July 3, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Springside School Lions acquire Brode, Maguire
by TOM UTESCHER

With two recent hirings, Springside School seems to have taken a page from Thomas Hardy’s “Return Of The Native.”

Liz Brode and Tara Maguire had been pursuing coaching careers in other parts of Pennsylvania, but now both have returned to their home ground.

Maguire, who grew up in Wyndmoor and has coached at Springside and at Penn Charter, was Assistant Field Hockey Coach at Penn State, her alma mater, in the 2005-2006 academic year. A former assistant coach for the Springside stick squad, she now takes over as head of the Lions’ program.

Brode, a Springside alum who later worked for the school in several capacities, tendered her resignation last month at Lehigh University, where she was the head women’s lacrosse coach for four years. She has not taken on any new coaching responsibilities as of yet, but as Springside’s Director of Admissions for Middle and Upper School, she should prove extremely valuable in helping attract strong student athletes to the institution.

Maguire is a product of Springfield High School who went on to achieve All-American status at Penn State. In 1996, her senior season, she led the Big Ten Conference in scoring, with 28 goals and a total of 71 points. She was a member of the United States Olympic Field Hockey Team from 1992 to 1998.

Maguire was an assistant coach for the Springside hockey team in the 2002 season, and the following year she served as head coach of the stick squad at Penn Charter. Under her guidance the Quakers, who’d finished sixth in the Girls Inter-Ac League the year before, won the first hockey championship in school history.

Springside Head of School Priscilla G. Sands observed, “Tara brings the intensity we need to our hockey program. When I see girls leaving her practices, dripping with sweat and barely able to speak, but with wide engaging smiles on their faces, I know that Tara is at work.  In their words, ‘Coach Maguire is tough and awesome!’”

Brode, a three-sport varsity athlete at Springside, received the school’s Phyllis M. Vare Award when she graduated in 1991. She concentrated on lacrosse at Lehigh, where she was twice named a second team All-American and was tabbed as Lehigh’s own Offensive Player of the Year in 1995.

Later, she would come back to Springside to perform in a number of roles; Admissions Director, Athletic Director, and Head Lacrosse Coach. At the same time she earned a law degree at Temple University.

Brode added the position of collegiate head coach to her resume when she took the reins of the Lehigh lacrosse program in 2004-2005. The Mountain Hawks made the Patriot League Championship Tournament in three of her four seasons as head coach.

“As an alumna and a woman who has traveled many different paths,” Springside’s Sands commented, “Liz brings a unique perspective to the position. She models the many opportunities available for competent and