Mother-and-daughter are also coach-and-player

Alex Senior knew where she was going to end up all along. She just played a little hard-to-get from across the dinner table.

As a youngster, Senior played a bunch of different sports including soccer, basketball, lacrosse and track and field, and was pretty good at all of them, according to family stories. But she always kept an eye on field hockey as it’s in her blood. Her mother, Danielle (Annibale) Senior, was a star at Bishop Eustace Preparatory School in Pennsauken and went on to have a fantastic collegiate career, playing for a Penn State University team that reached the NCAA Final Four. She’s been coaching her alma mater Bishop Eustace the last nine years and has won two state championships with the Crusaders.

It was only a matter of time before mother would be coaching daughter. And two years ago, it finally happened as Alex started ninth grade at Bishop Eustace.

“I used to come to all the games when I was younger when she would coach,” Alex said. “I knew I was going to want to be a part of the team here. I love the girls and everything.”

The conversion started in grade school as Alex added field hockey into her rotation of sports before eventually deciding to swing a stick full-time.

“My whole life I grew up playing soccer,” Alex said. “I knew eventually my mom was going to convert me to field hockey so I started playing in third or fourth grade and focused mainly on field hockey in seventh grade. But I definitely chose the right sport. I love it.”

Alex wasted little time making an impact, scoring 12 goals as a freshman. She followed up with a breakout season as a sophomore last year, contributing a team-leading 16 goals and 19 assists. This year, as a junior, Senior once again leads her team with 17 goals through the month of October.

There’s no special treatment from Mom in the form of short cuts. Coach Senior admits she’s probably a little rougher on her daughter.

“You have a million players on the team and you want to treat everyone fairly,” Danielle Senior said. “I tend to be way harder on her than I would with the other kids. I have to have a reality check sometimes when the captains pull me aside and say I’m being harder on her and I should back off a little bit. But she really does earn it out there and deserves everything she’s getting.”

Alex admits she places the pressure on herself.

“It’s taught me to work harder because everyone thinks I’m gifted things,” Alex said. “But I’m actually probably treated the hardest because I’m the daughter. But I have to prove myself everyday that I deserve to be on the field.”

She also proves herself in the classroom. Senior was recently accepted into National Honors Society and takes part in school clubs including the female empowerment group “She’s the First” as well as “Friends of Rachel,” which honors Rachel Scott, a student killed in the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. The national movement strives to combat bullying and perform acts of kindness at schools.

“Rachel Scott was really nice to everyone at her school and the club is about spreading kindness around school,” Senior said. “And a few times a year we’ll put quotes on lockers with things Rachel would say.”

Aside from following her mother’s footsteps, Senior is also marching to the beat of a few other family members as she has committed to play field hockey at Fairfield University after graduating high school in 2022. She’ll be playing sports for a Division 1 school, like her brother, Nick, who plays baseball at Saint Joseph’s University, and she plans to study business like her dad, who works in finance. Dad, who was a good baseball player of his own, is also known to have a few opinions on field hockey, which is usually the hot topic at the dinner table.

“My dad chimes in a lot now too,” Alex said with a laugh. “At home, a lot of dinner talks are about what we should do against a certain team. It’s pretty field hockey-based, especially since my brother is at college now. There’s not really baseball or soccer to talk about now. It’s just field hockey all the time.”

There’s been plenty to talk about.

Alex was recently listed as Max Field Hockey’s 40 players to watch in the state of New Jersey in 2020 along with teammate Mia Trottie, who has been fantastic as the Crusaders’ goaltender. Senior was given a well-deserved captain’s band for her junior season, which was unanimously voted by the team. And most importantly, she’s picked up some admiration from the coaching staff.

“You try and raise good kids that are going to be humble and will work hard,” Coach Senior said. “A little bit of you hopes that they will follow and continue to play the game you always loved and had the memories and relationships you had in high school and college. But you never know and you love them no matter what. But I saw her turn a switch sophomore year and she was out practicing two hours a day. I’m really proud that she works hard, but it’s just begun for her. I told my kids that when you commit, that’s when the hard work starts.”

Mom always knows best.