Angevine is Sleepy Hollow's Shining Star

To play two sports at a high level, overcome an ACL injury and keep up with schoolwork all while having a normal student life can be quite a challenge – but Sleepy Hollow senior Jennifer Angevine is more than up to it.

"I just take time to organize my time, set aside time for my homework, set aside time for each sport and make sure they are equally balanced," Angevine said. "During field-hockey season I obviously focus more on field hockey but the conditioning in field hockey also helps me get ready for lacrosse."

Angevine suffered an ACL injury during her sophomore year while playing lacrosse. She not only missed the rest of the lacrosse season that spring, the injury also caused her to miss her field-hockey campaign of her junior year.

Angevine though fought hard to come back to the playing fields and excelled during the calendar year of 2010. During the spring, she became the first girls lacrosse player in Sleepy Hollow history to register 100 career goals for a Sleepy Hollow squad that played its first home playoff game ever.

Angevine was named all-league, all-elite and all-section this spring. Angevine's career total in goals is now at 152.

Then in the summer she played on the Hudson Valley Field Hockey team that won the gold medal in the Empire State Games. Angevine was a key member of that squad, her contributions included scoring the first goal in Hudson Valley's 3-0 triumph in the gold-medal contest against Long Island.

"I never had been on a team that made it that far so it was very exciting," Angevine said. "Playing with that team made me a better player."

 If that wasn't enough during the fall, she was named All-State in field hockey for a Sleepy Hollow squad that went from one win in '09 to nine wins and the No. 3 seed in the Section 1 Class A tournament.

For those accomplishments, Angevine was named the 2010 Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Patch Athlete of the Year.

Angevine, who played either midfield or attack in lacrosse and forward or center-mid in field hockey, said that she never imagined that she would be able to accomplish all that she has after she suffered the ACL injury.

"When I was injured, I was really hoping that it wouldn't have taken as much time as it actually did to get back on my feet," Angevine said. "When I first got the call saying I tore my ACL I was very devastated, upset, because I didn't know it would take that long, around a year or so, to come back."

While Angevine was devastated, she was determined to come back and be better than ever.

"But it (the injury) only made me strive for more and want to do better," Angevine said. "It pushed me harder, which is why I got a lot accomplished this year."

One reason why she was able to accomplish what she did was because of the coaching that she received from girls lacrosse coach Blair Moynahan and field hockey coach Melissa Alamprese.

Moynahan, who has coached the girls lacrosse squad the last two years, helped the team transition nicely from its former coach Kelly Cronin, who had a baby.

"After losing our coach, coach Cronin, he really stepped up, made us think that we didn't lose a coach but gained a coach and he really helped us, taught us things that we didn't know before and helped us improve our games tremendously," Angevine said.

As for Alamprese, she made the players on the field-hockey squad realize the effort that it took to be successful.

"She made me feel that my ability was so much more than what I had thought of myself," Angevine said. "Just her thought of the game, her all-around knowledge of the game just increases so much, helped us with our work ethic. When we came to practice, we came to practice. There was no doubt about that."