11 minute read
A Second Home
Graduate transfers Kerrigan Miller and Katie Bourque are a new part of a Carolina women’s lacrosse team again expected to be a national contender
A SECOND HOME
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BY PAT JAMES // PHOTOS BY JEFFREY CAMARATI
The No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2016 according to Inside Lacrosse, Kerrigan Miller had her pick of any school coming out of Bayport-Blue Point (N.Y.) High School.
That might be the case for just about any player of her caliber. But for her, it was something she actively tried to take advantage of once her parents insisted she visit every school that showed interest in her, no matter the pedigree nor the distance.
If not for their support, Miller likely wouldn’t have visited Southern California, more than 2,800 miles from home. Thankfully for her, though, she did, as that trip – her first to any school – lived up to expectations. It also became the standard by which all of her future visits were judged.
No school, she said, evoked the same feelings as USC. Then she visited North Carolina.
Highlighted by a UNC win over defending national champion Northwestern and a chat with Roy Williams in his Smith Center office, Miller said the trip left her “absolutely speechless.” But, as a high school freshman, she wasn’t quite ready to make a college decision. Her dad, Mark, on the other hand,
knew it was all but certain she would end up in Chapel Hill.
“I specifically remember leaving Coach (Jenny) Levy’s office,” Miller recalled, “and he was like, ‘Let’s just do it. Let’s go here.’”
Ultimately, Miller couldn’t pass up the opportunity to fulfill her dream of living in California or to help put the USC program, coming off its first season, on the map. So, in the fall of 2013, she committed to the Trojans, for which she eventually starred for four years.
Seven years later, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought her senior season to an unsatisfying end, Miller was once again offered the chance to become a Tar Heel as a graduate transfer. This time, she couldn’t say no. The campus she stepped foot on when she arrived in Chapel Hill in July, though, was significantly different than the one she’d visited. Gone was Fetzer Field and the old team locker room, replaced by Dorrance Field and a state-of-theart team building. Renovations had also been made to the Finley Practice Fields. The biggest difference of “ “[THE WOMEN’S LACROSSE COACHES] all, however, had nothing to do with the campus itself. Instead, it had everything to do with the protocols in WERE REALLY place to combat the virus, from temperature checks UNDERSTANDING AND and face coverings, to hybrid learning and sociallydistanced introductions. All those factors, as unusual as they are for everyone, REALLY NICE, JUST HELPING ME THROUGH THE could be especially disruptive for a college transfer. WHOLE PROCESS. I KIND But just a few months removed from fearing that her collegiate career was over, Miller has made the most OF TOOK MY TIME AND of her Carolina experience. WAS ABLE TO MAKE THE
“Everything that’s true to Carolina, it’s still evident, BEST DECISION FOR ME. COVID or not,” she said, “The coaches, and their passion for this team and this game, that shines through every THEY DIDN’T PRESSURE practice. Even the weight staff. Obviously, there are ME OR ANYTHING LIKE some setbacks with COVID and having to wear masks and socially distance and stuff like that. But if there’s a will, there’s a way, and I feel like everything I’ve THAT. IT WAS REALLY PRETTY ORGANIC.” experienced at Carolina has blown my expectations -KATIE BOURQUE of what I thought it would be with COVID.”
She’s not alone in that regard.
Like Miller, Katie Bourque earned Inside Lacrosse Media All-America honors in 2020, leading Dartmouth to a 5-0 record and a No. 9 ranking in the final Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association poll. But unlike her new teammate and the vast majority of spring sport seniors across the country, Bourque didn’t have the opportunity to return to her school; the Ivy League chose not to allow its spring sport athletes to have an additional year of eligibility.
The Ivy League’s decision left Bourque scrambling to find somewhere to attend grad
school and to continue her lacrosse career. Making matters even more difficult, she couldn’t visit any of the schools that reached out to her because of the rapid spread of the virus.
But through phone and Zoom calls with the coaches, Bourque built enough of a rapport to feel comfortable transferring to UNC, despite never stepping foot on campus.
“They were really understanding and really nice, just helping me through the whole process,” she said. “I kind of took my time and was able to make the best decision for me. They didn’t pressure me or anything like that. It was really pretty organic.”
The same goes for the relationships she and Miller have since developed with their teammates.
Among Miller’s best friends is Katie Hoeg, a fifth-year attacker for the Tar Heels and a valuable resource for Miller as she considered transferring. She also already knew senior Emma Trenchard, new assistant coach Emily Garrity Parros and Levy – the head coach of the U.S. national team – from playing on the U.S. national training team. Bourque didn’t have existing relationships with anyone at UNC. But she did play with Miller, Hoeg and senior Taylor Moreno in the 2016 Under Armour All-America Game, so there was some familiarity there.
Getting to know the rest of their teammates could have been a struggle with teams functioning very differently amid the pandemic. But Miller and Bourque said it’s been anything but.
“I feel like the girls on this team have gone out of their way to include not only me but Katie Bourque and all of the freshmen,” Miller said. “I’ll talk to Katie all the time, and I always joke with her, like, ‘It’s funny that we’re 23-year-old freshmen.’ But it’s true. We didn’t really know any of the inner workings of the team when we came in. The girls were just awesome about it.
“I don’t think it’s anything we necessarily did. I feel like the girls just kind of took us under their wing and didn’t even have to say anything.”
