In 1999, life was good for Abby Alley.

The field hockey star was in the midst of an All-State season as a junior at Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, a north suburb of Chicago.

Colleges were showing interest in her services. The recruiting letters were rolling in. It was all sort of fun for Alley.

Fast forward to July 2000, where life wasn’t nearly as enjoyable. Because Alley’s senior year was about to get under way, college coaches were allowed to call her. That meant a call every night — at least.

“It was kind of hectic,” Alley said. “It’s kind of like, ‘OK. Who wants to talk to me now?'”

Coaches from Georgetown, Wake Forest and Yale all wanted Alley’s ear for a few minutes, hoping that acquiring four years of her goal-scoring prowess might be the result of their conversation. But with many options available around the country, Alley eventually chose to relocate just 20 miles south of her home.

As of last November, she had whittled her choices down to Northwestern and Wake Forest (currently the third-ranked team in the nation). When it came down to it, “I knew I wouldn’t be playing right away (at Wake Forest), and if I came here, I’d get to play more,” she said.

“I just liked everything about it here better than Wake Forest.”

A minor stumbling block with the Demon Deacons didn’t hurt.

“We had a lot of trouble setting up a date that they could have me (visit) and that I could get there,” Alley said. “So I decided to just bag that idea and come (to NU).”

It’s no accident that two of the top local players among last year’s high school seniors — Alley and forward Candice Cooper, a midfielder from New Trier High School in nearby Winnetka — became Wildcats.

“Historically, one of the things I’ve tried to do was make sure that we made a concentrated effort to bring in players from the area,” Didio said.

Didio’s Cats (2-10, 1-4 Big Ten) take the field today in a key conference matchup at No. 16 Iowa. The Hawkeyes (10-3, 3-2) knocked off NU 2-1 in the Cats’ last game 10 days ago.

Didio began tapping the local talent pool in her first coaching stint at NU, which began in 1990. She nabbed Donna Barg, a goaltender who now ranks seventh on NU’s all-time saves list, in her first recruiting class. Barg hails from the Chicago’s west suburbs.

When Didio returned for her second tour of duty with the Cats in January of 2000, she immediately began recruiting local talent.

As a result, all five Illinois natives on the NU roster — Alley, Katie Fischer and Katie Hall from Lake Forest, Oak Park’s Kirsten Mackey, and Cooper — are Didio’s recruits.

Despite the number of local players, Didio also emphasizes the importance of recruiting players from around the country.

“We don’t limit ourselves to recruiting locally,” she said. “If you do that, you’re not going to be an elite program.”

But Didio said she has also seen the quality of prep play in the Chicago area increase dramatically compared to just a few years ago.

“(Field hockey in Illinois has) improved a great deal the past four or five years,” said Tamara McHaney, the head coach at Lake Forest High.

“The coaching at the high school level has improved, and the kids are going to camps in the off-season.”

Training camps have been particularly important for Didio, who runs the Windy City Festival, a premier program for local talent.

Alley and Cooper both played at that festival during their senior year of high school.

And while Alley initially envisioned herself leaving Chicago for college, she has no regrets about staying close to home.

“My parents come out to every game,” she said. “I love it that they’re here.”

She only wishes her family could see her play more.

She’s started seven of NU’s 12 matches, and appeared as a substitute in three others, registering no goals on two shots.

“I’m not real happy with my play,” she said.

Didio said that Alley’s main downfall has been a lack of forcefulness, a trait that’s befallen the entire Cats squad this season.

“Assertiveness is the main thing Abby has to work on,” Didio said.

Alley has had difficulty adapting to one of Didio’s trademarks: ultra-competitive, ultra-intense practices.

“The mental battles are tough,” Alley said. “The practices are physically hard, but they aren’t that different from what I was used to. It’s just really hard to stay focused for so long at such a high level.”

Didio knows her practices are a challenge for freshmen, but she tells players what they’re getting into before they commit to NU.

“I promise them the opportunity to go to school and play hockey at Northwestern,” Didio said of her recruiting philosophy. “That’s all I promise them. Everything else they have to earn.

“They understand my mentality, and they will thrive on what we’re striving for. I don’t gloss it over for them. They know it’s not going to be milk and cookies here.”

One thing that has been particularly tough for Alley this season is NU’s poor record, especially considering the success Wake Forest has had.

“We’ve had a really tough schedule compared to last year,” Alley says of a slate that has included nationally ranked opponents such as No. 1 Maryland. “But I think we’ve done a good job of hanging in there with the best of them.”

And Alley sees a bright future for the Cats, one that includes beating the touted opponents that they’ve struggled to compete with this season.

“I feel like this season has been really good preparation for the next level,” she said of the quality of play that teams like Wake Forest exhibit. “By my upperclass years, I know Marisa will have gotten us as good as them.”