Sister act fueling Notre Dame field hockey
RADNOR — If you just glance over the field hockey roster at Academy of Notre Dame, you won’t notice it.
It takes a much deeper dive. You have to go name by name to reveal the unique makeup of this team.
There are six sets of siblings on the varsity roster, including one pair of twins. Of the 21 players on the varsity roster 12, or 57 percent, are sisters.
“It’s crazy,” senior Aly Maguire said.
It’s not uncommon to have siblings on a roster, maybe even a couple of sets. But six?
“I never had anything like it,” Notre Dame coach Adele Williams said. “I think the most (siblings) I ever had was two (sets). This is a completely different level. Thank goodness there’s only one set of twins.”
Start with the twins, seniors Aly and Krya Maguire. They come from a pretty athletic family: Older sister, Quinn, was a three-time All-Delco for the Irish and the 2016 Daily Times Player of the Year. Their older brother, Keith, was a Malvern Prep standout who plays football at Clemson.
Then there’s senior Brennan Czajkowski and her sister, Reese, a junior, who is headed to Bucknell. Next up is senior Sydney Dalton and her sophomore sister Riley. The next pair is senior Chloe McCloskey and junior Mia McCloskey. Then there’s Michigan-bound junior Saylor Milone and her freshman sister, Reese. And the Seeger sisters, Maeve, a junior, and Maura, a freshman.
Two sets of siblings start: Brennan and Reese Czajkowski in midfield, and Saylor and Reese Milone. The other starters among the sisters are Aly Maguire (forward), Sydney Dalton (defense), Maeve Seeger (defense) and Mia McCloskey (goal).
Aly Maguire, Chloe McCloskey, Sydney Dalton and Maeve Seeger are team captains. Saylor Milone and Maeve Seeger earned All-Delco honors last season as sophomores.
“It’s a great coincidence,” Brennan Czajkowski said.
Most of the players didn’t realize the unique team makeup until after tryouts were finalized. Some didn’t notice it until the first game.
Sydney Dalton recognized it when she put together a roster to be handed out to parents.
“I quickly realized how many times I wrote down the same last name,” she said. “It was unbelievable.”
Having so many siblings has benefited the Irish. They are 14-5 overall and went 9-1 in the Inter-Ac League to win a share of the title with Episcopal Academy. The Irish are ranked ninth in Pennsylvania and 19th nationally by maxfieldhockey.com. Seeded second in the PAISAA tournament, the Irish host No. 7 George School in the quarterfinals Tuesday.
“I think it’s good with all the sisters on the team,” Reese Czajkowski said. “I think it builds a bigger connection between everybody. It’s like a big family.”
“We have a big thing here at Notre Dame, sisterhood, and it shows on the field,” Maeve Seeger added.
That camaraderie extends to non-siblings, too.
“It really brings us all together and we’re blessed to have it,” Saylor Milone said. “It shows on and off the field that we have each other’s backs, and not just the sisters, but the whole team. We’re all sisters and we support each other on and off the field.”
“When people talk about ‘twin telepathy,’ I think there’s a lot of that between a lot of the sisters, especially with the Czajkowski sisters,” Chloe McCloskey said. “Reese is in the middle and Brennan is on the outside so you get a lot of the connection between inside and outside and switching the fields. I think there is a component of the telepathy.”
There is one other benefit, Williams said, one only a coach can appreciate: “It definitely helps with the roll count, 12 family members and then everybody else.” The bigger confusion is trying to separate two girls named Reese and three named Kyra.
Many of the sisters have been teammates for a while, through grammar school and club ball. Some, like the Seegers, are playing together for the first time because of their age difference.
“It’s exciting,” Maeve Seeger said. “We would always miss the cutoff so we never got to play together. This is our first year. It’s been really fun.”
Saylor Milone and Mia McCloskey have been teammates since their days at Ss. Colman-John Neumann in Bryn Mawr. Of course, having so many siblings can be a bit perplexing at times, Williams admitted.
“The twins, I will tell you, it took me a little while to tell them apart,” said Williams, who is in her 21st season as head coach. “I would look at what shoes they wore because they wear different shoes, or their sticks, because they use different sticks. So early on I struggled with that. I would just say, ‘Aly or Kyra, one of you come here.’ Now I can tell them apart.”
Oh, and the sister act isn’t limited to the varsity. Siblings Celeste and Mimi Giangiulio are members of the JV team.
“It’s pretty cool,” Williams said.
