Dryden’s Engel inducted into Daemen Hall of Fame

One of Dryden’s top girls soccer alums has made a name for herself in Buffalo.

Samantha Engel was inducted into the Daemen University Athletics Hall of Fame Feb. 25. The school relaunched the Hall of Fame last February and had not had an inductee ceremony since 2014. Engel is one of four Class of 2023 inductees, making this group’s induction the first ceremony to be held in almost 10 years.

Engel, who works remotely in Atlanta as a manager of survey services for the National Safety Council, doesn’t get many calls from Buffalo nowadays. However, once she saw that director of athletics at Daemen, Traci Murphy, reached out, she knew it was important.

“I called her [back] and she filled me in on everything, and I was just so happy and surprised,” Engel said. “There’s a lot of great athletes that have gone through Daemen both paving the way for me and coming after me. It’s just such an honor, and I couldn’t be happier to be part of that.”

Engel first found out about Daemen through the Olympic Development Program, where she got to play alongside some of the best athletes across the state. One of Engel’s coaches from the program connected her with Daemen head coach Dan Dolan. After visiting campus, her collegiate fate was all but sealed.

“I loved that it was a small campus,” Engel said. “Even just sitting in on some of the classes, you definitely get a little more one-on-one attention and support than you would at a bigger school. It helped that they had a good soccer team, and the two [players] that I stayed with—Jessica Brand and Lindsay Miller—were kind of the final pieces. I had such an amazing visit with them and they really sold Daemen to me both academically and athletically.”

Engel went on to become one of the most prolific players for the Wildcats. She currently sits on top of the career assists chart (33) and is third all-time in goals (36) and points (105). Engel is one of just three players in the program’s history to reach 100 points, let alone exceed 100 points. The crowning achievement came in 2012, where she helped the Wildcats win the United States Collegiate Athletics Association (USCAA) National Championship, their first postseason title. Engel reflected on what it took to make history with Daemen.

“[It took] teamwork and believing in Coach Dolan’s plan to get us there and beat Maine-Fort Kent,” Engel said. “We played them multiple times every year, and they were always our biggest challenge. It was just believing in the team, believing in who we had and really coming together and being able to execute…Winning the American Metro Conference (AMC) regular season championship was definitely another amazing moment, because we hadn’t really done that before, and that was our first taste of how to win, how to stay composed, [and] how to buy into everything that Coach is doing. That set the tone for the rest of our time there, which ultimately led to winning that championship, as well.”

Engel had a strong foundation built at Dryden, where she was a four-time All-Section IV selection and helped the Lions reach an IAC championship game. She certainly learned a lot of valuable things that successfully carried over to Daemen.

“[I learned about] mental toughness, resilience, just wanting to do all that I can and that you’re ultimately an individual,” Engel said. “You’re in charge of your own work ethic and the things that you can control, like going to that extra weight room session or doing a little extra work on the side or coming early and just learning discipline and mastering your craft.”

There are two people in particular that have had a massive impact on Engel’s life both on and off the pitch. Janine Bennett has been the head coach of Dryden girls soccer for 20 years, and Engel is one of many players she helped develop and set up for success in college.

PULL QUOTE “She always believed in me and always pushed me to be the best that I could all the time,” Engel said. “Without her, I wouldn’t be who I am as an athlete, I wouldn’t be who I am as an employee, or anything in life. She was a big part of my life, especially at such a critical development time. She really helped us learn not just how to be on a field, but how to find ourselves as a person and be leaders as a group.”

Then, of course, there’s her father Laszlo, who’s currently the head coach of Dryden boys soccer and girls basketball. Laszlo got to coach Samantha at the youth level, which is where her love and passion for “the beautiful game” took off.

“When he was still coaching modified girls, he was just holding me in a backpack and I’m just sitting there while he’s coaching,” Engel said. “They all took turns watching me and really initiating my desire to play.”