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Cindy Timchal’s legacy was well established already, but last year she added to it by guiding her Navy women’s team to the NCAA final four.

“I was not surprised at all,” said Acacia Walker, whose Boston College team edged Navy in the semifinals. “I think the world was, but one thing you learn from Cindy is you cannot underestimate her ever. Anyone who underestimates her is in trouble.”

Timchal’s resume will add another honor when she is inducted into the inaugural class of the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Hall of Fame today in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., alongside Missy Foote, Tina Sloan Green, Carole Kleinfelder, Sharon Pfluger, and Marge Watson.

“Cindy deserves to be in the Hall of Fame due to her overall success as a coach,” said Maryland head coach Cathy Reese. “She won more national championships than anyone out there. Her career success has been better than anyone else’s out there. The way that she’s been able to influence people and how many people she’s had under her wings and work for the sport and help grow the sport is something that’s really special.”

Timchal shouldn’t have any problems delivering an acceptance speech. It’s her eighth hall of fame induction.

“This is a very special one,” Timchal said. “The IWLCA is an awesome coaches association for women’s lacrosse, and we’ve done really good things. This is our inaugural Hall of Fame class. It’s really cool.

“The Maryland Hall of Fame, and the Philadelphia Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, those are special because I grew up outside of Philadelphia, and of course the National Hall of Fame. It’s nice to be in. This particular one will be down in Florida where our coaches association meetings and convention is. We’ll also host an incredible girls lacrosse tournament. It’s nice to be honored in front of your peers. I will be very humbled and gracious for receiving the Hall of Fame induction. It really is a reflection of the level of support for our coaches. That’s what I’m all about.”

Timchal’s coaching tree – with its redwood height and evergreen density – has undeniable influence in college women’s lacrosse. The three other final four teams last year were all coached by former Timchal players – Walker, Reese and Penn State’s Missy Doherty. Seven of last year’s final Top 15 teams were coached by former players or assistants of Timchal.

“She’s always been a progressive coach, willing to try new things and never satisfied with the status quo,” said Syracuse head coach Gary Gait, whom Timchal hired at Maryland. “That’s Cindy still being Cindy, and finding new ways to have success. She’s definitely one of the greatest coaches of all time for women’s lacrosse.”

High school and youth coaches will get a chance to learn some of Timchal's innovations directly from her at the US Lacrosse Convention (LaxCon) Jan. 19-21 in Baltimore, during which she'll host an educational session. LaxCon tickets start at just $90 until Nov. 30.

In grooming so many of top programs’ coaches, she has made winning tougher on her own team, but she continues to pile onto her record. Timchal, whose 491 career wins are 105 more than the next closest Division I coach, Chris Sailer, has never been one to back down from a challenge.

“I think she loves a challenge,” Gait said. “She loves the opportunity to build something. To have that Navy job open, it’s definitely a different type of lacrosse job, but she was the right person for that job.”

Timchal proved it when she took her third program to the NCAA tournament, something no one else has done. Last year, Navy became the first service academy to advance to a women’s NCAA semifinal in any sport in their 10th season.

“In many ways, we’re still considered a young program,” Timchal said. “Florida was able to get to the final four in a few years. Maybe it took us a little longer. We throw ourselves in that arena of USC, Florida, and I believe it’s only Florida and Navy with new programs in 10 years that have gotten to the final four.”

Could it get better?

“Maybe it can be better than that,” Timchal said. “Like maybe winning a couple more games.”

Timchal’s drive is something that keeps her and her team striving for the top. She has overcome different challenges at each of her stops. She had no scholarships for lacrosse players at Northwestern in the early 1980s, stood alone in the Midwest and had almost no administrative support, yet they went to five NCAA tournaments.

“She basically took a bunch of field hockey players and made us really competitive in lacrosse,” said Lisa (Griswold) Lindley, a former Northwestern player who has become one of the nation’s winningest high school coaches at Darien (Conn.). “It was pretty amazing. We upset New Hampshire who won the national championship.

“It was clear that obviously she knew her X’s and O’s. She was phenomenal that way and a phenomenal motivator. From a player’s perspective, you wanted to do well for her.”

Timchal still has that same effect more than 30 years later. After returning a slipping Maryland program to the top of the lacrosse world with eight national titles in 16 seasons, she left for Navy in 2006.

“Having a coach with that winning experience, it’s hard to put it into words, but it does go a long way,” said Amanda Towey, who was a senior captain on Timchal’s first varsity team at Navy. “It does bring the atmosphere of the team more together and having that tradition of winning makes you want to do better.”

Navy became the measuring stick in the Patriot League with four conference titles in her first six years, but nationally they hadn’t gotten past the first round of the NCAA tournament. Navy didn’t even win the Patriot League regular season last spring, but in their postseason run, Timchal showed why she’s one of the very best.

“She brings an energy,” Reese said. “She’s been great with every the program she’s at. For them to get to the final four speaks volumes for her as a coach and for her players.”

Timchal has kept a consistent approach to every one of her teams. She stayed positive in her message to the Midshipmen.

“We were trying not to dictate the level of success of our program by the scoreboard,” Timchal said. “The scoreboard wasn’t going to dictate whether we were a good or bad program. Our philosophy is if you put everything out on the line during the game and you look at the scoreboard and you come up short, you can’t have any regrets. You did everything you could. If we came up short, we never stopped believing in our team and our players.”

Their faith was rewarded last year with a final four run that has given them confidence for this year and even beyond.

