May 28, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. - Inside Lacrosse has announced its postseason women's awards for 2004, and after the successful campaign turned in by the third-year Northwestern program it was no surprise to see the Wildcats well-represented both in the awards and on the All-America Teams.
Kristen Kjellman, who led NU in scoring this season with 70 points, was named the National Rookie of the Year.
Kjellman was also named second-team All-America; she was joined on the All-America Teams by senior defender Courtney Koester (first team) and junior goalkeeper Ashley Gersuk (third team).
Click here for all of the Inside Lacrosse Postseason Honors!
"This is really exciting for our program, to receive all these honors," said head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, who was named the Inside Lacrosse Coach of the Year. "After the season we had, it is great to see so many of our players and our program get this kind of recognition."
Kristen Kjellman, who was also the American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) Rookie of the Year and first-team All-ALC selection, led NU with 53 goals (6th on NU's single-season list) and 17 assists (7th) for her 70 points (5th). She finished fourth in the ALC in regular-season goals scored and fifth in regular-season scoring; she was also second on the team and sixth in the ALC in draw controls. Kjellman recorded 13 multi-goal games, including a team-high nine with three or more goals, and had a hat trick in eight of NU's last 12 contests. She led all scorers in both of NU's NCAA Tournament games, with four points (3g, 1a) in the first round vs. Notre Dame and eight points (5g, 3a) in the quarterfinal round at Virginia.
Courtney Koester, who was an Inside Lacrosse third-team All-America in 2003, helped anchor a Wildcat back line that finished first in the ALC and fifth nationally in scoring defense. One of the Wildcats' tri-captains, she started all 18 games and earned first-team All-ALC for the second straight season. Koester led NU and finished third in the ALC with 45 draw controls, and tied twin sister Ashley with a team-high 20 caused turnovers. Recently, she was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team in the women's at-large category; she has another season of eligibility remaining, and plans to return for the 2005 campaign.
Ashley Gersuk, a three-time captain already, started every game in the goal and played all but 60 minutes between the pipes. She was a second-team All-ALC pick after making a career-high 146 saves, including eight games with 10 or more stops. Gersuk finished as the ALC leader and fifth nationally in goals-against average (7.56); she was also second in the ALC and 20th nationally in save percentage (.529). Gersuk enters the 2005 season needing 31 saves to become the program's all-time leader in that category, including the previous era of lacrosse at NU (1982-92).
Amonte Hiller's award was not a major surprise, after she led the third-year Wildcats to a 15-3 record and a berth in the NCAA quarterfinal round. Both the 15 wins and NU's 13-game winning streak during the season were school standards, including the previous era of lacrosse at NU. In addition, the 'Cats shared the American Lacrosse Conference title at 5-1 with Final Four participant Vanderbilt and set school records for goals and points in a season. Northwestern began the season unranked by the IWLCA, but finished in the No. 6 position.