“It's Our Time!” - CUA Magazine - the Catholic University of America

“It’s Our Time!”
The Era of Girl Power
By Lisa Carroll
More than 200 women participate in
intercollegiate athletics at CUA. They may not
have experienced the inequities for female
athletes before the passage of Title IX in 1972,
but they are forever shaped by the landmark
legislation.
On an early November Sunday, Catholic University’s field hockey team takes the field
for the second time in two days. It’s slightly warmer than the previous day’s blustery
game, when the Cardinals defeated Susquehanna University. Bundled up fans seek out
sun-soaked spots in the bleachers, at least until their source of warmth begins to dip behind
Cardinal Stadium.
On the field, the young women run warm-up drills. They seem not to notice the chilly
weather. On this day, they are focused on playing Drew University for their second consecutive
Landmark Conference championship. The team forms a circle in the middle of the field and
taps their sticks.
“It’s our time!” they yell.
Once the game is under way, spectators stomp their feet and rattle the bleachers. A group of
male students, passing up NFL football to be at the game, chant “Let’s go, Cards!”
After a hard-fought first half, the game is tied 1-1.
In the second half, the team scores two goals within five minutes. That will be enough for
CUA. As the last seconds tick off the clock, fans stand and clap, calling out the names of friends
and family members on the field. The players run to midfield, celebrating a 3-2 win with hugs,
leaps into each other’s arms, championship T-shirts, and a brand-new trophy.
The road to this championship may have begun 40 years ago.
Senior Catherine Mirsky celebrates with her field hockey teammates
after winning the conference championship in November.
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Spring 2013 15

Senior Jill Woerner and her team finished the regular season
24-1, were ranked 10th nationally, and won the Landmark
Conference championship.
Title IX is a Game-Changer
Approximately 215 women are participating in CUA
intercollegiate athletics during the 2012–2013 academic year.
Since fall 2011, women’s teams have won six Landmark
Conference championships. The women’s basketball, field
hockey, and lacrosse teams have made appearances in NCAA
Division III national tournaments.
When women on these teams were born, Title IX had been in
place for about 20 years. Passed by Congress in 1972, Title IX
states that any school receiving government money cannot treat
females and males differently because of their sex. Academic
opportunities and organized sports for girls and young women
expanded. During the 1971–1972 academic year, 29,977
women participated in college sports, according to the book Let
Me Play: The Story of Title IX. Last academic year, there were
195,657, according to the NCAA.
Women on current CUA rosters grew up balancing academics
and practices for sports, a variety of which were available to
them. Unlike some generations before them, they had opportunities
to attend summer sports camps and development programs.
They played on traveling club teams and for their high schools.
To them, being feminine never meant you couldn’t also play
sports.
“This generation has grown up with WNBA games on TV.
That was something I had never seen as a kid,” says Gia Cillizza,
head field hockey coach, who played field hockey at Division I
Miami University of Ohio in the late 1990s. “The girls today
have such an easy entree to athletics. They have pink shorts and
pink and green lacrosse and field hockey sticks. I wore George
Brett spikes and an Ozzie Smith glove for softball. These girls
know Jennie Finch, Diana Turasi, and Serena Williams, and
have grown up in a time where you could put a bow in your hair
and still be a beast on the field.”
Today, women’s sports programs can be found in almost every
high school and college athletic program. Because of that,
Meghan McDonogh, head women’s lacrosse coach, says that she
thinks the importance of Title IX has been lost somewhat on the
current generation of female athletes.
“Hands down, I wouldn’t be where I am without Title IX,”
explains McDonogh, who holds a doctorate in sport
administration. “It’s important for these girls to respect the past.
If you don’t know what happened in the past, how can you
continue into the future?”
The Dawn of Women’s Athletics at CUA
In 1961, at the age of 22, Jone Dowd came to Catholic University’s
athletics department as its first full-time female employee to set
up physical education and intramural programs for women. She
had just earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education at
Southern Connecticut State University.
Dowd taught CUA freshman and sophomore women, who at
that time were required to take physical education. She set up a
women’s intramural sports program, which
often featured sororities competing against each
other.
