The Northwestern Women's Lacrosse Team: From Infancy to Dynasty

Over the final two weeks of the year, FanHouse has been covering the top sports stories of the decade. In this installment, Michelle Smith looks back at the remarkable run of the Northwestern women's lacrosse team.

From the first days of the program in 2001, to a run of five consecutive NCAA titles, Northwestern has rewritten the map of collegiate women's lacrosse, pushing the boundaries of a predominantly East Coast sport well to the west.

Kelly Amonte Hiller, a member of the U.S. women's team and a two-time national college player of the year, started the Northwestern program from scratch in 2001.

The program has gone from the days where Amonte Hiller searched for good athletes she could turn into lacrosse players to recruiting the nation's top young players; from playing games on a small grass field with little fan interest, to a campus full of students sporting lacrosse T-shirts and sold-out home games.

"In the beginning, when we first started the program, there were no expectations," Amonte Hiller said. "We put our heads down and worked hard and no one bothered us. We were given the freedom to do what we wanted to do."

What they did was succeed. Quickly. In the program's third season came a trip to the Elite Eight. Two years later, the Wildcats had their first national title. It would turn out to be the first of five in a row, turning a little-known startup into a powerhouse.

Northwestern finished the 2009 season with a 23-0 record. The Wildcats need two more consecutive titles to match Maryland's streak of seven in a row from 1995-2001.

Amonte Hiller said her program's success has changed the athletic culture on campus.

"I think every single student athlete here believes they can win," Amonte Hiller said. "Northwestern hadn't really had a huge tradition of success in the past with athletics. But I think the atmosphere now is people believing they can compete at he highest levels."

Hannah Nielsen won four national titles in her time with the program and she was the 2008 national player of the year. She came from Australia to Evanston in a long-distance leap of faith.

"I saw this new team on the map and I thought, 'Who are these people?' " Nielsen said. "Until they started recruiting me, and then I started following them more and more."

Nielsen said a lack of satisfaction, and frankly a lack of respect, has driven the team to its consistently high level of success over the years. The Wildcats were 85-3 over Nielsen's four-year career.

"The first year we won, it was viewed as a fluke, and even to this day, we are not getting as much credit as a typical powerhouse would if they won five in a row," Nielsen said.

"Every time we win, someone is looking for an excuse, so we want to make sure we win again."

Northwestern's success has helped to move the sport's geography. High school lacrosse was recently sanctioned in the state of Illinois. The game is beginning to boom on the West Coast.

"I think it has been good for the game for people to look at us, to see that we took our program from basically nothing to a dynasty-type program in a very short period of time," Nielsen said.

The program has also received plenty of positive attention and visibility from its founding role in the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, a foundation in which college sports teams develop relationships with ill children to aid in their recovery. The foundation was created after Northwestern began a friendship with young fan Jaclyn Murphy, who was battling a brain tumor. Now athletic programs across the country are adopting children with brain tumors.

The Northwestern players even proved they could think on their feet -- or with their feet -- when they were involved in a minor controversy following the 2005 national championship season when four members of the team wore flip flops to the White House during a meet and greet with President Bush (above).

Dubbed "The Flip Flop Flap,'' the story drew national attention for a few days before the team used the publicity to generate support for Murphy, auctioning off the offending footwear and donating the proceeds directly to the family.

"I think it says our kids are doing the right things on and off the field," Amonte Hiller said. "We take a lot of pride in that. Any chance we get, we want to expose the sport to a new area."

Northwestern is playing a game in New York City this season, taking a trip to California to play in both ends of the state.

Amonte Hiller knows that people in her sport don't always see the benefit of having one team be so dominant.

"People want to see the underdog win," Amonte Hiller said. "But we know in other sports, the dominance of some teams has helped the sport grow. And that's one of my missions here, to help the sport grow."