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Dornay is a starting midfielder at The Evergreen State College, an NAIA member of the Cascade Conference. She is the ideal facilitator on offense, with deft touch and unwavering will. She is unquestionably the fittest member of the squad.
And at 40 years old, the mother of four is also the oldest player on the team. She’s also 31/2 years older than her coach, Adam Fenster.
“She provides a ton of energy, and has endurance like you wouldn’t believe,” Fenster said. “And she is great with our kids. She doesn’t try and parent them. She blends in as much as she can.
“She did not play club soccer like a lot of our kids, so she very much is still learning this side of it.”
UNCONVENTIONAL UPBRINGING
The nine Dornay siblings, including Deirdre, rarely touched organized athletics in their teenage years growing up on Capitol Hill in Seattle.
Their parents ran a Montessori school, which emphasizes a constructive thinking curriculum for mixed-age classrooms. Subsequently, all the Dornay children were raised in that environment.
Once Deirdre Dornay got to Blanchet High School, she dabbled in track and field. She won the Metro League girls mile one year. She then transferred to Mercer Island High School, and finished up with a General Educational Development degree in 1990.
It was also about that time Dornay began playing soccer. She joined a women’s team in the Co-Rec Soccer Association in Seattle, then gradually worked her way up to a co-ed squad – finally playing almost exclusively with men.
“I have a lot of energy, so I run 10, 23 miles or whatever,” Dornay said. “I thought (soccer) would be fun, just to try something different.”
Although she knew her husband, Joe Morris, from her Capitol City neighborhood, their courtship was solidified on the soccer field.
“She used to practice with my men’s first division team when we were first dating,” Morris said. “And soon they wouldn’t really care if I showed up.”
Much of Dornay’s soccer background – and skill – has come from playing in pickup leagues, which are usually neighborhood-organized. The age range is wide – from current college players to older ex-professionals.
“I like to watch people from different backgrounds and their styles,” Dornay said.
“Also, I always ask for any coaching input.”
Added her husband, with whom she has traveled all over the country and played in pickup games in different U.S cities:
“She has learned it properly, because the way you play it is totally spontaneous. She has learned to play in a helter-skelter environment where you have to connect with your teammates – who they are and what they have to offer.”
GIVING COLLEGE A TRY
Because Dornay began having children when some are just finishing school – she was 22 when she had her first son, Dominic – much of her stay-at-home, school-from-home adult life has focused on their activities.
Early on, Dominic showed so much promise in gymnastics, the family invested much of its resources into that. He has been ranked high, won a national all-around title at age 11 and has been on track for a future U.S. Olympics team.
Now, Dominic is 18 – and looking at joining a collegiate gymnastics program while still training in Seattle. Dornay’s other children – Mia, 15; Olivia, 11; and Owen, 7 – are also old enough to go off to school and participate in their own extra-curricular activities.
With that in mind two years ago, Dornay decided to pursue a National Strength and Conditioning Association certification at Bellevue Community College. One day, she stumbled across a women’s soccer practice, and joked to an athletic official that she should join the team.
He told her tryouts had already passed, but that she could talk to the coach about coming aboard late, which she did.
“I like to go with things,” Dornay said, “because if you don’t, you miss out on opportunities.”
Fenster used to be the men’s coach at Bellevue CC, and the two shared a fondness of athletic training. When Fenster was hired at Evergreen in 2010 and had been on the job a year, he received a phone call from Dornay about transferring to the four-year university and playing soccer for him.
“We lived in Olympia for seven years (while Dominic trained at Black Hills Gymnastics), so I am somewhat familiar with the area,” Dornay said. “And once I graduated from Bellevue, I was thinking about going right into getting my nursing degree, but I thought, ‘Well, I sure like playing soccer while I am in college.’ They kind of both keep me going.”
FITTING IN AT EVERGREEN
A recent home match against Trinity Lutheran went to extra time, tied 3-3. It was an unusually fair September afternoon, and players on both sides were gassed.
In overtime, the one player who consistently got to loose balls first was Dornay, who managed to create a couple of scoring opportunities, but to no avail. The match ended tied.
The Geoducks players showed their appreciation for Dornay’s effort after the game, putting their arms around her head as they came to the sideline.
“She has been really, really great. She is older, but she definitely plays the game well, and we really feed off her,” said senior forward Brianna Speed, a team captain.
“It was surprising at first when she came out. The first thing I thought was, ‘Wow, she is still playing soccer.’ But it is awesome. She is the most fit person on our team.”
The team has already been on an overnight road trip to Oregon for two matches, so the players have spent time with one another.
“We don’t care about age. Everybody is the same,” Speed said. “Everybody gets along with everyone.”
Not once has the difference in age between her and younger teammates ever come up as a potential conflict, Dornay said.
“A lot of times, people will be like, ‘How old are you anyway? You have kids? That is your son? I thought it was your brother’ – you know, funny stuff,” Dornay said. “I was raised in the type of school where we had different age groups in one classroom, so I am very comfortable around old guys, teenagers or whatever.
“I am not a coach-mom or anything like that, and I think that becomes pretty clear, pretty quickly.”
Often, Dornay leaves Mercer Island at 9 a.m., makes the 75-mile drive to Olympia (or carpools with Fenster) to go to class, then has practice or a match. She sometimes doesn’t return until 9 p.m.
“My youngest son asks where Mom is a lot, but I am with him all the time,” Morris said. “You don’t get a lot of do-overs. … It is nice for her to taste this now, and see how good she can get at something.”
The times Dornay gets home early, she helps her children out with their homework before she embarks on her own – which can make for a long, long day.
“My children think I am a little bit of a nerd, I guess, because I do my homework and show up for practice every day,” Dornay said. “This is just part of a journey – a phase of my journey. And I ask myself, ‘Is this the right thing for me to do right now? Does it work?’
“It is a good time for me to do this, to see how far I get into school, and how long I last on the soccer team.”
Todd Milles: 253-597-8442 todd.milles@thenewstribune.com