In 1961, during a meeting of women
athletic administrators from local universities,
the group proposed setting up competitions
among the universities’ respective female
athletes. The intercollegiate program eventually
grew into the Metropolitan Intercollegiate
Sports Association for Women.
“We took the best players from each
sorority team as well as the best physical
education students and asked them if they
would like to join a varsity extramural team,”
she explains. Beginning in the 1960s and
early 1970s, the University fielded extramural
teams in field hockey, volleyball, basketball,
swimming, and tennis.
There wasn’t a lot of funding for these
early teams, almost all of which were coached
by Dowd. She would drive teams to games in
her nine-person station wagon. The University
supplied a dozen red tunics as uniforms
that were shared by almost every female
sports team.
Although Dowd had often been frustrated
by a lack of interest from women in sports
participation, she says that changed after
Title IX. More women came to the
University with athletic experience in high
school and an interest in competing on the
college level.
Dowd retired in 2008 after 47 years at the
University, 34 of them as head women’s
tennis coach. She witnessed many changes in
women’s sports during that time: the eventual
hiring of coaches for women’s extramural
teams, the passage of Title IX, the NCAA’s
decision to administer women’s sports in
1981, the expansion of women’s sports at
CUA, and a shift in cultural attitudes toward
women’s participation in athletics.
“When female former students come to
me and introduce themselves as having been
on a sports team, they often say those were
the best years of their lives,” she explains.
“That’s very rewarding to hear.”
Sharon Hodges Repass (B.S.N. 1981) got
her start in basketball in Catholic Youth
Organization leagues. At the Academy of the
Holy Cross in Kensington, Md., Repass
played on a team that put together a winning
streak that lasted several years. Many of her
teammates earned scholarships to play at the
college level. She came to play at CUA in
1977, not long after the passage of Title IX.
Repass received a full athletic scholarship
and was a four-year starter for the Cardinals.
At that time, the University offered athletic
scholarships. She was also the first woman at
the school to score 1,000 career points and is
the all-time leading rebounder. She was the
first woman inducted into CUA’s Hall of
Fame, of which her great-grandfather,
grandfather, and great-uncle are members.
Her daughter Michele was named CUA’s
first-ever Capitol Athletic Conference Field
Hockey Rookie of the Year.
Of her time at the University, Repass
recalls, “We made friends from other CUA
sports teams and they would come watch our
games and we would watch theirs. The
campus was very supportive of girls’ sports.”
During her senior year, Repass’ coach
asked her if she was interested in playing
professional basketball after graduation.
“I laughed and said, ‘What?!?!’” she recalls.
“There was talk of a pro league for women
at the time, but I never really considered that
a possibility. That there was even talk of a
pro league for women showed the continued
progression of women’s sports. Thanks to
Title IX, the WNBA did become a reality.”
Success Begets Success
The string of achievements by women
athletes at CUA since the University joined
the Landmark Conference in 2007 has been
extraordinary. Women’s teams have won
conference championships in field hockey,
lacrosse, soccer, basketball, and cross country.
Last spring, the softball team won its first
Eastern College Athletic Conference South
championship. In November, the volleyball
team played in its first-ever Landmark
Conference championship game. The soccer
team has advanced to the Landmark
Conference championship in three of the last
five years.
During the last three sports seasons
(winter 2011–2012, spring 2012, fall 2012),
athletes from every women’s sport were
named to First and Second All-Landmark
Conference teams. Head coaches Joe Fisher
(cross country), Gia Cillizza (field hockey),
and Nagy Abdelrazek (volleyball) were named
coaches of the year. Freshmen Hayley Wright
(field hockey) and Lindsay Brophy (lacrosse)
were named rookies of the year. Volleyball
player Claudia Jean was named Player of the
Year, while lacrosse player Mary Swarthout
earned Player of the Year honors for the third
consecutive time.
Athletic Director Mike Allen has several
explanations for the recent success. He says
the athletics department has invested in
recruiting and keeping quality head coaches
and expanding the roles of assistant coaches.
