A good offense is the best defense. There’s a reason we hear it so much.
Field hockey head coach Brenda Semit has preached defense since her first day at Ohio Wesleyan in August.
“I always tell them ‘the first line of defense is the offense,’” Semit said. “Some of the players didn’t know much about defense or defensive positioning. Now everyone on the team knows how to play defense.”
Coach Semit, a former assistant coach at Kenyon College and former two-time All-American at the State University of New York College at Cortland, has led the Battling Bishops to a 21 record to start their season.
Her career as a player and the relationships she made along the way led her to pursue a position as head coach.
“As a player, I had some really great coaches,” she said. “They made it fun, but challenging. The culture within a team that is having fun and wanting to win is one of the best feelings.”
She served three years as an assistant coach at Kenyon. During that time the team went 4020 overall and captured one North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) crown.
Her players, including defender Lee LeBoeuf, a junior, are excited about her successful career.
“It’s really cool that she’s been so successful as a player and a coach,” LeBoeuf said. “We’re all excited about the winning culture that she’s bringing with her.”
Her successful background is no fluke, according to her players. They say she looks at the game a different way than most other coaches.
“She knows her stuff,” sophomore defender Paige Haenig said. “She’s a really good coach, both with strategy and technical aspects of the game.”
Two of Semit’s goals for her first season as head coach are to have a winning season and to make the NCAC tournament. She believes her team can do it.
“(The team) needs to understand that we are a good team and can do great things this year if we have confidence in ourselves and our teammates and play together,” Semit said.