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Since Bob Milloy arrived on campus eight years ago, the buzz each fall surrounding the Good Counsel High sports scene has centered on football.

And for good reason: Milloy, who captured eight public school state titles before coming to Good Counsel, has produced a 58-19 record during his seven years.

Four years ago, three-sport coach Kelly Stodter was hired with a little less fanfare. But Stodter has taken a once little-known field hockey program and turned it into one of the county's more feared teams.

In fact, she has twice accomplished what Milloy has yet to: Win a Washington Catholic Athletic Conference title, including last year's thrilling victory against arch-rival Holy Cross at the University of Maryland.

Stodter also won the WCAC championship in 2005, her first season with the Falcons. Good Counsel has won three of the five titles since the league began in 2003, with the Tartans capturing the other two.

"Good Counsel has done very well across the board with the female sports programs," said Stodter, the reigning Gazette Co-Coach of the Year. "That's not to say the football team doesn't have a strong program, but [Milloy has] got to deal with DeMatha. DeMatha doesn't have girls sports."

That is true, as DeMatha annually produces Division I college athletes in numerous sports. The football program is routinely ranked at or near the top of both state and national polls. Its game with Good Counsel later this fall will be aired on ESPN, as was an early-season game last year.

It's also true that Stodter took over a program that had reached two straight WCAC finals. The Falcons and Holy Cross split in 2003 and '04; both games were decided by penalty strokes.

But unlike Milloy, Stodter — who also coaches girls basketball at Sandy Spring Friends — inherited a team full of athletes focused on other sports, playing field hockey for fun or to just stay in shape for basketball or lacrosse.

She cannot offer any sort of financial aid to attend the school, either, making the recruitment of players more difficult. So does the relative obscurity of a field hockey league that consists of just five teams: Good Counsel, Holy Cross, Elizabeth Seton, St. John's and St. Mary's Ryken.

Despite those hangups, Stodter and former co-coach Kristin Ramsey, who will not return this season because of a job change, have not only made the Falcons the team to beat in the WCAC (20-4 regular season record the past three league seasons), but also a team starting to strike fear in opponents around the area.

"The girls are not afraid to be challenged," Stodter said. "We want to be challenged to go to the next level. That's truly how this program has grown, plus the facilities are unbelievable. I like to play teams from all around."

To satisfy that thirst for being the best, Good Counsel has added former state champions Glenelg, Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Quince Orchard to its non-conference schedule. It played Independent School League powerhouse St. Stephen's & St. Agnes in 2006.

The Falcons (49-20-2 overall during Stodter's tenure) have fared well for the most part since stepping out of the league. They tied St. Stephen's in 2006 and bested Quince Orchard and Magruder last fall.

"Regardless of what we do out of the conference, it builds for the future," said Stodter. "My team consists of almost the entire lacrosse team and some great basketball players and new club field hockey players, an extremely strong swimmer and a great golfer. I think its unique having those types of personalities."

Those new club field hockey players stem from Stodter's relatively new Maryland Goal Seekers program. Stodter, who trains her team inside and out to work on stick skills on different surfaces, takes those teams to play in tournaments in Pennsylvania and against a team from Severna Park. Severna Park High owns the state record with 17 state titles.

"We now have a solid infrastructure that will cultivate this team," Stodter said, "especially the younger club players as well as being loaded with great athletes with speed in the upper class and work ethic that [says] never give up, never give in year round in any sport, and [they] are champions in several sports and take it very seriously."