's senior class have always been open to improving.
"They understood that they had to learn," Penn State head coach Char Morett-Curtiss said. "'I've got to learn to be better. I've got to learn the game a little bit more' but they were willing to do whatever it took to become a better field hockey player, whether it be tactically or whether it be for their fitness."
This past summer Dembrowski worked as a trainer at Power Train Sports and Fitness for a second consecutive year in her hometown of Palmyra, Pennsylvania. Dembrowski taught boot camp fitness classes, which ranged from high school students to 60-year olds. Dembrowski would take her clients through their personal training workouts and help them with their exercises.
At the end of June, Dembrowski returned to Penn State where she worked for Gatorade with teammate and co-captain Jenny Rizzo, filling up Gatorade stations around campus at sports camps. While Dembrowski worked for Gatorade, she also helped organize summer team workouts, where the team trained with Penn State performance enhancement coach Steve Cuccia.
"I think coming over the summer just helps bring the underclassmen in and helps them get situated to how practices are going to be and how training is going to be because we train with Steve in the summer so I think that's always helpful," Dembrowski said.
Dembrowski not only takes it upon herself to help organize team activities by communicating with her teammates but she also leads by example with her actions.
"She's a very selfless player. It's not about her, it's like 'How can we get the team to do this. We need the team to be like this,'" Morett-Curtiss said. "Maybe it's like 'We're gonna come in on a Saturday, I'm gonna go in to lift or I'm gonna go in to workout, who wants to come with me.'
"I think she's very easy to follow because you see how hard she works. She doesn't have an ego about her whatsoever. She just wants to compete, she wants to win."
This season Dembrowski has anchored the midfield for Penn State as she has been a steady presence in the center of the field connecting with teammates on passes and disrupting opponents as they try to dribble up the field. Dembrowski's efforts do not always show up on the stat sheet but her play all over the field is invaluable.
After suffering a loss to Iowa in double-overtime in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament Oct. 28th, Dembrowski and her teammates used the defeat as an opportunity to grow and as motivation in practice to prepare for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
"I think we definitely improved as a team and we're ready to show that we worked hard to earn where we are and to show people we're a good team," Dembrowski said.
Heading into the NCAA Tournament experience will be key for Penn State and as the level of play rises in the competition, Dembrowski along with her fellow upperclassmen will need to manage the flow of the game.
"I think that's truly what the NCAA championship brings out in a team," Dembrowski said. "You can have good skills but if you have a good team that's willing to play and has heart I think that's gonna get you a NCAA championship."
Penn State will face Harvard in the first round of the NCAA tournament today and although the team hopes to make a deep run in the tournament, Dembrowski and her teammates plan to take it a game at a time. Just as Dembrowski has started in each game since her freshman year, she will take the field again today not only as a starter but also as a leader for Penn State.
"The Final Four, NCAA championship, that's everyone's goal," Dembrowski said. I think we had good runs in the NCAA Tournament previously and I think we know what it takes to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. I think it's just bringing all that together and just not looking ahead, not looking back, just focusing on Harvard."
