Latest / JM3 Lacrosse Podcast / JM3 Lacrosse Podcast Season 7, Ep. 4 - Northwestern Head Coach Kelly Amonte Hiller
Transcript
- Sara Munro: This is the JM three Lacrosse Podcast conversations about playing, coaching, and learning the game differently. From player development and skill acquisition to the ideas shaping the future of lacrosse. This is JM three. Jamie Munro: How's it going, everybody? Really excited to welcome Kelly Amanti Hiller to the Jam Free Lacrosse podcast. Kelly is the head coach for Northwestern Women's Lacrosse. And Kelly, so excited to have you on the podcast. How are you doing? Kelly Amonte Hiller: So excited to be here. Thanks for having me, Jamie. Jamie Munro: I know, I love talking lacrosse with you and of course Scotty. you're just kicking off school and practice just started this week. How awesome is it to be back and get back at it. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah, it's so fun. we brought our players back a few days early this year to do a trip to Michigan and it was just so fun to have the group back and you know start building again. It's always a a process as you know, and we're at the beginning of it. So lots of enthusiasm, lots of excitement and just looking forward to to having a little bit of fun this year. Jamie Munro: Yeah, totally. All right. So I don't want to spend too much time on the past, but I do want to cover what a great year it was last year. So exciting to watch. So crazy to be five and three at one point and then end up being a number one seed in the NCAA tournament and then winning it at home. can you talk a little bit about that journey and what it was like to be at the lowest point and how you and the team were able to fight and claw their way back to win a Big Ten title regular season, Big Ten conference tournament and then move through the NCAA tournament the way you did? Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah, absolutely. You know, when we started the season, I think there was a lot of enthusiasm. I think there may have been some expectations based on, you know, just some of the personnel we were bringing back, some of the personnel that we brought in. And so I think that our players felt that. But one thing that I didn't really anticipate is is the amount of pressure that everyone was feeling. by us being the host of the Funnel Four. I I just I just thought it was excitement. I thought people were excited, but as we moved through that difficult, challenging stretch of games where we had three losses, and just talking to some of the, you know, the parents and and the staff, you could just really gauge that. the players were were feeling that pressure and there was was certainly a lot of talk about that. And so that was just something that we had to, you know, unpack a little bit. I think having lost three games, it it kinda it kind of freed us up a little bit to to not have that pressure on us. and just kind of go out there and play and and be who we are. but I think that the impressive part about our team is that they never really stopped believing in themselves. They never really stopped believing in our process. And if anything, they they just really doubled down on it. And the turnaround was pretty quick, to be honest. You know, we We lost to Ohio State. That was our third loss. And then we had a a small gap in the schedule where they had exams. And and then we had a a jam-packed, very hard spring break where we had to go out to Oregon, which is a pretty monster trip. and that was just so fun for our players to travel. We got to go to K R's house and have dinner after the game. I thought we played well in that game. and I Jamie Munro: Yeah. Kelly Amonte Hiller: think our team felt that, you know, for the first time we kinda did make some progress and and see some some sparks from from the group and then and then we had to come back to Chicago. We came came back and spent maybe like a day and a half here and then we had to travel to the East Coast to have our biggest challenge of the season against the defending national champs in North Carolina. and I think obviously like there was a lot of motivation you know, just based on kind of how we had done so far in the season. And then we obviously like played them in the national championship. and just knowing how good of a team they are and were, I think we just we just really wanted to go out there and give it everything that we had. And I think that we were able to do that. And sometimes the luck goes your way. We were able to get the The save by Jenica, the ball back in overtime. And then Maddie was able to finish her shot, which we've seen time and time again. and that was obviously a huge confidence boost. It was like, okay, like Jamie Munro: Big time. Kelly Amonte Hiller: what we're doing is working. doubling down is working, and now we have another challenge. We had to come back home. and play against Johns Hopkins, which we have a very strong rivalry with. obviously Tim knows a lot about the program having worked here for six years and you know, they they just had a fantastic season last year too. So we knew it was gonna be a big challenge for us. I think they had some adversity coming out. I think they're Jamie Munro: Yeah. Kelly Amonte Hiller: It was right during that travel those travel issues with