The Northwestern lacrosse team is warming up for its big varsity debut in spring 2002 – but not for the first time.
When the “elevated club” team took to the turf last weekend and defeated Division III Wooster College (Ohio) 8-7 in triple overtime, it wasn’t just another victory for the 11-1 Wildcats. Wooster was the first varsity competition NU has faced since the program folded in 1992.
After a nine-year stint in the 1980s, the program buckled in 1992 – a result of low interest and diminished numbers, said Ken Kraft, senior associate athletic director.
“Lacrosse teams in the Midwest were few and far between at that time,” Kraft said. “It was a matter of meeting needs and what was best for the entire program.”
The history of the NU lacrosse team is a tangled one. Cindy Timzhal, the head lacrosse coach in 1992, doubled as assistant coach for the field hockey team, while head field hockey coach Nancy Stevens stepped in as the assistant for the lacrosse team. The teams were virtually the same with approximately 90 percent of the lacrosse players also members of the field hockey team, Kraft said.
“Field hockey started scheduling out-of-season games so they could have competition in the spring,” said Kraft, an NU alum who also coached wrestling for the Cats in the 1960s and 1970s. “If those girls weren’t going to play lacrosse, we really couldn’t have a lacrosse team anymore.”
As an added twist, Timzhal left NU’s dwindling program to accept the head coaching position at Maryland, where current NU lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte-Hiller dominated the turf during her four years as a collegiate All-American.
Amonte-Hiller said she consulted with her former coach before accepting the position at NU.
“She told me she thought it was a great opportunity,” Amonte-Hiller said. “The school has changed a lot and the support of the athletic department is great now. It’s a great fit with field hockey and soccer because of the facilities.”
The team seems to be flourishing in its first year with Amonte-Hiller as coach.
Ranked second in the latest Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse League (WCLL) poll, the Cats are ringing up victories across the Midwest as they prepare to begin varsity competition next spring.
The Cats went 3-1 over the weekend, falling to Miami (Ohio) in their first loss of the season. Miami, ranked first in the WCLL poll, pulled out a 6-5 victory over NU, leaving many of the Cats eager to face the RedHawks again. NU retaliated by beating Purdue 9-2, Indiana 15-1 and Wooster.
“It’s great we get to start from the beginning,” co-captain Alexis Cohen said, “especially with such an amazing coach to lead us.”
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Cohen said lacrosse has been a popular and competitive sport in the Northeast for years. And as interest in the game spreads, so do the amount of varsity collegiate programs.
“Lacrosse is becoming more and more popular because it’s a great sport and more people are learning about it and catching on,” Cohen said.
The majority of NU’s lacrosse players grew up in the Northeast, coming from high school programs in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania – all states in which lacrosse is an institution. But the Midwest is starting to catch on to the sports world’s latest trend, with numerous high schools and colleges trying out their own new programs.
The spreading popularity helped cement NU’s decision to reinstate lacrosse as a varsity sport, Kraft said.
“There are many more lacrosse players at the high school level now,” Kraft said. “With a super coach who’s energetic and excited about the program, the team’s going to attract those players and be successful.”
Amonte-Hiller said 14 recruits have signed or committed to NU.
In the era of Title IX, lacrosse is the fourth women’s sport NU has added in the last eight years: golf came in 1992, soccer in 1994 and cross country in 1998.
“Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the country right now,” Amonte-Hiller said. “We hope all the Big Ten schools will add varsity programs; the competition will help us.”