The academic reputation of the University
and upgrades to athletic facilities have
attracted more recruits. Overall, he says,
there has been strong support for women’s
athletics from the entire University community.
Cillizza is now in her 11th season as head
field hockey coach. She started out coaching
part time while balancing a full-time job at
the National Journal.
“I would plan practices in the car,” she
explains. “I’d be on bathroom breaks thinking
up drills.”
Eventually, she decided her heart was in
coaching and asked the athletic director at
the time, Bob Talbot, if she could begin doing
it full time. That transition made a difference.
She had more time to plan practices, recruit,
and focus on the needs of her team. With
that came success. Since becoming a full-time
coach, Cillizza’s teams have set win records, won
conference championships, and advanced to
the NCAA Tournament.
Coaching full time also allowed Cillizza to
host summer camps, serve as a site director
and coach for the United States Field Hockey
Association Futures Program (which enables
her to connect with potential local high
school recruits), and observe national team
training sessions, all in an effort to take her
program to the next level.
Senior Catherine Mirsky, a nursing major
from Chevy Chase, Md., is an accomplished
field hockey player. She has been named to
All-Landmark Conference teams three times.
She initially didn’t consider enrolling at
CUA, since it was so close to home. Baseball
Coach Ross Natoli, a family friend, encouraged
her to check out the University. During
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Spring 2013 17

The lacrosse team has won the Landmark Conference
Championship the last five years in a row.
Mirsky’s senior year of high school, Cillizza attended a
tournament in which she was competing.
“I said ‘Okay, I’ll just talk to her and get Coach Natoli off my
back,’” Mirsky recalls. “I really liked Coach Cillizza and her
philosophy about the program here, about being at a high-level
Division III program, where competition, winning, setting
goals, and achieving goals are important, but it’s not your life.
It’s not your job. You’re an athlete but you’re still a student and
you have a life outside of sports.”
That type of recruiting pitch has worked well for McDonogh
as well. This spring will mark her seventh year as head lacrosse
coach. Her teams have won every single Landmark Conference
championship since the conference was established during the
2007–2008 academic year. They have won at least one NCAA
Tournament game in each of those championship seasons.
She finds that CUA is an easy “product” to sell to top
recruits. While Division III athletes don’t receive athletic
scholarships, she says many of her players qualify for academic
scholarships that may compete with athletic scholarships
offered at Division I or II programs.
“I think D.C. is the best city in the country, or even the
world, to go to college in, especially for internships,”
McDonogh explains. “We offer so many majors. We have the
School of Architecture and Planning, School of Nursing, and
School of Engineering. I think that sets us apart. With today’s
young women, we’re seeing so many more who are interested in
engineering and the hard sciences, which is exciting.”
She says that early achievements in her coaching career
opened the door for more success.
“Much higher level talent is seeking us out as opposed to us
having to go out and try to find those kids. They’re making this
choice that they want this balance of helping us make that next
jump to the Final Four, while also pursuing all the academic
opportunities,” she says.
During a late November basketball game against Salisbury
University, senior guard Jill Woerner of Providence, R.I., opens
the contest by scoring the team’s first basket from the right
corner of the free throw line. She has a smooth shot and a knack
for grabbing rebounds over bigger competitors. She rips
potential jump balls out of the hands of opponents. On this
night, her 18 points and 10 rebounds help CUA defeat
Salisbury 69-41. The victory makes head women’s basketball
coach Matt Donohue the winningest coach in that sport’s
history at CUA.
Woerner was named the Rookie of the Year during the
2009–2010 season and has been named First Team All-
Landmark Conference twice. She was named the Landmark
Player of the Year in February. In high school, she narrowed
down her college choices to Butler University in Indianapolis, a
Division I program, and CUA. She knew she wanted to go to
school in a city and study biomedical engineering.
“I realized once I visited here that I loved the campus since
“The girls today ... have grown up
in a time where you could put a
bow in your hair and still be a
beast on the field.”
it’s enclosed and it’s really green,” she says.
“After my second visit, I knew I had to come
here.”