“I just feel like we’re getting started though,” Timchal said. “That’s how we feel about coming off of last season. This is just a start. This is not just this little Cinderella ride.”

Navy returned to fall ball with a greater understanding of what it takes to play with the upper echelon teams. They will play with the same high intensity defense and high-powered offense that has trademarked Timchal’s Navy squads.

“The new rules, the free movement, was something we really wanted,” Timchal said. “There’s a new rule for our draw, which players can’t come off the restraining line, which is very different. We really prided ourselves in getting off the line. I don’t know the impact of those rules. At fall ball, the top level officials were sorting out implementing the rules in the best way. The good thing about the fall is we can sort out these things now. It will be a little different this spring.”

Navy returns most of its top players, and Timchal has continued to bring in more and more talented recruits despite Navy’s tough academic and post-graduation service requirements that present their own challenges to building a winner.

“You really separate yourself out when you make that decision to come to the United States Naval Academy,” Timchal said. “You’re here to serve your country. It’s one of the top leadership schools in the country. You get your top security clearance. You graduate as an officer and you get your bachelor of science. I don’t think it gets much better than this. The students are very disciplined. There’s such a joy for the students at the Naval Academy.”

Nothing brought more joy to Timchal’s players – and even to former Navy players like Towey – than last year’s final four run.

Now, Navy looks to build on its breakthrough season.

“Our players, we work every day on discipline, effort and focus,” Timchal said. “Then we surround that with believing in each other. When players do start believing, then good things start to happen.”

ABOUT NAVY

  • Coach: Cindy Timchal

  • Last Seen: Falling to Boston College, 16-15, in their first trip to the NCAA semifinals.

  • Key Returners: Jenna Collins (72G, 42A), Kelly Larkin (54G, 54A), Blake Smith (42 GB, 38 CT), Julia Collins (118 DC, 75 PT), Andie O’Sullivan (34G, 13A), Meg O’Donnell (50G, 8A)

  • Team Stats: 15.57 goals per game (8th in NCAA DI), 9.83 goals allowed per game (21st), 15.83 draw controls per game (3rd)

  • Last Nike/US Lacrosse Ranking: No. 9

  • Conference Snapshot: Navy finished second in the Patriot League last season, with its only loss coming at the hands of four-time regular-season champion Loyola. Navy had to rally in the second half of its Patriot semifinals to edge a Lehigh team on the rise before knocking off a Loyola team that will be strong again. Lafayette looks to make a step up, Boston University has one of the best sophomores back, and Bucknell has a new coach who hopes to lift his program, but it looks like another Loyola-Navy battle for the top spot.

OFFSEASON HOT TOPICS

The NCAA women’s lacrosse rules committee passed some major rules changes in the offseason that including allowing free movement, introducing the shot clock for Division 2 and Division 3, and new stick specs that are more simplified for officials. Timchal gives her feedback on these changes for the women's game, as well as the new recruiting realities since the landmark legislation passed, which prohibits college lacrosse coaches from communicating with prospective student-athletes until Sept. 1 of their junior year of high school.

  • Free movement: “I love free movement. Players might get a little more tired. It’s a lot of movement. We’ll see. I like it. The concerns are always things like, we want to try to make this a rule book that’s clean and make rules hand-signal friendly and be very decisive on what the call is. With that said, the concern with free movement is you can foul somebody and before everyone would freeze and when some person went behind, it created that ‘man-up situation’ or ‘unsettled situation,’ but with quick starts you can create that right away. There could be some issues down the road, but we’ll work it out. We’re pretty smart.”

  • Possession Clock: “The shot clock, it avoided the long stall, the Dean Smith 4-corner stall before basketball had a shot clock. It allows teams to gain flow. For Division I, we thought there’d be a lot of concerns about the clock and the clock operators and the signals of the officials, and it always takes a little growing period, but I think if you’re a Division II or III program, you’re all in. You want to do it right and want to have a clock. You’re competing collegiately against the best of the best. I don’t think there any concerns. Transitioning, I don’t think it’ll be an issue.”

  • Stick Specs: “I like that. The stick specs had to be cleared up. There were always accusations that ‘you have this extra string here or there,’ ‘this is not leather,’ and just to add that extra element on the stick specs, it allows for creativity. We have regulations on a legal stick, but it just allows for opportunity. Now you can use some of the mesh to create a stick that’s legal and good and safe.”

  • New Recruiting Realities: “I think it was a big adjustment for a lot of programs because it was instituted so abruptly. I personally would like the rules to be consistent whether you are a Division I soccer prospect or a Division I lacrosse prospect or basketball prospect. It makes it difficult. If you’re at the Naval Academy, you want to have a clear picture of what we’re about because of the uniqueness of the college experience, and now we can’t even walk a young player around campus unless we’re having a camp or something. A lot of that, they’ll have to do on their own. With that, what we’re trying to do is slow down that recruiting process. The recruiting rules do have those restrictions implemented to slow down the recruiting process. It’s just different for the players. I think that’s great, but to me, it should be across the board for all sports.”

SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

Fall ball has ended, but teams are still busy gearing up for the 2018 season. Here's a snapshot of what has happened in the lacrosse world recently:

 

Which squad takes the title? Who has he best unis? Comments#YouKnowHowWeRoll

A post shared by JHU Men's Lax (@jhumenslax) on

 

Water Polo Wednesday went old skool with the bench goals #flyhawks

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