August 7, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

GFS’ Betsy Sachs stars in ice hockey and lacrosse
By Justin Goldman

GFS leading scorer Betsy Sachs (#10 in white) prepares to take a shot on goal while surrounded by Shipley School team members.

Two-sport stars aren’t all that rare in high school athletics. Many players rule the basketball court and the soccer field; others blaze on the track and cut up the field hockey field. But Betsy Sachs, a 16-year-old rising junior at Germantown Friends School, is not your typical two-sport star.

Sachs, who has gone to GFS since kindergarten, has excelled at ice hockey and lacrosse for as long as she has participated in competitive athletics. That’s right, ice hockey. There are those in the area that don’t even know that women’s ice hockey exists because hockey is not that popular of a sport in the Metro-Atlantic area, and that is shown by the fact that Sachs travels all the way to New Jersey to play competitively for the Princeton Tiger Lilies girls’ hockey team. 

Even still, Sachs had a fairly traditional introduction to hockey.

“I figure skated at Wissahickon for years, and then my brother got a Koosh hockey set when he was five,” she said. “My brother wanted to play hockey for a while, but couldn’t until he was five. So when he started, the coach, whose daughter was also on the team [The Old York Road Raiders], asked me if I wanted to play because he knew I skated, so I just started playing on the same team as my brother when I was seven.”

Sachs, who stands 5´8? with a trim, athletic build, had no problem trading in her figure skates for hockey blades. Despite taking lessons in figure skating, it quickly became clear that she had found her niche in the hockey rink.

She has found a way to use that tall frame on the ice, which is something that she was initially not accustomed to.

“She has gone from someone who used to be very uncomfortable in her body to someone who is extremely fluid,” said Tiger Lilies assistant coach Peter Muehlbronner, who has coached Sachs over the last three years. “Now, she really knows how to use her height to her advantage, whether it be protecting the puck or stealing the puck away.”

Nine years after starting to play hockey, her passion for the puck still burns more than ever, which is evident from the fact that she travels to Princeton two days a week after school for practice with the Tiger Lilies.

“Usually when the school day ends, I come home and try to get all my homework done,” she said. “My coach [Muehlbronner] actually lives really close to me, so me, him, his daughter and another girl that lives in the area all ride up together. We get up there and skate, and depending on what time practice starts, we usually get home by around 10. It’s not that bad. Luckily I don’t get carsick, because I do a lot of work and reading in the car.”

Sachs has settled into a routine when it comes to traveling to New Jersey, and though she makes it seem easy, the travel has to wear on any high schooler because of the demanding schedule and grueling nature of a yearlong sport. Brian, her brother and a hockey phenomenon is his own right, is a rising freshman who decided to leave GFS in favor of the Hill School in order to concentrate further on hockey. It seems it would be easier on Sachs to have made a similar decision, but it wasn’t something she was interested in doing.

“My parents asked me after middle school if I wanted to leave and go to a school where I could focus on hockey more,” she said. “But I didn’t want to. I have been at GFS my whole life and have great friends, so I didn’t want to leave.”

Being a key component of her hockey team’s defense is something that she takes great pride in. She also takes pride in the fact that she has seen an incremental increase in hockey’s popularity since she has been involved.

“I see some little girls at the rink I play at with skates and hockey sticks, which makes me feel good that women’s hockey is becoming a little more popular,” she explains.

“There are a lot of young teams for girls now,” Muehlbronner added. “Some years ago, girls had to play on a boys’ team, and then they had to find a girls’ team. Now, there are a lot more options for girls.”

Sachs’ skills reveal that she can also compete with the older girls on the ice. Though just 16, she will move up with a core group of girls to the under-19 level next season for the Tiger Lilies.

“Her maturity on the ice is well beyond her years,” Muehlbronner said. “Her good size has helped her ability to play with older players.”

For someone who is so defensively oriented on the ice, Sachs has been a natural goal scorer since she started playing lacrosse for the Springfield Spartans when she was in fourth grade. Most start lacrosse in middle school, but Sachs got into it a little earlier, once again because of her brother, who was also starting to play lacrosse.

Since starring for the Spartans, Sachs has made a tremendous impact on the Tigers’ program. She was the first freshman to start on varsity in six years and led the team in scoring with 64 goals, despite missing two games due to hockey nationals. She also tied GFS junior Lydia Kring for the team lead in draw controls with 53 and is second to Kring in ground balls picked up with 65. Her 64 goals this season is the second most in a single season for any Tiger. She is also fifth on the Tigers’ all-time goals list with 74 — and she still has two full seasons to play.

“She is a real force,” said Tigers’ head coach Katie Bergstrom. “She really came on this season and she is going to improve even more over the next two years. She has an absolute rocket of a shot that I haven’t seen in a high school player in quite some time.”

Being a defender in hockey has helped Sachs in her center-midfield position for the Tigers. She has an instinct to be in the right place at the right time, and she was an extremely important piece to the Tigers’ title run this season. But even with all of her success, she remains humble and puts the team first.

“I just wanted to do whatever it took for the team to win,” she said. “We worked so hard this season, and getting that final win at George School was so satisfying.”

Bergstrom concurs with her star midfielder: “It was fun to see her this year because she helped us in so many different ways, whether it was a big goal, pass or defensive play. Even though she had a knack for scoring, she was also a very willing passer, and really plays with the team.”

Sachs carries that sort of selfless, modest nature wherever she goes. She is very soft-spoken and humble. With her hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing a simple blue T-shirt that reads “Chestnut Hill” across the front, she is quick to deflect praise to her teammates both on the ice and on the field. Talking to her, you would never know the amount of success that she has had.

Her humble attitude and hard work and dedication to lacrosse have spread throughout the team. She was always the first to show up to practice and the last to leave, and despite her star nature, she still tries to keep a level head.

“I remember one play last season against Westtown she weaved in and out through ten defenders while being double and triple teamed and scored,” Bergstrom said. “And she just came back to the huddle and didn’t act like she had done anything spectacular.”

So, what does the future hold for this particular two-sport star? Right now, it remains to be seen. With two more years of high school left, she is beginning to get into college talk, but she hasn’t thought seriously about what sport she will pursue.

“My dad went to Amherst and we visited there, and a big percentage of students in schools like that are athletes, which was really appealing,” she said.

At schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, it is completely possible for her to continue what she has been doing and play both sports, only this time, there would be no commute and no reason for her to do work in the car.