A determined Kelly Amonte Hiller looks to return to the Final Four this year.
"It is always darkest just before the day dawneth," English historian Thomas Fuller once said. For coach Kelly Amonte Hiller and Northwestern's women's lacrosse team, that darkest time may have been last season, when the team failed to advance to the Final Four of NCAA tournament for the first time in 11 seasons. This, from a program which only began playing again at the varsity level 14 seasons ago.
Despite the streak coming to an end, there are reasons to think last year ranks as one of the most impressive coaching jobs of Amonte Hiller's illustrious career, mainly because she almost continued the Final Four streak despite supposedly being in rebuilding mode.