Issue date: 5/29/08 Section: Sports

Anne O'Shaughnessy was as excited as anyone to see Northwestern lacrosse win its fourth straight national championship Sunday.

The former Wildcats lacrosse player remembers the days when the program didn't have a Kelly Amonte Hiller running a national powerhouse.

With all the success NU has achieved in the past seven years under Amonte Hiller, it's easy to forget that the school had a competitive program during the 1980s.

In 1982, NU started its non-scholarship varsity women's lacrosse team. Assistant field hockey coach Cindy Timchal served as the lacrosse coach, and the team searched for players already at NU.

O'Shaughnessy fit the mold the Cats were looking for.

"They didn't recruit for this team," O'Shaughnessy said. "I was a slightly above-average athlete and played lacrosse in high school, but they were taking pretty much anyone who could hold a stick."

While O'Shaughnessy said she was exaggerating a bit, the team could not offer scholarships. It was forced to pursue field hockey players and non-varsity athletes across campus. O'Shaughnessy joined NU's first team her sophomore year.

"I played lacrosse for four years in high school," she said. "I wasn't recruited to play anywhere. But because this was a fledgling program, I had the chance to play Division I athletics."

Once the Cats had their team assembled, they played a full schedule, competing against teams throughout the Midwest. They even took a Spring Break trip to Florida to compete against schools from the East Coast.

Contrary to expectations, the team did not flounder against the more established programs.

"Right out of the box, we were a team to be reckoned with," O'Shaughnessy said. "I think it surprised a lot of people."

O'Shaughnessy only played during the inaugural season. But because of players like her getting the program started, the Cats made noise long before national titles were won west of the Appalachians.

While the program fell short of the prominence reached during the current decade, the Cats had players garner national attention back then, including six first-team All-Americans between 1985-89.

In the heyday of the Timchal era (1982-88), the team posted a 66-27 record, outscoring its opponents by an average of 5.5 goals per game. It wasn't until the Kristen Kjellman era that the Cats' top-two goal scorers from the '80s were displaced as record book leaders.

A big reason for NU's successes was Timchal's coaching.

Continued...

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