NEPSAC Athletes and Coaches Have Role in U19 Women’s Lacrosse World Championships SPONSORED BY SPORTSGRUB
by Bob York
T
he City of Peterborough is located in the southern portion of Ontario, Canada, 78 miles Northeast of Toronto and 167 miles Southwest of Ottawa. It is situated in a largely recreational region of the province, surrounded by rolling hills, rich farmland and neighboring towns — according to Google Maps — such as Bridgenorth, Pontypool, Bewdley, Buckhorn and Bailiboro. Despite its rural setting, the Federation of International Lacrosse opted to make this city of nearly 80,000 the site of its 2019 U19 Women’s Lacrosse World Championships — and it couldn’t have selected a more appropriate host. During its bygone days, Peterborough earned the nickname “The Electric City,” as it was the first town in Canada to use electric streetlights and when the FIL took over the town during the first 10 days of August, sparks spewed once again. This year’s Quest to be Best attracted 22 countries, which was the tournament’s largest field ever and in the end, the United States prevailed, besting Canada, 13–3, in the championship game. The victory marked the fifth time in seven tries that the Red, White and Blue captured the tourney, which has been held every four years since its inception in 1995. Australia, meanwhile, wound up being the third team to reach the podium, besting England in the Bronze Medal Game, 13–8. Despite an overwhelming international flavor of team rosters, the New England Prep School Athletic Council still managed to play a hand in helping prepare at least four of its rank and file — two coaches and two players — to take part in this international showdown. The coaches were Kelly Amonte Hiller, a former NEPSAC All-Star at Thayer Academy (’92), who is the current women’s lacrosse coach at Northwestern University and the mentor who guided the United States U19 squad to the 2019 World Championship. The other was Catherine Conway, who is the athletic director and girls lacrosse coach at the School of the Holy Child in Rye, N.Y. She is an assistant coach with the Irish Women’s Senior National Team and stopped by the U19 championships, “to do a bit of scouting … to get a look at our future recruits and future opponents.” Another reason why Conway was on hand was to watch, Katherine Forst, one of her players at Holy Child, who was competing for the Irish. Ironically, the last time Conway had seen Forst in action was during last spring’s season opener when she lifted Holy Child to victory via a 10-point — seven goals and three assists — effort. The very next game, however, she suffered a season-ending injury. “From what I saw of her during the tournament, she looked good competing at this level of competition,” said Conway. “She said she felt good too, so we’re hoping for big things from her this spring.”
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Northwestern University coach Kelly Amonte Hiller (Thayer ’92) guided the United States U19 women’s team to the 2019 World Championship tournament. Photo by John Strohsacker/ LaxPhotos.com
Rounding out the NEPSAC quartet was Tiana Vazquez, who graduated from the Storm King School, Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., in May and will compete in lacrosse on the Div. I level at the University of Hartford, where she will major in biochemistry. The STS standout played for Team Puerto Rico, which used this tournament to make its international debut in the sport. “It was exciting to be named coach of this year’s U19 team and it was awesome to achieve the level of success that we did,” said Amonte Hiller, whose own athletic accomplishments were first realized throughout NEPSAC Nation and now, after reaching All-World status in 2005, everybody knows her name. “This was a special group of young women … they were talented athletes who had one goal and that was to win a world championship and they all worked tremendously hard to achieve that goal. I couldn’t be prouder of them or of what they accomplished.” Amonte Hiller’s return to the USA program gave this former Thayer standout, who earned Independent School League AllStar status for four consecutive years in lacrosse, basketball and soccer, an opportunity to finish a feat she was unable to as a player. Amonte Hiller helped the U.S. win World Cup titles in 1997 and 2001, but despite her worldly efforts, the Red, White
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