May 15, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - On the surface, the 2003 Northwestern women's lacrosse season could be termed a mighty success.
Despite playing a schedule that featured eight ranked teams, the 'Cats added three wins to their record from 2002 and went 8-8.
They recorded their first win over a ranked team when they defeated No. 19 Connecticut, 8-6, on April 6.
They crashed the national rankings themselves, finding the Top 20 on four separate occasions during the spring.
Finally, four NU women were named to the All-American Lacrosse Conference teams -- two juniors with sophomore eligibility, and two freshmen.
All this, despite the fact the Wildcats were forced to play without their leading scorer from 2002, Sarah Albrecht, after she went down with a season-ending knee injury in February.
Yet speak with head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, and you get a sense she is even a little disappointed in how things shook out. Such is the attitude she has instilled in this program.
"We have high expectations for this program to be the best in the nation," she said. "Some people might think it is unfair to put that kind of pressure on the players, but the way I look at it is if you're not looking to make your program the best in the nation then that is unfair -- to your coaches and your teammates. The goal is always to be the best.
"I did a little research after the season, though," she continued. "I looked at a lot of the programs we see as 'established,' and I found that they did not have the success we did in their second year of existence. What we have already accomplished a lot, but we still have a ways to go -- the women know that."
The Wildcats suffered a jolt before the season even began, when Albrecht went down in a preseason practice. In addition to losing a proven scorer -- and a woman who, according to Amonte Hiller, had greatly improved from the year before -- the 'Cats had lost arguably their leader on the field.
"At first you could see the look on everyone's faces -- they were like 'you can't be serious.'" said Amonte Hiller. "After we got over the initial shock, we just tried to turn it into a positive. The coaching staff told the other players that they were going to have to step up their play, and I think over the course of the season they did.
"I think in the long run we will be a better team because of this. Don't get me wrong; we want Sarah back and we want her at the level she was playing. But this season was a confidence boost for a lot of other players, who responded well to being put into the fire."
The season got off to a rousing start, when Northwestern trekked to Boston for a pair of games against established Ivy League programs Brown and Harvard. The 'Cats knocked off the Bears, 11-10, and one day later downed the Crimson, 7-4. It was the perfect way to start the new campaign -- with wins against teams that had beaten them in 2002.
"Those were huge wins," said Amonte Hiller. "The most exciting thing about that weekend was watching a bunch of freshmen and sophomores play at such a high level and become veterans so quickly. Those wins gave us a lot of confidence."
That confidence carried the 'Cats through three more wins, as they sandwiched a 13-9 decision over Ohio in the ALC opener between victories over Sacred Heart and Duquesne. Suddenly, NU was 5-0 -- and the nation took notice. When the March 10 Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) national poll came out, the 'Cats were 19th.
"Normally I don't focus on rankings, but because it was our first time in since the program came back it was really exciting for the women," said Amonte Hiller.
However, she knew that the iron of the schedule was about to hit -- nationally ranked Ohio State, Vanderbilt and Johns Hopkins, all ALC opponents, were on the horizon.
"I knew we had to raise our level several notches," said Amonte Hiller. "We had some people who understood what it was going to take to compete at that level, but not everyone did."
Sure enough, NU met its match. The Buckeyes escaped Lakeside Field with a 14-4 win, and then a trip to Nashville yielded losses to Vandy (15-8) and Hopkins (14-7). However, the stage was set for arguably NU's two best games of 2003 -- UConn and Stanford.
UConn had supplanted the 'Cats in the rankings in the week leading up to their meeting, but turnabout was again fair play on April 6 when the Huskies came to Evanston. Led by Lindsey Munday and Laura Glassanos, NU powered past UConn 8-6 for its first win over a ranked opponent. Five days later, another stalwart effort fell just short against No. 16 Stanford, as the Cardinal survived at Lakeside Field, 9-5.
"If I had to pick out a highlight from this season, it would have to be those games," said Amonte Hiller.
NU would win twice more, 14-4 against ALC foe Davidson and 10-5 at Colgate, before closing out the regular season with a .500 record (8-8).
When the season ended, four women were honored by the ALC. Junior Courtney Koester was a first-team selection, while her twin sister Ashley Koester joined Munday and Glassanos -- NU's two leading scorers -- on the second team.
"I was happy to see those women get the recognition they got," said Amonte Hiller. "Courtney has such a high learning curve, but what is most impressive is how hard she works. She and her sister are so motivated and so positive out there. They were two of our most consistent players this season, and I think Courtney began to understand that she is one of our marquee players.
"Lindsey and Laura really came on in the second half of the season; they may not have become the players they did if Sarah had been out there leading the way. They learned this year they can play at this level -- a lot of our women did. If we can stay healthy next year, we will have a great depth and ability on attack."
Amonte Hiller acknowledged that one of the most pleasing moments of the season occured after NU's final game, a 14-3 loss to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
"Some parents and other people were coming up after the game, and they kept telling me that they couldn't believe how much better we had gotten from the Brown game to the Syracuse game," she said. "It was good to have people recognize that."
With preparations already underway for the 2004 season, Amonte Hiller admits there were lessons to be learned by her still-youthful charges in 2003.
"I think the biggest thing was learning how to set the tone in a game," she said. "During the middle part of the season, especially, we let games come to us instead of trying to dictate them with our play. We need to get the lead and then continue pushing the game to another level. We got more composed in that aspect as the season went on, but we need to build on that even more."