While typical relationship-building activities such as getting dinner on Franklin Street might be out of the question because of COVID-19 concerns, Bourque said she’s gotten to know her teammates best before, during and immediately after practices.
She hasn’t had the same sort of opportunities, however, to meet her classmates in the Master’s in Educational Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (MEITE) program.
“I think the one thing I’m really missing is that in-person education and the walking to class and sitting in a classroom, meeting the other students in my graduate program in person,” Bourque said. “That’s just different because everyone is online. In terms of the Carolina experience, that’s probably been the most different, or what’s lacking.” That hasn’t been an issue for Miller, though. Miller knows many people view her decision to transfer from USC – which she helped become a top-20 program – to Carolina – a perennial national title contender and the consensus No. 1 team in 2020 – through strictly a lacrosse lens. But getting to play for such a program and with the likes of Hoeg and Jamie Ortega, Inside Lacrosse’s National Players of the Year, wasn’t what most intrigued her. It was UNC’s sport administration graduate program. “ “I’M SO HAPPY THAT I CHOSE TO PLAY AGAIN BECAUSE I LOVE Through one semester, the program has met Miller’s lofty expectations, in large part because of the relationships she’s formed with members of her cohort through three in-person classes PLAYING LACROSSE AND BEING as well as helping athletic event ABLE TO PLAY AT CAROLINA IS management with a couple of home football games. SUCH AN HONOR.” “We’re all very close at this point, now that we’ve had a semester,” said Miller, who hopes to become a high school athletic director. “So, I appreciate their feedback, and they definitely make me a better student and person. I couldn’t be happier with the sports admin program.” Bourque feels the same about her decision to transfer to UNC. “I’m so happy that I chose to play again because I love playing lacrosse and being able to play at Carolina is such an honor,” she said. “I’m so excited. I’ve made so many good friends already and can’t wait to see what happens this year.” Miller still talks frequently with her USC teammates, who she says didn’t even get the chance to step on the field in the fall as coronavirus cases surged in California. That gave her even more appreciation for being where she is now, exactly where her dad thought she would be. “It’s funny now how everything is kind of coming full circle now that I get this year back and I get to go to what was my No. 2 school – an amazing school – and I get to meet all these new faces, I get to play with new girls who are extremely talented,” Miller said. “It was definitely a silver lining for me with COVID. “Even with the semester that we had, it wasn’t normal, but it was awesome for me.”
MMany of you may not know that I was neither born nor raised a Tar Heel. You probably thought my first breath was taken in Chapel Hill because of my very obvious passion for The University of North Carolina and Carolina Athletics!
My love for the University, however, began the minute I stepped foot on our beautiful campus for my recruiting visit as a 17 year-old swimmer. But, as Charles Kuralt poetically observed, it wasn’t the Bell or the Well, but the people who made an impression on me. From the random undergrad who acknowledged me with “Hey ya’ll” as if we were best friends, the professors who took the time to speak with an anxious high schooler about how I would be challenged academically (and I was!), to the athletic training table staff who greeted me as if I was already a national champion, there was just that indescribable feeling that this was where I belonged; this was the place that I wanted to call home the next four years of my life. I never could have imagined the memories I would create nor the friendships I would be privileged to form during my time in Chapel Hill. My freshman year I knew that I needed to find a way to give back to the University and the Carolina swimming & diving program, both of which gave me so much. I didn’t hesitate, therefore, when a position at the Rams Club came available soon after I graduated. How many people are fortunate to do what they love (in my case, soliciting scholarship support for the nation’s best and brightest student-athletes), at a place that they love, for more than 30 years? I am beyond thankful for the early leaders of the Foundation who recognized the need to establish an athletic scholarship fundraising organization. In the 80 years since its incorporation, The Educational Foundation’s mission remains the same, “providing educational and athletic opportunities for Carolina studentathletes,” including me. I was a timid young girl from Hamburg, N.Y., who
didn’t know what a dogwood was, nor the legacy of a man named Dean, nor the accomplishments of a football player named Choo Choo, but I loved Carolina Blue, and a place like Chapel Hill sounded like a heavenly place to be. And it was, and is. People often ask, “Given what you know now, would you make “ “I was a timid young girl from Hamburg, N.Y., who didn’t know what a dogwood was, nor the the same choice?” I don’t hesitate in saying, “Heel yeah!” I am grateful for my coaches, teammates, professors and classmates for the lessons they taught me - legacy of a man named Dean, nor lessons about fortitude, discipline, the accomplishments of a football player named Choo Choo, but I loved Carolina Blue, and a place like Chapel selflessness, and courage - many of which I have carried with me well beyond my time as a student-athlete. John Montgomery, Moyer Smith and Hill sounded like a heavenly place to the late Ernie Williamson, as well as be. And it was, and is.” all of the Rams Club past-presidents/ chairpersons, deserve my gratitude for their vision and dedication, especially regarding the scholarship program, a program about which I will forever be passionate and proud. This has been an amazing race and I want to thank each and every Tar Heel for supporting The Rams Club and Carolina Athletics. Opportunities at Carolina start with scholarships. Please accept this one last thank you from someone who took advantage of every opportunity her scholarship offered her and whose life you impacted in such a meaningful way.
SUE WALSH
The Rams Club Illustration by Jason McCorkle