Woerner and seniors Katarina Owunna
and Jenny McGann have all started for the
team since their freshman year. Woerner says
that has helped the team develop a chemistry
that led them to the Landmark Conference
championship the last two years.
For Donohue, the success of the various
women’s teams at the University serves as an
inspiration.
“As a coach, you’re competitive,” he
explains. “When you see all these teams
competing for or winning conference
championships and making runs in the
national tournament, you want to be there.
You want to be at that point. It inspires you
to work that much harder as a coach.”
Off the Field
The same drive that pushes them on the field
or court pushes student-athletes in the
classroom. They are regularly recognized by
the Landmark Conference for academic
success. During the 2011–2012 academic
year, 152 CUA student-athletes received
Academic All-Conference Honors.
As a faculty representative for athletics,
Rev. John Beal, professor of canon law, can
frequently be found in the stands or pacing
the sidelines at women’s sporting events.
“One of the things that I have to do is
make sure that all people participating are
academically eligible,” he says. “That’s not a
real problem here, partly because the coaches
monitor it fairly carefully, but also because
our athletes are aware that there aren’t pro
scouts in the stands waiting to give them a
lucrative contract when their playing days are
over, so they better get a degree.”
Participation in service activities as teams
and individuals is also a key component of
the student-athlete experience. Athletes often
chip in when the University hosts the Special
Olympics D.C. each summer. In 2009, the
women’s basketball team traveled to Ireland,
where they held a clinic in partnership with
Peace Players International, a program designed
to unite children in divided communities
through basketball.
Senior media studies major Laura Kinley,
who runs cross country and track, traveled
with Campus Ministry to Jamaica twice for
mission trips, once as a service leader.
“It’s sometimes hard with practices and
homework to get in a weekly routine of
service,” Kinley explains. “During spring
break, when I don’t have meets and practices,
I get to experience this vocation of
Christianity and serving others.”
Kinley has also made time for internships,
volunteering in the White House mail room,
CUA President’s Society, the Student-Athlete
Advisory Committee, and academic advising
for the First-Year Experience.
“I think if you want to be a real studentathlete
in college, there’s nowhere else to go
but Division III,” she says.
As director of the undergraduate degree in
nursing and a liaison to the athletics
department, Assistant Professor Teresa Walsh
oversees several female student-athletes. They
are among the best students in the program
and serve as an example at the school, she
says.
“You have to have a balance in life,” she
explains. “Everything just can’t be school.
Everything just can’t be sports. They live that
balance and they’re young, healthy women
who want to be active. I think they can be
role models for all of us.”
40 for 40
Lee Ann Joiner Brady (B.A. 1978) was
in high school when Title IX was
enacted. “I was fortunate to grow up
playing sports. I have three brothers and
my father had the same expectation for
me as the boys — to learn how to
compete. But I knew that others weren’t
so lucky. The law was needed,” she says.
Brady picked up a new sport —
tennis —as a freshman, and played for
CUA all four years. “My time at the
University was life changing. I arrived
from a small town in New Hampshire. I
loved the city, had remarkable teachers
and coaches, and made some great
friends.”
Now, as a member of the University’s
Board of Trustees, Brady continues
her allegiance to her alma mater. “I
loved watching the explosion of
women’s athletics. CUA had three teams
in NCAA tournaments last year.”
That success motivated Brady’s most
recent gift to the University. To commemorate
the 40th anniversary of Title
IX, she donated $40,000 to the athletics
department to support women’s sports.
Brady says she hopes her donation
will inspire other women to support
their alma mater. “Traditionally, the
University’s male athletes have gone
on to be generous benefactors. Now that
we have a generation of women who
have competed for CUA, it is time for
us to do the same.”
“Lee Ann is a tremendous role
model both for our current studentathletes
and our alumni,” says Mike
Allen, director of athletics. “She has a
great loyalty to CUA and our athletic
programs and we are all very grateful
for her leadership and generosity.”
Web Extra:
Visit cuamagazine.cua.edu to view
a photo gallery and read more
about women’s athletics at CUA.
18 The Catholic University of America Magazine
Spring 2013 19