the security and they they actually ended up taking a bus out here, which was crazy. So, you know, how Tim's team played was pretty pretty unreal based on the circumstances and it was a pretty pretty tight game. and I think from there it was like that we won that game and then it was like, Okay, we we know what we need to do now and we have the we have the formula. we have confidence in in our abilities. I think we still had some challenges, some ups and downs. but I think having learned how to manage challenge early in our season was really an effective tool for us to be able to know how to manage, you know, little challenges as they came up later in the season. And You know, for this this senior class, they they were able to win the regular season Big Ten Championship. And then also with some heroics from the team, our defense goaltending, and then Annabelle Child coming up with the OT goal against Maryland, win the Big Ten Conference Championship. I mean, that's pretty unreal to have one. Big Ten regular season and conference chan championship four years straight for that class. Jamie Munro: Yeah. Kelly Amonte Hiller: that's definitely not easy to do. And I was just so proud of our conference this year, how strong we were as a whole from Jamie Munro: I agree. Kelly Amonte Hiller: top to bottom. Big Ten was was unreal. And having three teams in the final four, that That's never happened for the Big Ten and and that's hopefully a new standard. Obviously like the ACC has, you know, been so strong over the years and is, you know, still strong. But I think that this is the new era of the Big Ten and we're pretty we're pretty excited about it as a conference. Jamie Munro: Yeah, so exciting. I want to go back to that Carolina game, that first game. it was I don't want to say it was a must win, but it was it was such a linchpin in your confidence, like you said, and and and it just like set the stage. But you guys did something different in that game. You guys you guys played a different zone. Now you might have done it a little bit against Oregon, I can't remember, but you guys had played zone and man over the course of years, but the the zone you had used to play was more of a Backer with a high pressure and pressure on adjacents. And this was more of a seemed like a little bit of a different zone, more, more like kind of how Colorado plays their zone also, with bracketing things, taking away passing lanes. what made you make the decision to kind of switch up that defense and and and how hard was it to get your players to be able to do that so quickly in the middle of the season? Kelly Amonte Hiller: think that we really try to pride our ability on on being adaptable, especially defensively. We talk about that, just being able to play in different ways and and do different things. And I just feel so lucky that we have players that are willing to change things up and do different things and and it makes it really fun. because you know you can always, you know, throw wrinkles in and everybody has confidence with that. And I usually will lean on my players as well. but I have to give a lot of credit to my staff. you know, I think in preparation for that game, Nicole did a lot of our our prep work for video stuff. last year and Scott even though he coaches offense now, he's been doing game planning the whole time, you know, he's been working for us. And so I have, you know, shifted over the last bunch of years since Tim left my focus to defense. but I lean on my staff quite a lot. And I lean on my players a lot. I really appreciate those guys because I think that they give me like a different perspective than I might think of. And when we develop a plan, it's always fluid until we come up with what we want to do. And I think, you know, in talking with everyone, I was very confident in our ability to play zone, because we had done it very well over the last bunch of years and I I just I felt like we we kind of decided as a collective that this was something that we wanted to do. We were prepared to play man to man too. We always are prepared to play both because sometimes your best plans are great until you get punched in the face. And then you Jamie Munro: Yeah. Kelly Amonte Hiller: gotta you gotta be adaptable and make adjustments. So I think you know, what we were doing really worked. I think Jalen Rosga was really critical. she was just so locked in and knowledgeable of what we needed to do and and you know, she did that pretty much the whole season. I don't think she often gets the credit. you know, defense is defense, but everyone was really dialed, and knew that we kinda had to, we had to do all the little things in order to be successful. And we did just enough little things in order to to be able to make that play at the end. and honestly, like win or lose that game, we w it would have been a big step for us because Jamie Munro: For sure. Kelly Amonte Hiller: we knew we were in it. We knew that we could compete with North Carolina, which gave us confidence that we could compete with other teams as well. And You know, we have a fun rivalry. they're obviously like a phenomenal program and have phenomenal individual players. so it was it was really fun to be able to compete with them and and have that opportunity to go down to North Carolina and and challenge