Northwestern’s Lissa Opolsky coach of the year.

Lissa Opolsky is a young woman, but her days of playing field hockey are over. They have been for some time, in fact.

Fortunately for her, she is doing the next best thing.

In her eighth season as a coach at Northwestern Lehigh, Opolsky guided the Tigers to a pair of championships — Colonial League and District 11 Class A — and in the process was named The Morning Call’s field hockey coach of the year for 2020.

“Playing is something that I’ ve always wanted to do,” Opolsky said. “Eventually, time ran out on that. I had to do the next best thing. For most coaches, coaching is an extension of playing. I was surrounded by some of the best coaches, whether I was coached by them or coached with them. I learned a lot from a lot of people. Each year, you learn more. Coaching is rewarding and difficult at the same time.”

Opolosky played on a state championship team at Crestwood in 2004 and was an assistant coach on Crestwood’s 2012 state champion. In between, she played at the University of Iowa, where she learned the nuances of two of her future jobs: English teacher and field hockey coach.

The Tigers (19-5) played more games than anyone else in the area and spent most of the postseason winning revenge games. Northwestern beat Bangor and Southern Lehigh to win the Colonial title, then lost to Bloomsburg in the state tournament.

“After the 2019 season, the girls definitely had momentum and motivation,” she said. “They had some skeletons in their closet, never having beaten Southern [Lehigh], never having beaten Bangor. ... Until the end, they were checking things off the list.”