Mary Rivera and Carli Swift have spent a lot of time on the hockey field together. Teammates on Westminster’s 1996 state championship team, the two started playing the game as eight graders. Now they coach rival Carroll County high school teams.

"She’s actually the one that got me to play field hockey," said Swift, who went on to play at Maryland. "She just said, ‘I think I’m going to play field hockey in the fall,’ and I said, ‘OK, me too.’ I never would have thought about it if she hadn’t."

Back then, the two were known as Mary Dickensheets and Carli Harris. When they got to Westminster it was a state field hockey powerhouse and they helped keep it that way.

Yesterday, the two were back on the field at Westminster High School, but this time, on opposite sides. Rivera coaches her alma mater and Swift coaches Winters Mill, which is also located in Westminster. While they squared off as JV coaches four years ago, this was the first time they had met as varsity head coaches. Swift took over at Winters Mill last fall, but she got married and was on her honeymoon when the Falcons played Westminster, where Rivera has been head coach for three years.

The first victory in the varsity coaching "rivalry" went to Rivera, whose Westminster team dominated en route to a 3-0 victory. During the game, there was plenty of friendly banter between the two coaches.

How do the long-time friends like coaching against each other?

"I like it, but I don’t," said Rivera. "It’s fun. You still have that competitive drive and everything else but at the same time, you want their team to do good too, because you’re friends. I’d rather coach against someone I didn’t know."

Swift agreed that it’s a balance.

"It’s fun. We call each other and talk after games about who we’ve played and who we’re going to play. We joke around, but at the same time, we’re still both very competitive."

No matter what happens, they are still friends at the end of the day – a good example for their players to emulate.

-- Katherine Dunn