Don't get Katie Donnelly wrong.

This coach enjoys winning and fully welcomes that result from her Mt. Lebanon High School girls' field hockey team.

A first-year coach fresh out of college after graduating from Washington & Jefferson in May, she mostly wants her Blue Devils to receive a long-lasting experience from participating in the sport.

"I like to win and I know my team wants to win, but as a coach, I feel that there is more to my job than winning," said Donnelly, who played field hockey for the Presidents after graduating from Mt. Lebanon in 2005. She also played in high school for the Blue Devils.

Donnelly attributes her passion for the game to her former coach, Celia West-Kushner, who started the girls' field hockey program at Mt. Lebanon in 1997. She died in 2007 after battling ovarian cancer.

"I now realize, some years down the road, the impact my coach had on me as a player and person, and I appreciate it that much more," Donnelly said. "I love field hockey. My major goal, besides winning games, is for the girls to get a wonderful experience like I had when I played."

Donnelly inherits a team that finished 7-2-1 in Section 2-AAA behind front-runner Peters Township. The Blue Devils advanced to the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs, but suffered a 3-0 first-round loss to eventual WPIAL champion Norwin.

Through its first eight games this season, Mt. Lebanon was 3-5 overall and 2-2 in section play. They were scheduled to play Peters Township yesterday in a section game.

"We still have a lot of work ahead of us," Donnelly said. "With my coaching style, there was definitely an adjustment period. I stress communication on the field and there was a change to the field setup since I run a 3-2-3-2 [three forwards, two upper midfielders, three lower midfielders, two defenders and a goalie].

"We want our individual skills to translate to a team advantage. It's going to take some games for us to know our strengths and weaknesses."

Mt. Lebanon, however, did return nine starters from last season, including forwards Alyssa Fishman, a senior captain, junior Maria Vogel, senior Kathleen Posey, midfielders senior Maura Kimball, senior Meghan Crowley, senior Katie Doody and junior Ceci Bruni, as well as goalies junior Lindsay Beggs and senior Cyndie Oleinick.

"I've made it pretty competitive," Donnelly said. "While most of those girls are going to be playing, I'm also pulling up girls from the junior varsity team.

"These girls are going to get a chance to prove themselves each week and know they're going to have an opportunity to play, travel and be competitive at the varsity level."

Doody scored a pair of goals in Mt. Lebanon's 4-2 non-section loss to Penn-Trafford in the first game of the season. Doody scored her third goal of the year in a 6-1 non-section victory over Hempfield.

Freshman Alyssa Lazarchik notched two goals against Hempfield, while Kimball and her younger sister, Mary, and Posey each added goals.

The Blue Devils picked up their second win and first section victory with a 2-1 decision against Oakland Catholic. Maura Kimball and Vogel each scored in the win.

"I was very, very pleased with the Oakland Catholic game," Donnelly said. "Everything we worked on in practice was brought to the field that game.

"If we continue to play every game like that, we won't have any problems."

Donnelly, though, knows the season will only get more competitive, especially in section play. Mt. Lebanon plays host to Peters Township and Fox Chapel this week before traveling to Fox Chapel next week.

Donnelly also is challenging her girls off the field.

She requires her senior players to lead and execute a community service project as a team in honor of West-Kushner. This year they will conduct a food drive and plant daffodils around their home turf.

"I'm striving to make sure my girls know how hard she, along with her sister and current assistant coach Cinda Isler, worked to create the field hockey program at Mt. Lebanon," Donnelly said.

Mt. Lebanon also will participate in the "Play for a Cure" game with Pine-Richland on Oct. 1 to raise breast cancer awareness.

"I just want to emphasize that as much as my job is to win and develop the best hockey players I can, there is another aspect that often goes unnoticed."

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