Kempf-Townsley In League of Her Own

By: Dayna S. Johnson, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications

 

Early morning practices...new facilities... travel...wins...losses...laughs...cries... drills... conditioning... recruiting...tournaments...championships...time spent with the players...coaches...memories...

Thirteen years after the start of the women’s soccer program, the coach who began it all has ended her tenure at Seton Hall.

In 1994, the women’s soccer program was started under the direction of Betty Ann Kempf-Townsley. Kempf-Townsley has been an instrumental part of women’s soccer, having started two collegiate level women’s soccer programs and her own high school’s program, in addition to coaching Pennsylvania Olympic Development teams. As head coach at Seton Hall, she was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year in 1997, New Jersey Coach of the Year in 1997 and 1998 and earned five BIG EAST Championship berths. In addition, she was inducted into the 2001 Philadelphia Old Timers Soccer Hall of Fame. Under Kempf-Townsley’s direction, her athletes have received numerous awards, including five Academic All-America, 17 Academic All-District and 23 All-BIG EAST honors.

 In her tenure at Seton Hall, Kempf-Townsley has not only developed soccer skills, but has helped to mold her players into well-rounded student athletes.

 “We’ve always been fortunate enough to recruit really good solid citizens,” Kempf-Townsley said. “I think that when you leave here (Seton Hall), any of these girls, in my estimation, can do really anything that they want to do.”

Throughout her life, she was always one of the first people taking new steps in the women’s game. She was on the first all-state team, the first all-regional team, and on the first all-national team: even though, at that time it was only a paper team.

 “My whole involvement in soccer from when I was a young child was always the start of something,” Kempf-Townsley said. “I was always the first female to do this in soccer, the first female to do that. I guess in some respects, it’s better to learn that way, you’re learning as you go on. You learn from your mistakes.”

Although it was never Kempf-Townsley’s intention to coach while growing up, she has been around soccer her whole life. She grew up in a German-Hungarian Club in Philadelphia, as her father, who is of German heritage, came over after World War II. During her childhood, she was always surrounded by elite players, men from Europe who played at a very high level. Taught by her father and brother, she was always the one girl playing with all the boys, until they started competitive soccer for girls in 1974. In addition to dancing for 15 years, Kempf-Townsley started playing in an all-girls recreation league. She remembers having dance practice one night, soccer the next. On Sundays, Kempf-Townsley watched the games, then had dinner with the families. Soccer was more than just a game growing up.

“It wasn’t a sport,” Kempf-Townsley said. “It was a culture.”

            Kempf-Townsley went onto Immaculata College where she played field hockey and graduated in 1982 with a degree in sociology. However, in the spring of her senior year she received the call about starting her high school’s first girl’s soccer team. She was hesitant at first, as she was still finishing school, but after meeting with the Athletic Director, she accepted the job and began her first stint as a head soccer coach at Cardinal Dougherty High School.

“Certainly, with something like that, you’re starting from scratch, you’re starting from the bottom,” Kempf-Townsley said. “But the exciting thing is you get to build it, you get to build it from nothing to something. It’s always exciting to be at the start something.”

            Kempf-Townley coached at her high school for four years, but knew that she wanted to be at a higher level of soccer, and soon after, accepted a position at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, to start their women’s soccer program. As it was her first position at the collegiate level, Kempf-Townsley had various challenges she faced. She had little knowledge of NCAA rules, had to recruit players knowing that there was little scholarship money available, and the pool of players was much smaller than it is today. However, Kempf-Townsley pursued with the program, and was named the 1991 Eastern Pennsylvania Coach of the Year. She coached at LaSalle from 1986-1993, until she was given the opportunity to begin the women’s soccer program at Seton Hall.

            She started the Pirates program in 1994, and although she was again beginning a new program, she had the experience from her other two positions and there were more resources available.

“It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be (starting the program), because of what was offered to this program: in terms of scholarships, the foundation the kids would get here, and the idea that it was a new program in the BIG EAST,” Kempf-Townsley said. “It was exciting for recruits to come here and know that they were the first of this program to compete in the BIG EAST.”

