Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/23/09
Haverford High graduate Cincy Timchal, who guided Maryland to an unprecedented seven consecutive national lacrosse championships and this year became the winningest lacrosse coach at any level, will be one of 14 individuals inducted into the Delaware County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame at its awards dinner Sunday at the Ramada Inn of Essington.
Timchal competed in lacrosse, tennis and track and field at West Chester University before becoming a lacrosse coach at Unionville. Her college coaching career began as an assistant at Penn and at Maryland her teams won eight NCAA Division I titles, and 45 of her players earned All-America honors. After 16 years at Maryland, she became the first women’s lacrosse coach at Navy for the 2008 season.
Through 27 seasons as a head coach, Timchal’s career record stands at 362-95. She has the most all-time wins of any coach at any level, for a men’s or women’s program. Timchal is a 1972 Haverford alum who was elected to the school’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Unionville Hall of Fame in 2004.
In 1979, she joined the collegiate ranks, becoming an assistant lacrosse and field hockey coach at Pennsylvania. Timchal’s head coaching career got its start at Northwestern during the program’s inaugural season in 1982. In her nine years at the helm, she led the Wildcats to five NCAA Tournament appearances, reaching as far as the quarterfinals.
Timchal came to the Academy following a storied 16-year run of unprecedented success at Maryland, where she guided the Terps to eight national championships, including seven in a row from 1995-2001.
Her eight national titles stand as the fourth-most in women’s sports history and the 25th most all-time in any men’s or women’s sport sponsored by the NCAA
A two-time national coach-of-the-year, Timchal posted an incredible 233-34 (.873) record while at College Park. She led her teams to the NCAA Tournament in every year of her tenure, produced four undefeated seasons (1995, ’96, ’99 and ’01) and advanced to the national championship game 11 times.
At Navy, Timchal has quickly laid down the foundation for perennial success in short order, posting a 26-10 mark in the program’s first two seasons.
As impressive as her on-field accomplishments have been, Timchal’s impact on the sport of women’s lacrosse has transcended wins and losses. Since her first days in coaching, her focus has always been on the student-athlete. Nowhere has this tenet been more evident than in the classroom, where her athletes have totaled nine Academic All-America accolades.
The other inductees include Tom Brooks (baseball), the late Harry Kalas (baseball broadcasting), Steve Courtin (basketball), Paul Gibson (basketball), the late Greer Heinde (baseball), Bill McGonigal (baseball), Tom Wynne (baseball), John DiGregorio (basketball), Glenn Robinson (basketball), the late Ken DeFeo (football), Vince Papale (football), Bill Cubit (football coach), Jim Kearney (football officiating)
In addition to the Hall of Fame awards, the Delco Chapter will honor a high school student-athlete of the year and present a Special Olympics Award as well as the Eddie Coyle Award for physcially challenged athletes and the Doug Connelly Award to a person who has spent many years coaching and contributing to their sport behind the scenes.
Tickets for the dinner are $40 and can be obtained by sending a check made payable to Delco Chapter of the Pa. Sports Hall of Fame to Frank May, 213 Lyndhurst Ave., Wilmington, DE 19803. Additional information can be obtained by calling May at (302) 477-0648. The social hour begins at 5 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6 o’clock.
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