Area Sports Report | Kendall Coyne Schofield part of history as PWHL game sets attendance record

By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent

Add a new chapter to the Kendall Coyne Schofield story.

The Palos Heights native and Sandburg graduate, who has won gold and silver Olympic medals in women’s hockey, helped launch the new Professional Women’s Hockey League and is a team captain for the Minnesota franchise.

Minnesota and the league’s five other charter franchises — Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Boston and New York — will not have nicknames in the inaugural season.

Minnesota beat Boston, 3-2, on Jan. 3 to open its season. It was Coyne’s first competitive hockey game since giving birth to her son, Drew, last July 1.

Its next game, a 3-0 victory over Montreal, was played in front of an announced crowd of 13, 316 — the largest ever for a professional women’s hockey game.

Drew is one of the reasons Coyne wanted to return to the ice so quickly.

“It will definitely be really special to look back at the pictures with him and explain the journey that he was on for the first years of his life, whether he wants to believe us or not,” she told the Associated Press. “I’m 31 years old and I would argue that I am still in the prime of my career. I want to make sure that he knew he was never the reason I stopped playing hockey.

“He was the reason I continued to play hockey.”

The league’s regular season, in which each team will play 24 games, runs into early May.

Roadrunners coaches to be honored
When a school’s athletic programs win state championships as frequently as Nazareth has in recent years, coaches will be noticed. Four Roadrunners coaches will be honored in the coming months.

Baseball coaches Lee Milano and Jon Saraceno, football coach Tim Racki, and former coach and athletic director Dennis Moran will receive honors from various organizations.

Milano, the Roadrunners’ head coach, will be honored by the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association at its Coach of the Year on Jan. 20 at the Westin in Lombard. Saraceno, an assistant coach, will be honored by the same organization as the 2023 Assistant Coach of the Year on April 11 at the Abbington in Glen Ellyn.

Racki, the head football coach, will be recognized by the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association as a member of its Hall of Fame in March in Champaign. Moran will be inducted into the East Suburban Catholic Conference Hall of Fame on April 11.

“We are so proud of these members of our Nazareth family and these upcoming athletic recognitions are much appreciated and very well deserved,” Nazareth President Deborah Tracy said in a news release. “We are humbled and thrilled to celebrate such outstanding men.”

Comings and goings
Chicago Red Stars defender Tierna Davidson, a mainstay with franchise since 2019, signed with Gotham as a free agent on Jan. 2.

Davidson, 25, has also been a member of the United States Women’s National Team.

In an Instagram post, she told fans of Chicago: “You welcomed me with open arms. Through the pretty and the ugly, you challenged me to learn and mature in ways I didn’t know were possible.

“I feel so at peace remembering my time in Chicago as I take this next step in my career.”

Two days after losing Davidson, the Red Stars signed their first free agent as they inked midfielder, Chardonnay Curran, to a two-year contract.

The Stars have not yet named a general manager.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity that the Red Stars are giving to me, and I’m excited about the vision that the new ownership and staff have for this next year,” Curran said in a news release. “I’m grateful to be a part of that vision, and I cannot wait to get to work with my new teammates to do what it takes to bring championships to Chicago for the most important people, the fans.”

Curran comes to the Red Stars from Kansas City, where the midfielder spent two seasons after the Current drafted her out of Oregon 17th overall in the 2022 NWSL Draft.

In her rookie campaign, Curran played 17 matches for Kansas City across the regular season and playoffs. In 2023, the midfielder played in 13 matches for the Current and scored a goal in an international friendly match against C.F. Monterrey Femenil of the Mexican Liga MX Femenil.