Since Cornell was crowned the first men’s lacrosse NCAA champion in 1971 – the women’s final began 11 years later – every national championship team has come from within the Eastern time zone.

But as quick as you can slide on a pair of flip-flops – more on that to come later – the 2005 Northwestern women’s lacrosse team, a program just four seasons removed from club status, shattered boundaries as they captured the school’s first NCAA Championship since 1941. The Wildcats experienced one of the most successful seasons in NCAA history, winning the second most games of any collegiate team – men’s or women’s – finishing 21-0.

Much of the success of the program has been credited to head coach Kelly Amonte-Hiller, widely considered the best women’s lacrosse player in the history of the game and a disciple of Syracuse women’s head coach Lisa Miller. The two face each other at 7 p.m. tonight in the Carrier Dome.

‘I owe my lacrosse experience to her,’ Amonte-Hiller said of Miller. ‘She’s been a tremendous mentor to me throughout my whole career, up until now. We still have a relationship where we’re giving back and forth.’

No stranger to on-field success, Amonte-Hiller, sister to NHL star and Olympic silver medalist Tony Amonte, was the 1995 and 1996 NCAA Division I Lacrosse Player of the Year. Also an All-American in soccer, she led Maryland to lacrosse titles in her final two seasons.

She was also a member of the United States National Team for more than 10 years and helped the Elite Team capture the IFWLA World Cup in 1997 and 2001. Perhaps making it her lucky field, she was named to the All-World Team at the 2005 World Cup in Annapolis, Md., the same venue NU won the title.

‘When I looked at Maryland, they said I could play both (lacrosse and soccer),’ Amonte-Hiller said. ‘I was really excited about that, but as I got more exposed to the lacrosse world … it just set me towards that path.’

In 1999, the Hingham, Mass., native was voted the 21st best athlete in Massachusetts history by Sports Illustrated. Amonte-Hiller started on that path playing for Miller at prestigious Thayer Academy in Braintree, Mass. She was voted a high school All-American for lacrosse, an epic leap for someone who had never played the sport before arriving at Thayer.

‘Like all good high school coaches, you walk around and you pilfer athletes from other programs,’ Miller said of finding her star freshman. ‘I was coaching field hockey and watching her play soccer and thinking, ‘This kid would be really, really good at lacrosse.’ So basically I chased her around with a stick for a couple of months and talked her into playing lacrosse.’

‘She was pretty much instrumental in getting me excited about the sport,’ Amonte-Hiller said of Miller. ‘She taught me everything, all the basics. She exposed me to all these great things.’

Although their on-field relationship lasted only a year, Miller said in that season Amonte-Hiller proved herself as the best athlete she has ever coached. A cult figure in the women’s lacrosse world in her own right because of connections to nearly every school on SU’s schedule, Miller used her young star’s dedication for her advantage.

As she prepared for her own stint with the national team, Miller found an unlikely scrimmage partner in her protg, and player and coach often went one-on-one, with a still-green Amonte-Hiller challenging Miller with her speed and endurance.

‘We refer to those as ‘knee breakers,” said Miller of the individual sessions. ‘I know the basketball coach blew out her knee trying to guard her. She (Amonte-Hiller) was 14.’

While Amonte-Hiller is not afraid to credit her former coach as the gateway to greatness, Miller stops far short of taking credit for the player, coach and ambassador Amonte-Hiller has become.

‘Kelly spoils you (as a coach),’ Miller said. ‘I got lucky.’

Miller must have cast some luck on Amonte-Hiller. Nearly 15 years after her introduction to the sport, the 2005 IWLCA National Coach of the Year found her own breakout stars in much the same way she was discovered.

Driving around campus shortly after being hired to resurrect the Northwestern program, Amonte-Hiller passed two coeds out for a jog. She stopped to chat, and though the sophomores, former Wildcats basketball player Courtney Koester and her twin sister Ashley, had never played the game before, Amonte-Hiller convinced them they had a place on the lacrosse field.

‘I never really imagined that these two girls who came onboard would turn out to be First Team All-Americans,’ Amonte-Hiller said. ‘It ended up working out pretty well for us.’

The success didn’t come immediately for the Wildcats, but it did come in leaps and bounds. NU went from a 5-10 program in its inaugural season to a .500 team in 2003. It finished 14-2 the following season, surviving the first round of the NCAA tournament before falling to the eventual national champions, Virginia.

The jump was one even the most knowledgeable observers failed to predict. After Northwestern closed out its 2003 schedule with a 14-3 loss to Miller’s Orange, the SU head coach decided the ‘Cats weren’t quite ready to become schedule staples and dropped Amonte-Hiller’s squad from the schedule.

‘Shows what I know,’ Miller said. ‘We dropped them and the next year they’re in the Elite Eight.’

Having earned enough respect to enter the 2005 season ranked No. 3, Northwestern proved itself worthy. With quality wins over several ranked teams the Wildcats earned notoriety when on March 22 they were first team outside the Eastern time zone to be ranked No. 1.

In the game to decide the national championship, Amonte-Hiller and her team were given the chance to avenge their tournament loss from the year before. The athletes Amonte-Hiller had first invited to help build a program capitalized on the second chance, beating the defending champs, 13-10.

‘For my girls last year that were seniors, that was my first recruiting class,’ Amonte-Hiller said. ‘That was the most special thing they could ever experience; to buy into a nothing program and then win a championship.’

The Wildcats turned heads nationally in the summer. On a visit to the White House, several players were photographed wearing flip-flops, and it soon became a Chicago Tribune cover story. Publicly ridiculed and called disrespectful for their footwear, Amonte-Hiller and her team displayed the same quiet confidence that had brought them to President George W. Bush, auctioning off the famous flops to support a young fan stricken with cancer.

‘Most of the teams were dressed the same; it wasn’t a big deal when we were at the White House,’ Amonte-Hiller said. ‘Luckily we were able to turn it into a positive. If it got lacrosse out there more, hopefully we represented lacrosse in a positive manner and people got more exposed to the sport.’

With Miller’s influence, Amonte-Hiller built a program largely based on her notoriety and success as a player. Moving outside the traditional hotbed of lacrosse on the East Coast, she took chances and has been rewarded, bringing respect and attention to a school and a game that often operates off the radar. The No. 1 Wildcats are again undefeated, but unlike the Cinderella story of a year ago, this time they are the heavy favorites.

‘I’m just so proud of her,’ Miller said. ‘(The Wildcats) are a lot of fun to watch. The combination of the fact that they were able to grow so quickly, the flip-flop scandal, Kelly’s high profile as a player and a coach, she’s married to a guy who coaches the (Major League Lacrosse) Boston Cannons, it’s like a perfect storm.

‘Just so many things that help the sport … you can’t help but be proud.’

Published on March 30, 2006 at 12:00 pm