Mar 9, 2006
By Mike Reiss, Globe Staff
WALTHAM -- Valene Yorston turned on her computer and checked the in box. One e-mail caught her eye.
Your new coach is Angela McMahon.
Yorston knew the Bentley College women's lacrosse team would have a new coach for 2006, so the message wasn't a surprise. But it left her wanting more, so she turned from senior cocaptain to rookie investigative journalist.
''I Googled her and all this stuff popped up," recalled Yorston, of Wayland. ''Right away, I was excited."
That excitement is shared by most Bentley players. The 24-year-old McMahon, a three-sport star at Weston High (class of 2000), has injected a jolt of energy to the Falcons. Not to mention credibility from having played at Division 1 lacrosse powerhouse Northwestern University.
''She's intense," said senior goalie Lisa Cavallo, of Hopkinton. ''Our practices are hard. We practice with a purpose. She's setting high expectations for us."
Bentley finished 6-8 last season, although three players on the roster from Boston's western suburbs -- Yorston, Cavallo, and Hopkinton's Katelyn Barry -- all sense that the team is on the upswing.
They said it starts with their new coach.
''I was stoked when I found out about her," said Barry, a junior forward. ''She just knows so much about the sport. We can already see that, playing with her in practice. We're all really excited to have a young, athletic coach."
Bentley opens the season Monday at West Chester (Pa.), and McMahon said she hopes the contest marks the start of a long career. She has known since high school that she wanted to coach, but the question was how to land a job.
The Bentley position was her lucky break.
''I didn't want to go too far out of New England and had expressed an interest to my old coach at Northwestern," she said. ''She told me she'd let me know if she heard of anything."
Turns out her coach had a connection with the Bentley men's lacrosse coach, Jim Murphy, and McMahon was interviewing two days later. Two days after that, she had the job.
''Everything about it has been great," she said. ''The best part about it is the girls. They are so excited to play and they've been putting in so much effort, working hard."
If Bentley is to improve on last year's six-win campaign, the trio of Yorston, Cavallo, and Barry will be key.
Yorston, an English major, is an anchor on defense. She came to Bentley with hopes of playing soccer but instead suited up for lacrosse.
''She's more of a quiet leader, but she makes her presence known on the field," McMahon said. ''She's very aggressive, going 100 percent all the time, never letting down."
It's Yorston's job to make sure opponents don't get too comfortable around Cavallo, the goalie. Cavallo, a math major, is a cocaptain who didn't start playing lacrosse until she was a senior in high school.
''She is a vocal leader, organizing everything," McMahon said. ''She steps up and makes big plays all the time. You can see when she makes a big save, it gets everyone else on the team excited."
At the other end of the field is Barry, who is at her best when firing shots on net.
A marketing major, Barry was a three-time Tri-Valley League all-star at Hopkinton High.
''She's the type of player who makes sure everyone knows the play," McMahon said. ''She's one of the most excited people on the team. She just wants to be out there all the time. She loves to play, and it shows in her personality."
McMahon, who is assisted by Miriam Godfrey, has already drawn on her experience from Northwestern, showing Bentley videotape of her former team, which won the Division 1 NCAA Championship last season. McMahon also had one of her former teammates, goalie Ashley Gersuk, come to campus to work with Cavallo.
As for being so close to her players in age -- she once played against Yorston in a Weston-Wayland high school soccer game -- McMahon doesn't believe it's a problem.
''More than anything, I think it's great because being a recent player, the girls feel like they can relate to me and I can jump in at practice," she said. ''I think they feel very comfortable with me. At the same time, it is a little different, because being a coach makes you grow up faster. I'm 24, but sometimes I feel like I'm 30. I think there's enough space there."
The players agree.
''She knows so much about the game," Yorston said. ''She's already taught us stuff about stickwork, things I've never known. It's been awesome. Most of all, because she's so close to our age, she knows a lot about what we're going through."
? Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
