Where Are They Now? Kasey Gilbride, Who Led Whalers to State Championship Ten Years Ago, Is Leading Varsity Team in Richmond

It was the sound, more than anything else, that was most memorable — the hard, resounding smack of the ball against the wooden baseboard that runs along the back of the goal, leaving no doubt that the game was over, and the Pierson High School field hockey team, after a lifetime of runner-up status, had finally won the program’s first ever New York State Championship.

It was a thrilling goal, scored in thrilling fashion, and the player whose stick it came off was no surprise to anyone who was familiar with the Pierson field hockey team.

Kasey Gilbride was a once-in-a-generation athlete, a player who possessed the rare blend of raw talent and athleticism, tenacity, leadership skills, fierce competitiveness and determination, and the mental fortitude to handle the immense pressure that comes with all that.

The goal Gilbride scored 10 years ago, with 32 seconds left in sudden-death double-overtime, lifted her team to a 2-1 win over perennial powerhouse Cazenovia in the 2013 New York State Class C Championship. It was not only the first state championship for Pierson’s storied field hockey program — which had made it to states nine previous times, including in every year from 1996 to 2003 — but only the second state title in the school’s history, after the boys basketball program won the state championship in 1979.

Gilbride firmly cemented her place in Pierson High School sports history with the dramatic goal, which she scored off a corner play, after dodging a pair of defenders before unleashing a diving shot. The Whalers had advanced to the final in dramatic fashion as well, beating Whitney Point, 3-1, in one-on-ones, after the teams remained tied after two 10-minute overtime sessions.

In the decade since leading her team to the historic win, field hockey has remained an integral part of Gilbride’s life. She earned a scholarship to play at Division I University of Richmond, where she had an impact from the start, earning All-Rookie Team honors in her freshman year, and earning a starting role the following season, which she retained throughout her time on the team. Gilbride was a captain in her junior and senior years, and was the team’s second-leading scorer in her senior year.

During her time at Richmond, Gilbride not only continued to hone her skills as a top-level collegiate field hockey player, but she also realized her passion for working with children.

“I knew I wanted to work with kids, and wanted to do something related to athletics and health and wellness,” Gilbride said of the process she went through trying to figure out what she’d do with her life once she finished college. Gilbride graduated from Richmond in 2018 with a major in sociology and a minor in early childhood education, and then immediately went to grad school at Virginia Commonwealth University. One year into her time there, COVID hit, disrupting her plans, as it did for many of her peers at the time. During that first year at VCU, Gilbride had started helping out coaching at the middle school and high school level in a variety of sports, from field hockey and basketball to lacrosse.

The pandemic forced Gilbride to pivot, and instead of returning to VCU for her second year, she took an interim position as an assistant athletic director at St. Catherine’s, a private all-girls school in Richmond for children from age 3 to 12th grade.

Working at St. Catherine’s became a transformative experience for Gilbride, especially because she found a powerful mentor at the school in athletic director Julie Dayton. The two worked well together, and before long, Gilbride was coaching on a full-time basis, and loving it.

“I gained a wealth of knowledge from her,” Gilbride said, referring to Dayton. “I learned how to manage a whole program, and so many other things. It was amazing.”

The admiration was mutual from Dayton, who was eager to keep Gilbride for the long haul. She was offered a position as an elementary school gym teacher three years ago, and when the former varsity field hockey coach stepped down at the end of the summer, Dayton tapped Gilbride as her replacement.

Gildbride said St. Catherine’s isn’t where she initially expected she’d be at this point in her life, but she’s grateful it’s where she’s landed.

“I never in a million years thought I’d be at an all-girls private school,” she said in an interview earlier this fall. “I think it’s great because it’s all girl-centered and women-centered, and all about women empowerment, and that’s something I definitely stand behind.”

While Gilbride is happy with where she’s at and what she’s doing, she said she’s still passionate about helping students in a wide range of ways, and wants to eventually finish her graduate degree in social work.

“I love the idea of being a school counselor,” she said. “I love being in a school setting and helping kids with health and wellness, both mentally and physically.”

Gilbride knows better than anyone how beneficial sports can be to overall mental health and well being, especially for young girls, and how transformative of an experience it can be to be part of a team. She knows because she lived it, and experienced the biggest thrill a high school athlete can feel by winning a state championship.

Gilbride spoke about how being part of that team shaped her as a person.

“The athletic part of it shaped who I was as far as my motivation, and my will to work for what I want, and the gratification of putting in that work and feeling that success,” she said. “And the leaders I had, in [Coach Shannon Judge and Assistant Coach Melissa Edwards], I have always strived to be like them in the coaching realm.”

Edwards was also the head coach of the Pierson varsity softball team that Gilbride, a three-sport athlete, played for, and she cited Pierson basketball coaches Woody Kneeland and Kevin Barron as positive influences as well.

Those coaches were all a part of a tight-knit community that Gilbride said she has come to appreciate more and more as time goes by, especially when she looks back on the heroes’ welcome the team would receive after coming home from big wins, especially the biggest one of all, with an escort from the Sag Harbor Fire Department, and friends and family lining Main Street in Sag Harbor to cheer for the team.

“I look back and really appreciate that so much,” she said. “It’s something that makes me so proud of where I come from. Sag Harbor was a community where I felt that our teams were lifted up, whether it was Bagel Buoy giving us bagels on the way to states at 5 a.m. or Conca D’Oro hosting our celebratory dinner after we came back. People who didn’t even have kids on the team were lining Main Street, and feeling the love just in that community sense. That’s what I think about most now, and it’s something I strive for here, that I want to try to replicate in this big city.”

Gilbride has plenty of believers who are confident she can achieve what she sets her mind to in this new chapter of her life as a teacher and coach, and mentor for young athletes.

Dayton said she hired Gilbride and was eager to have her be a big part of the team at St. Catherine’s because of her “all-in attitude.”

“She’s a total team player,” she said. “She does whatever anybody needs. This is a person you want on your teammate list. It became pretty clear early on that she was a very good teacher and connected well with students of all ages.”

Dayton said she’s excited to see Gilbride lead the entire St. Catherine’s field hockey program into the future.

“A lot of times, the better athletes don’t always know how to break it down and be a good teacher, but in Kasey’s case, she seems to be the full package,” Dayton added. “I knew from the very beginning I could count on her.”

While it is often true that the most talented players typically don’t go on to become the best coaches, Edwards said she is not surprised at all that Gilbride is where she’s at.

In fact, she called it.

“I remember when Kasey was maybe a junior, we did a sports camp during homecoming weekend, and Kasey was part of it, and I looked at [Shannon Judge] and said, ‘Kasey will be a field hockey coach or a teacher some day,’” Edwards recalled. “She didn’t know what she wanted to do at that age, but I said, that’s her jam. That’s what she’s good at. She can relate to kids and get on their level.

“I’m sure her kids love her as a coach,” Edwards added. “She’s a caring person, and when you coach and the kids feel that you genuinely care about them, they will play harder for you. I’m so proud of her, and I know she will continue to do amazing things and have an impact.”