Lacrosse

Mary Kate Casey will play the most important game of her life today.

The high school senior will start for Wilmette’s Loyola Academy in the Illinois girls’ lacrosse championship game. The Ramblers, ranked No. 1 in the state, will try to win their second state title in three years.

But even if Casey were to lose this game, she can look forward to winning many more when she comes to Northwestern next fall.

Casey is one of eight players who will join the Cats next season, and she may be the most versatile of her recruiting class. The Chicago native was named Loyola Academy’s best defensive player last season and, after being moved to offense this spring, has scored more than 30 goals in 2005.

The Illinois High School Women’s Lacrosse Association named her first-team all-state this season.

“Mary Kate is an awesome athlete and makes good decisions on the field,” NU coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “She’s a local player with a good attitude and work ethic. That’s our ideal addition to the team.”

Casey, a good-humored, freckled honors student, first took up lacrosse her freshman year of high school, like many players from the area.

She was already playing varsity basketball, a sport she had been playing for 10 years and still plays, and was looking for a new challenge.

Casey made the junior varsity lacrosse team despite never having played the game before. She moved up to the varsity team her sophomore year and is now a co-captain as a senior.

NU already has played a key role in Casey’s lacrosse development.

Last summer, Casey and several of her teammates joined high school players from the Chicago area to play on the Wildcat Elite club team, which is run by NU coaches. The team allows local high school players to travel to the East Coast to play against tough competitors and also to play in front of top recruiters who don’t travel to Chicago.

“I got to compete with people on the national level,” Casey said. “I feel like it was the peak of my career … and I really developed my stick skills, speed, agility.”

Casey impressed the NU coaches while playing for the Wildcat Elite. She and her Elite teammates picked up skills and drills that her Loyola team has used in practices this season.

Casey will join a list of current NU players recruited from the Chicago area. NU senior Abby Alley and her sister, freshman Hilary Alley, come from neighboring Lake Forest, Ill., and sophomore Emily Lovett hails from Barrington, Ill., a 45-minute drive from NU.

NU’s proportion of in-state players is high considering that most lacrosse recruits on any team come from the East Coast and that in Illinois, high school lacrosse is not yet recognized as a school-sanctioned sport.

But in the past few seasons, and especially after winning the national title this season, NU’s quick success has brought attention to the sport in the area and will continue to do so.

Twenty-nine high school girls’ programs are recognized by the Illinois High School Women’s Lacrosse Association, and schools from the state are sending an increasing number of players on to college programs.

“I can’t say enough about what Kelly (Amonte Hiller) has done for our program and this area,” said John Dwyer, Casey’s coach at Loyola. “We’ve always had the great athletes, but now there’s more interest in the sport. And she’s getting great players from our programs.”

Casey chose to come to NU over second-choice Brown because she thought the academics and athletic program were stronger.

Perhaps most importantly, she did not want to leave behind her cheering section of her parents, aunts, uncles and cousins, who all live in the Chicago area. She also wanted to stay close to her two best friends, teammates who are now both juniors at Loyola.

“I didn’t want to go through four years and not have them come to at least some of my games,” Casey said.

Even as Casey prepares for the most important game of her high school lacrosse career, she said she’s looking forward to what she will accomplish at NU.

“Everyone keeps asking me if I’m excited to come here (to NU),” Casey said. “Every time they ask me, I get more excited.

“I’m excited to come and improve my game in every aspect. I think Northwestern is going to be a well-known school with a great lacrosse program.”