New Lake coach puts in area roots

All it takes is one connection in order to not have to play six degrees of separation with any one person and any one locality.

When news came in February that Lake Catholic had hired Chris Hastings as its girls soccer coach — and that Hastings was coming in from Maryland — it may have seemed random logistically. In actuality, it was far from it.

Lake gave Hastings his first win on the Cougars’ touchline Aug. 19, 6-2 at Madison in a nonconference match. After talking about the performance with his side, his young son made a beeline across the pitch at Madison to give his dad a big hug.

Hastings came to the area after a decade coaching at Catonsville (Maryland) in suburban Baltimore, seven years as a girls assistant and the last three falls as boys head coach, during which he went 399-3.

There are 373 miles — and a lot of toll roads — that separate Catonsville from Lake Catholic.

But the story that brought Hastings to Northeast Ohio is a little easier navigation.

“My wife played at Villa Angela-St. Joseph, and she wanted to move back home,” Hastings said. “Jackie Pecjak is her maiden name, so she was a pretty good player back in the day and played at Kent State.

“She wanted to come back home, and a couple of friends, Matt Moran, the coach of Lake Catholic boys basketball, they’re friends with my brotherin-law. The job opened up, and they said, ‘Hey, why don’t you apply?’ So that’s how I kind of fell into it up here in Ohio.”

Jackie Pecjak was a four-year letterwinner and standout defender at Kent State from 2000 to 2003. She was first-team all-Mid -American Conference as a senior.

Under Hastings’ guidance, Catonsville was state-ranked in Class 4A, Maryland’s Division I equivalent, the last two years.

“I was upset to leave Maryland — we had a good program running down there, and some of the boys that I hated to not see them finish out their senior year,” Hastings said. “But those kids are good kids down in Maryland, and I’m excited to build the same relationship up here with the same program I have going here as I did down there.”

Lake went 14-5 last fall and was a D-II district finalist, bowing out against eventual state finalist Chagrin Falls.

Hastings has already put his tactical imprint on a fairly young Lake side, moving standout attacker Kati Druzina to a central attacking midfield role from striker and shifting defensive-third personnel.

The Cougars are part of the reason why the area D-II district will be a meatgrinder in October, as that district field adds Chagrin and 2016 D-III state champion Gilmour.

But whether it’s suburban Baltimore or the east side of Cleveland, the variables for getting a big match result don’t change.

“Differences for the girls side (from Maryland and Ohio)? Not really,” Hastings said. “There are some good girls everywhere that can play — boys same way. The difference between boys and girls soccer is the intensity level on the field, but these girls are pretty intense.”