Minium: What ODU Field Hockey Midfielder Rina Tsioles Lacks in Height She Makes Up With Her Heart

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – Rina Tsioles was the shortest player on the field, and she often is, but she also had the biggest heart.

Old Dominion field hockey coach Andrew Griffiths had traveled to Kingston, Pennsylvania, to scout Tsioles, then just a sophomore in high school. And after a few minutes, he knew she was his kind of player.

“It was a semifinal game of the state playoffs and there was this highly acclaimed star on the other team, and Rina’s team was the underdog,” Griffiths said.

“And Rina just totally shut this kid down, this big-name star that everyone was recruiting.

“She just never stopped. She just worked and worked and worked and did all the small things well, persisted and created, scored one goal, and then created the game winner in overtime.”

Griffiths offered her a scholarship, she eventually accepted and in the five years since (including the pandemic shortened 2020-21 season), she has been a stalwart player for the Monarchs.

She’s played in 83 games, starting in 82, and although scoring isn’t a big part of the job description for a midfielder, she’s scored two goals and had 24 assists, including 13 this season.

Among her goals was the game-winner last season against UConn that snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Huskies.

Tsioles and the Monarchs take on Temple today at 4 p.m. in the Big East Tournament semifinals in Providence, Rhode Island. The winner meets either regular-season champion UConn or fourth-seeded Liberty in Sunday’s championship game.

ODU is the defending Big East champion and Tsioles would love nothing better than to go out a champion.

“That’s always been our goal, from the day the season ended last year, to win another championship,” she said.

Tsioles stands 4-foot-11 and was nonetheless heavily recruited out of Wyoming Valley West High School, which she helped lead to four district championships and a state title as a senior. An honor graduate, she was recruited by Northwestern and Syracuse, among others.

Growing up in Northeastern Pennsylvania, not far from Scranton, she said “I kind of wanted to get away from home, but not too far because I wanted my parents to be able to come see me play.”

Norfolk, about six hours south, seemed to be a good location.

She said her recruiting trip to Norfolk sealed the deal for ODU. She was so impressed with Griffiths, associate head coach Natalie Holder and assistant coach Peter Taylor.

“They were so just so welcoming to me,” she said. “I really felt comfortable talking to them, being on the field, being on campus. They compete at a high level and consistently win and I think that’s what drove me to come here.”

Griffiths said she has played at a high level for ODU.

“There are so many things that she does well,” he said. “She does the unsung hero work.

“What she does makes life easier for our other players, because even when she gets half beaten, she’s still pressuring a player, and that player often feels that pressure and makes a mistake.

“She can change direction so quickly with the ball and without the ball. Her football is phenomenal. Her conditioning is phenomenal. She has such great endurance.

"Our players here, they are blue-collar kids, kids who just work hard. And Rina is the epitome of that.”

In spite of her diminutive stature, basketball was her favorite game as a child. But her parents sent her to a field hockey camp, against her will, and it proved to be fortuitous.

“I didn’t want to go but I just ended up really liking it,” she said.

She said she’s always been the shortest person in her class and that for a while, as a kid, that bothered her. “But now, I embrace it,” she said.

She’s also embraced both the good and bad at ODU. Twice during her career, the Monarchs ended the season ranked highly and appeared likely to go to the NCAA Tournament, but in the end, were left out by the tournament committee.

“That was so frustrating,” she said. “We knew we were good, that we belonged in the tournament. To be left out was difficult to deal with.”

Last season she said she and her teammates vowed to not leave things to chance.

“We knew if we won the Big East Tournament that we were in,” she said. “When we won the tournament it felt so good. I can't even begin to describe how good it felt"

Tsioles has already graduated with a degree in biochemistry – with honors – and plans to join a research lab after she leaves ODU in December.

She is counting down the days to the end of her ODU career with a sense of anticipation about her future career and also a touch of sadness.

"When we had Senior Week, that was so bittersweet," she said. "It made me think of all of the memories here, and I've got so many great memories, and all of the good friends that I made here.

"I will miss ODU and all of my teammates and coaches."

But first, there is a championship to win.

ODU dropped its regular-season finale at home to UConn last week.

"It was hard to lose that game," she said. "But I think it just fired us up for the Big East Tournament.

"We want to finish this season with a championship."

Minium is ODU's senior executive writer for athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him  on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram