Towne Athlete Meet

TOWNE ATHLETE

Kylie Corcoran

Crofton High School Field Hockey, Lacrosse

By Tom Worgo

Field hockey consumes Crofton High School student-athlete Kylie Corcoran. The junior stays involved with the sport for 12 months of the year whether she’s playing or coaching. It always seems like she has a field hockey stick in her hand.

Corcoran doesn’t mind practicing when the temperatures hit 30 degrees in her backyard or on a turf field at Crofton High with friends. And she once participated in eight games in one day in 2019 for Sparks Field Hockey Club. “I work so hard at field hockey and dedicate so much time to it,” Corcoran says. “I knew since I was five that I wanted to play it in college.”

It’s not surprising she earned a national ranking. Max Field Hockey put her on its class of 2024 watch list, which includes the top 100 players in the country. All the hard work and accolades have made a difference. The 5-foot-9 Corcoran will attend Fairfield University in Connecticut on a field hockey scholarship. She verbally committed to the school in late September.

About 20 schools recruited Corcoran. She visited seven schools, and had a lot of interest in James Madison University.

“I loved everything about the school,” Corcoran says of Fairfield. “It felt like home when I walked in there. I didn’t want a big school and Fairfield was the perfect size. I want to major in marketing, and they have a great business program. Academics is a big thing with me.”

For the Crofton field hockey team, the junior put together a memorable season under the watchful eye of her mother Katie, a Crofton assistant field hockey coach. She helped Crofton—which boasted a 15-2 record—to a deep playoff run that resulted in the Cardinals advancing to the Class 3A state championship game against River Hill in mid-November.

Corcoran, who co-captained the team the past two seasons, led the team in goals (20) and assists (16) in 2022. She had four two-goal games: against St. Mary’s, Severn, Marriott’s Ridge, and South River. The Maryland State Field Hockey Coaches Association named Corcoran a Second Team All-State selection last year. “She is invaluable to the team,” Crofton Field Hockey Coach Amy Skrickus says. “She does so much. She works so hard at practice, and she expects the same from her teammates. She elevates everyone’s level of play.”

Corcoran is also a standout lacrosse player. She played on the junior varsity as a freshman, then started on the varsity as a sophomore. She was a Second-Team All-County pick that season, leading the team with 45 goals and totaling 16 assists in 10 games.

The 16-year-old Corcoran decided in the summer of last year to stop playing club lacrosse so she could focus more sharply on field hockey. “Once colleges started recruiting me for field hockey, I stopped playing club [lacrosse],” says Corcoran, who has played club field hockey for years. “I loved playing lacrosse, but I

knew I would be playing field hockey in college.”

Crofton Girls Lacrosse Coach Amy Newell is glad she’s decided to stick with the sport in high school. “She is the kind of player you really want on your team,” Newell says. “Her passion, intensity, and work ethic are contagious. When she was hurt, she was like our assistant coach in the way she communicated and drew up plays. She would be an amazing coach.”

Corcoran spends plenty of time coaching youth field hockey and even lacrosse. In mid-summer, Corcoran volunteers at Crofton High’s field hockey and lacrosse camps. Then from August to October, she works with aspiring field hockey players from the Crofton Recreation Council before coaching in the Freedom Field Hockey Club’s skills academy in December and January.

“It’s a lot of fun for me,” Corcoran says of coaching youth. “They are all learning to play the game.”

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