Marilyn Duffy-Cabana has a routine before her field hockey games the cessation of which, according to the junior, is simply unfathomable.
"I always hit the crossbar twice with my right pad, and I always put my left kicker and blocker [pads] on first. I basically dress left to right," Duffy-Cabana said. "Oh, and [fellow teammate junior] Angela [Rappoli] and I always get our coffee before the game. Dunkin Donuts knows our order when we walk in the door."
Candidly enthusiastic on the subject of sports, she talks progressively faster when asked to explain anything in detail, and is subtly quite funny.
"I do the routine for practices also," Duffy-Cabana said. "That's just second nature, that type of stuff. I'm superstitious."
Superstition or not, it seems to be working. Duffy-Cabana, goalie for the field hockey team and point guard for the women's basketball team, is currently helping the Jumbos towards their second straight winning season under coach Tina McDavitt. While measuring the effects Duffy-Cabana's rituals on the team's success this season is a thorny science, this much is known: the Jumbos are 4-3 in 2005 and Duffy-Cabana has notched 48 saves in those seven games. She has accumulated a 4-3 record and an impressive .857 save percentage.
"She has kept us in a lot of games," senior co-captain Lea Napolitano said. "[Her save percentage] is really good, but it doesn't surprise me, either."
When not on the Hill, Duffy-Cabana can be found at her family's home in Amesbury, Mass., a small town in the state's northeastern corner near the New Hampshire border. Both of her parents are educators - Duffy-Cabana's father taught at her high school and her mother is the head of curriculum for a Boston-area school district. She is the middle child of three girls, and her older sister lives in Davis Square.
Duffy-Cabana started playing basketball in fourth grade, and played soccer through the beginning of high school. She didn't start playing field hockey until her sophomore year at Amesbury High.
"I played soccer before, but the field hockey program was really strong and they lost a lot of seniors," Duffy-Cabana said. "So I joined the team."
She began playing goalie her junior year, and was contacted by then-Tufts field hockey coach and current women's lacrosse-coach Carol Rappoli. At that time, she wasn't sure where she wanted to attend college.
"I was looking at a bunch of different schools, but Carol came to a high school game to see me play," Duffy-Cabana explained. "That made my decision a lot easier; I applied early decision."
At Tufts, Duffy-Cabana was initially on the pre-med track, but eventually changed her mind.
"Those pre-med classes really got me," she said.
She is now majoring in psychology with a minor in economics, and maintains a 3.33 GPA.
Duffy-Cabana decided to continue with basketball despite being recruited to play field hockey. Her decision to play the second sport collegiately was an afterthought: she joined the team as a walk-on.
"I had played basketball since I was young, but at first I came here to play field hockey," Duffy-Cabana said. "Still, it sounds strange, but there's something familiar between the two sports, especially my positions. They're different, obviously, comparing a stationary position [at goalie] to moving about, but I enjoy the element of control both positions have. And I move around when I'm in the goal as well."
Duffy-Cabana uses words such as "hyper" and "high-strung" to describe herself, but her teammates used more endearing words and stories. Especially noteworthy to Napolitano was another of Duffy-Cabana's pre-game traditions.
"Before the game, [Duffy-Cabana and fellow teammate and goalie Angela Rappoli] do this whole dance routine to the song "'Don't Cha,'" Napolitano said, referring to the single featuring Busta Rhymes. "It's good. To get the full effect you have to see her perform it."
Unfortunately, the student body won't be able to view the routine by attending a field hockey match.
"She does the dance in the locker-room, but it's only for the field hockey girls," Napolitano said, undoubtedly to the chagrin of Tufts field hockey fans.
