Often overlooked despite a strong tradition, girls' field hockey is played in the fall along with nine other varsity sports among the 20 athletic ventures offered through the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League.

Just 20 WPIAL schools offer the sport, 12 on the Class AAA level and eight in Class AA.

Although not as many schools sponsor the sport as some others such as basketball and soccer, at least three coaches -- Ellis School's Genny Kozusko, Winchester-Thurston's Sarah Faulx and Fox Chapel's Jen McCrady -- are optimistic about the sport's future locally.

"Eastern Pennsylvania is the hotbed for field hockey in Pennsylvania," said Faulx, who competed in field hockey while growing up in New York state, then on the collegiate level at Slippery Rock. "Over there, you have kids playing field hockey the same way other kids are playing Little League baseball."

Kozusko has coached at The Ellis School in Shadyside for 26 years and has headed the varsity program for the past 12 years, winning WPIAL titles in 2002, '03 and '08.

"It was up and running in the 1980s when I came to Ellis, but there were fewer teams," she said. "It got strong in Westmoreland County because Jeannie Kaylor started a program in the YWCA, and it just grew. Around Pittsburgh and in Allegheny County, some schools had it for a long time, but others have added it, and it's just taken off."

McCrady, a Philadelphia native who played field hockey at Michigan State, has coached the sport for 14 years and is in her second year at Fox Chapel. Her team reached the WPIAL final last year, losing to Peters Township in the championship game. The title was the first for Peters Township, which began playing field hockey eight years ago.

"For a long time, field hockey and lacrosse were private-school sports," McCrady said. "But North Allegheny's success helped the sport's popularity."

North Allegheny and Shady Side Academy each have won 10 WPIAL titles in Class AAA and Class AA, respectively. North Allegheny claimed its last title in 2007, and Shady Side is the defending Class AA champion.

Faulx said schools in Western Pennsylvania need to follow the pattern developed across the state and involve younger players. That's occurring at her school and at others that could send student-athletes to Winchester-Thurston, she said.

"We're teaching the sport in our [physical education] classes at the lower school, and we've encouraged St. Edmund's Academy, which is a feeder school for us, to play indoor field hockey and also have a middle-school team," Faulx said. "And we have encouraged players to play in the offseason and be ready to go when school begins in August."

Field hockey's Futures program ensures that players in Pennsylvania learn the same skills as those in California and other states, McCrady noted.

And, she said, the coaching has vastly improved.

"Kids are learning from coaches who have played at the highest level," she said. "They are learning from players who played at quality programs."

A Maryland native, Kozusko competed in high school and at Salem (W.Va.) College before moving to Western Pennsylvania in 1969. A coach at Ellis since 1984, she believes the sport is a viable alternative.

"If you do well in a smaller section in Western Pennsylvania, you could find yourself in the first or second round of the state playoffs," she said. "It's a lot harder to get to that level in soccer, softball and basketball. And, if a player is good enough, she could play on the college level. It's a nice item to have on a resume."

And field hockey translates well to other sports, such as lacrosse.

"We have players who compete in both sports," said Kozusko, who also coaches lacrosse at the all-girls school and also serves as its athletic director. "Before we had all these sports, we had girls who played field hockey in the fall, stayed in shape by playing basketball in the winter and then lacrosse in the spring."

Fox Chapel's McCrady, who coached at Winchester-Thurston in Shadyside for seven years before spending five years at St. Edmund's, enjoys Class AAA competition.

"You have 10 field players and a goalie, and we had 46 try out for the team this year," she said. "So you try to have a maximum number of 40 on the team and 22 more on the [junior varsity]. Those numbers solidify us as a program."

All three coaches are confident of field hockey's continued growth.

"It started out as a private-school sport, but the public schools have picked it up," Kozusko said. "It's going to be around for a long time."

McCrady does not expect complacency to set in.

"Other schools are catching up," she said. "[Western Pennsylvania] is becoming an area that's getting a lot of attention, and that's exciting."

Faulx is equally optimistic.

"The sport's growth is no longer a long-term project," she said. "You're seeing the gap bridged between Eastern and Western Pennsylvania."

First Published: September 17, 2010, 8:00 a.m.