Kempf-Townsley jump-started the program,     quickly building a foundation and making an immediate impact in the BIG EAST. Just four years after her start, Kempf-Townsley brought to the team one of the best women’s soccer players in the nation’s history, Kelly Smith.

“From the moment she stepped onto the field, she took it over,” Kempf-Townsley said. “She’s phenomenal. I would say she was probably the top three or four players in the country, and still is. I don’t know if you’re going to see very many women’s soccer players like that.”

Under the direction of Kempf-Townsley, Smith helped lead the team to its first national ranking in 1998, after the team beat second-ranked Notre Dame.

“The feeling of winning that game was incredible,” Kempf-Townsley said. “I was just so happy for the kids. I was elated for them because we had played so well and everything worked in our favor that day.”

The Pirates qualified for the BIG EAST Championship for four consecutive years, from 1997-2000, having twice reached the semi-finals and the quarter-finals during that span. From 2000-2006, the Pirates played solid soccer, but the 2006 year was one to remember.

Kempf-Townsley faced one of her greatest coaching challenges entering the 2006 season. With the passing of Mary Jennings in the summer of 2006, Kempf-Townsley had more than just winning games to contend with. Kempf-Townsley and the team dedicated the season to Jennings and kept her as much a part of the team as possible. They had a moment of silence before every practice and game, and wore a patch on their uniforms with angel wings and the initials MJ.’ They didn’t want her to be forgotten.

“At the start of the season, I thought the wins would take care of themselves, as long as we were together, mentally and emotionally,” Kempf-Townsley said. “To me, the most important thing was to worry about their (players) emotion, and how they were going to deal with coming back to school, not having her (Jennings) here, their academics, just their daily routine of life. To me, it was just much more important that they had each other, and that we (the coaches) were there for them.”

The wins did take care of themselves, as the Pirates went on to qualify for the BIG EAST Championship for the first time since 2000.

“We played tremendous soccer,” Kempf-Townsley said. “It was great to see them play, how hard they worked, and how hard they trained. Not having a field to train on, not having a home field, the odds we’re against them in everything. But for them to withstand all that and to come out and make it into the BIG EAST, that’s saying something about that group of kids.”

Over her time here as the head coach, Kempf-Townsley has made her mark. She has established traditions and standards for the programs. Every summer, prior to the season, the team takes a preseason training trip to Ocean City, New Jersey.

“Preseason down the shore,” Kempf-Townsley said. “They’re just some of the greatest times. I will miss that tremendously. The bonding that goes on, is extremely important. You really get to know people, the players, other than just playing soccer and that’s really important.”

Kempf-Townsley has fond memories over her years here: whether it was beating No. 2 Notre Dame, trips down the shore, or competing at the BIG EAST Championship, she feels lucky to have experienced it with so many special people along the way. She has learned lessons in winning and losing, and has many memories of her successes. 

“The way you measure success is based the accomplishments of your players and what they do when they leave here,” Kempf-Townsley said.  “I think the thing that I’ve learned the most, I look at the players that graduate, they’re all wonderful mothers, great wives, they’ve got great jobs, and/or they’re coaching. And they’re just wonderful people. That’s the long lasting memory that I will have of this place, the fact that Seton Hall gave me the opportunity to do that.”

            Kempf-Townsley was involved in community work throughout her time at Seton Hall. She established the Eddie Polec Memorial Soccer Camp in 1995, in memory of Polec, to bring together youngsters with friends of Polec.

“It fulfills me in the smiles that it brings to his (Polec’s) mother and to the children in the camp,” Kempf-Townsley said. “It’s just extremely rewarding. It’s my intention to keep doing that, and if not, try and establish more of those kind of programs in other places.”

As Kempf-Townsley relives the memories of Seton Hall and continues on with her life: spending time with her husband and giving more time to the community, she is grateful for everything that Seton Hall has allowed her to do. There have been some great people who have touched her life on campus, and this season, was the perfect ending to her chapter at Seton Hall.

 “The university has been good to me,” Kempf-Townsley said. “I would have to say, of all the years coaching, it’s a good way for me to go out.”