Thirty-eight seasons, 10 state championships, countless hours of mentoring hundreds of dedicated athletes, and now, 500 career victories for Cathy McGuirk—the beloved head coach of the Branford field hockey program.

When Branford opened its season at Sacred Heart Academy on Sept. 9, Coach McGuirk had earned 499 wins through her time at the helm of the Hornets. As Branford walked off the field with a 3-0 shutout of the Pacers, win No. 500 went into the books for McGuirk, who was promptly swarmed by a group of athletes who were extremely excited to help their coach make history. Then for good measure, Branford notched a 4-1 home win against Hamden three days later, raising McGuirk’s career record to a remarkable 501-111-62-9.

“I didn’t think I would get emotional about it, but then the kids came running off the field with the big smiles on their faces and there was a lot of excitement,” said McGuirk after the 500th win. “They know and I know that it’s a very big accomplishment to have coached so many great kids who play with a level of consistency and steadiness that gets you to this point. It can’t happen unless you have kids who are willing to do it and, over the years, we’ve always have kids who buy into what we try to do. It’s consistency, dedication, hard work, and a little bit of luck. We’ve always had a great situation with our program at Branford High School.”

McGuirk’s tenure at Branford has seen her guide the Hornets to the 10 state crowns that includes four consecutive Class M championships from 1988 to 1991. The squad has reached the state final 14 times, including eight straight appearances from 1984 to 1991, along with making the semis 27 times and the tournament itself in 36 consecutive campaigns. On top of that, McGuirk has helped Branford win 16 conference championships, nine of which have come in the SCC. She has been named the Connecticut Field Hockey Association Coach of the Year on four occasions, most recently for Class M in 2003.

Coach McGuirk has been joined by some quality assistants throughout her tenure, including Sandy Fischer (who was at the SHA game) in the early days, as well as current assistant and program alum Robin McColl-Axtell, who’s been there 15 seasons. And for the last 35 years, Cathy has worked side by side with her husband John, who’s both a varsity assistant and the head coach of the Hornets’ JV squad. Just like Cathy, he was quick to extend credit to his athletes for this achievement.

“Branford kids are nice, hard-working kids and each kid is different and the most fun part of coaching for me is working with all different kinds of kids and finding the different things to motivate them,” said John, who also coached softball at North Branford for many years. “It’s a challenge to push the right buttons enough times to make it work, but we’ve had consistency over the years with kids who’ve worked hard, worked well together, and helped us win a high percentage of games against a lot of good teams.”

One of those wins came in the recent game against Sacred Heart Academy and, true to form, Cathy McGuirk was just as eager to discuss how that victory was the first win of a new season as it was the 500th of her career—crediting the 16 athletes who spurred the victory, a handful of which were making their first varsity starts. The Hornets scored all three goals in the first half off of corner plays with the first coming from freshman forward Jackie DaRos on an assist by senior captain defender Karlee Kessler with 9:40 to go. Senior captain forward Caroline Murphy then scored from senior captain midfielder Megan Shea a minute later to make it 2-0. The duo joined forces again with 39 seconds left before halftime as Murphy collected her second goal on Shea’s assist for the 3-0 command. Branford had 10 corners to the Pacers’ four and outshot SHA 8-3. Sophomore goalie Keira Integlia made two saves in her first varsity start.

Additionally competing for Branford were senior captain forward Cara Broughal, junior defender Kenya Claude; sophomore forward Ashlee Smestad, sophomore defender Alanna Grimm, and sophomore midfielders Keirsten Bjork, Olivia Datre, and Carol Frye; along with freshman forward LanLe Crotty, freshman midfielder Sabrina Torcellini, and freshmen defenders Autumn McHenry, and Britney Bunbanlu.

“We were dominating play in the first half and had a lot of chances down in the circle so it was a bit of a relief when we got that first goal,” said McGuirk, whose team also includes senior defenders Chaylea Finn and Brittaney Nwagboli. “We had some steady play from Caroline and Megan, we had a lot of young players who were feisty and going after the ball, and it was a nice shutout for Keira in her first varsity start.”

Integlia then made three saves in Branford’s 4-1 win against Hamden at the MacVeigh Complex on Sept. 12. Once again, the Hornets posted all their goals in the first half. Claude scored from Shea off a corner with 23:23 left in the half, followed by Murphy’s score from Broughal with 21:32 to go for a 2-0 lead. Broughal then scored Branford’s third goal from Murphy with 11:42 remaining, after which Smestad put one home from Frye to make it 4-0 with 1:26 left before the break. Branford (2-0) had 12 corners to the Green Dragons’ three and outshot Hamden 10-3. Junior defender Annie Rapini also contributed to the win and Coach McGuirk praised her players for already showing early improvement.

Prior to the game, Branford High School Principal Lee Panagoulias and Athletic Director Jake Palluzzi presented the McGuirks with a plaque that commemorated the 500th win in a ceremony that was attended by several alums of the Hornets’ field hockey program.

“That was nice that the senior captains and some of the parents were involved in getting that going. We had about 30 to 40 alumni there from all the years and one of them who played on my first team told me that she still has her old wooden stick,” Cathy said. “It was really neat to see them all there.”