University Park, Pa. – Sometimes, the path you think you're taking leads somewhere you never expected…and it can be a revelation. Penn State field hockey alumna Lauren McNally had her Nittany Lion career shortened, and eventually ended, by injuries.
A letter winner from 2015-19, McNally's playing career was cut short in the fall of her final season by a torn ACL. "It was difficult, having something you've worked so hard for come to an end like that," McNally recalled. "As the season played out and with the support I received from Char (former head coach Char Morett-Curtiss) and LB (current head coach Lisa Bervinchak Love) and everyone on the staff, I was able to reset my focus, get my degree and prepare to move on with professional life."
For McNally, however, the 'athlete' in her never stopped whispering. "Even as I was graduating, I knew I wasn't ready to be done with field hockey. It just felt…'unfinished'. With an undergraduate degree in education, I wanted to get my master's degree, so I started a graduate assistantship at Castleton University in 2020 with the ultimate goal of being a teacher and coaching high school field hockey."
That would have been fine, McNally recounted, but once again, the path she thought she was on would curve. What changed? Friends and circumstance. McNally's former teammate and friend, Nittany Lion alumna Jenny Rizzo, was working a summer camp with Middlebury head coach Katharine DeLorenzo at a time when DeLorenzo was in the midst of an assistant coaching search. Rizzo, knowing of McNally's love of the sport and desire to coach, mentioned her to DeLorenzo in early June of 2021. McNally's name was immediately pulled into the candidate pool, and, in the end, Lauren joined Middlebury's staff. "I really do owe all this to Jenny in many ways," McNally said with a smile.
Middlebury has been a juggernaut in Division III field hockey. The Panthers have won the last six NCAA Division III National Championships and seven of the last eight. McNally has been part of three straight titles and DeLorenzo's staff has been named NFHCA Division III Coaching Staff of the Year three straight times.
McNally has hardened her coaching skills in the fires of a dynastic run at Middlebury, and the opportunity to learn in such a climate has been extremely enlightening. "There is one thing I've noticed throughout my two-plus years at Middlebury…this program, for all its success, does not talk about 'winning'," McNally said. "What we talk about is simply being better than the day before. Whether that's in practice or the classroom or life, it is about improving. We can't control how our opponents play, but we can control how we play. The players don't talk about it, the coaches don't talk about it. This program that Coach DeLorenzo has built is structured on that premise."
Lauren's time spent coaching has given her some interesting insights, in hindsight, to the depth and volume of what her former coaches at Penn State were handling every day. "The difference between how you look at things as a player and a coach is so massive. I never really understood how much coaches really care about you, how they are vested in you regardless of your role on the team and how much you play. The personal nature of being a coach was something that I did not expect, and it is wonderful to be a part of. I have a much greater understanding now of how much all my former coaches cared about us as players."
McNally actively leans on her experiences as a Nittany Lion as she grows as a coach. "It's interesting. My playing career gave me experience in every single role a student-athlete could be in. I was a redshirt, I was a sub, I was a starter, and I was injured. All of those roles have helped me connect with a lot of my players now. So, when I see someone, maybe, having some difficulty adapting to the role they find themselves in, I can go to them and speak from a position of experience. I can say 'hey, I've been where you are, I know what you're going through'."
The past few years have moved quickly for McNally, and she is actively taking in everything that comes her way, experiencing it and learning from it in order to build a professional foundation that will serve her well as her coaching career unfolds.
"I can't picture myself doing anything else. I eventually want to be a head coach. I don't know when that step will come and I know I have so much to learn from Coach DeLorenzo, too. Really, as a young coach, I am in the perfect place to learn the foundations of this job, this career."