ourselves in that way. Jamie Munro: I love hearing you talk about adaptable athletes and how how do you intentionally try to develop that on both sides of the ball in practice as far as making players as adaptable as possible? Kelly Amonte Hiller: I think it's just like a general philosophy that there's not just one way to do things. And I think when you look at life that way, that there's not just one way to do something, that there's a lot of different ways to do things. And I think as a coaching staff, we have a level of humility that sometimes we don't have all the answers and We reach for knowledge in a lot of different ways. And and so I think that's how you you become flexible, you become adaptable. when you have when you go into the situation with that mentality and you know, you really feel like it doesn't have to be a certain way to be right or wrong. it could be we could do everything right and it still might not work out. And you know, you kinda have to accept that a little bit and just understand that, and give the players some autonomy to be able to to give you the feedback of what's going on. Cause, you know, having been a a really strong player in my own right, I kinda I kinda understand that there's there's knowledge as a coach and then there's knowledge of what's happening on the field. And I think if you can marry the two up, it really makes makes a big difference and I k I think it gives the players that level of confidence that they need to go out there and and perform. Jamie Munro: Totally. You know, you mentioned something about that sort of made me think about one of the traits that I think you have that's so strong is just a growth mindset and that you're always wanting to learn. I mean, we've talked a lot of lacrosse and obviously Scotty Kelly Amonte Hiller: Mm-hmm. Jamie Munro: and I talk a lot of lacrosse. And I was thinking back actually to the time when I brought the three D women staff to Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah. Jamie Munro: to Evanston and we hung out with you for a day back when Tim and Danielle were your assistants. And you know, since then we've talked a lot of lacrosse and I've just been really impressed and, you know, j generally blown away by how willing you are to just like want to learn new things. And you can you talk a little bit about that and how that has helped you continue to grow as a coach? Kelly Amonte Hiller: Well, I do have to say, Lucy said that she thinks that Scotty's best friend is Jamie Jamie Munro: Ha ha ha ha. Kelly Amonte Hiller: at this point. no, it it's it's been so fun to kinda learn. And I I think that that's exactly what I would say to that statement is that learning is fun, you know. Trying to feel like you have to do the same thing or One up yourself is not fun, but learning is fun. And I just I get excited about that. I get excited about like the potential of something. and I'm sure most coaches do. that's why they're in this game. It's it's not an easy job to be a college coach at the at this at this time. And I think just the ability to just love this game. most college coaches across the board have that. and I'm not saying that I'm I'm different than anyone else. but it's been really, really fun and exciting to learn from my staff, from from someone like you, from even my peer coaches, and just always kind of challenge myself to be creative. I think that's an asset of mine as a coach. I was the youngest of four so I I spent a lot of time by myself when I was younger and and had a lot of time to like think about things and and get creative and and I love I love that aspect of life. creating whether it's art or music or lacrosse it it's all it's all kind of the same To me and you know, it it it excites me to be able to not only just create but to to see someone else. you're almost like kind of creating through someone else. So to kind of see them find themselves and find their their passion for it. And I was really excited. this year we had a bunch of our recent grads go into coaching. which I think is a good sign of how they view the game and and how they're passionate about it. Jamie Munro: Yeah, you added to your already infamous coaching tree. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah. Jamie Munro: one of the things that I seems like you really value in players is that same growth mindset and to be able to recruit kids that want to get better but that are willing to try new things. you definitely, you know, allow your players to be creative. Certainly there are principles of the game that you have to adhere to, but I know Lucy would always say that you know you could. You could try things at a Northwestern practice and like not get yelled at for trying something. And and how how much do you value that and how do you kind of cultivate it? Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah, I mean, I just always think about what I would want as a player, you know, and I think that my college coach cultivated that environment. I was lucky enough to have Cindy Timpshall, who's probably the greatest legend in in our game, as a coach, and and then to have that backed up with Gary Gate, who's probably one of the more creative coaches in the game. I think I was just like so blessed to have mentors like that. And, you know, I kind of brought a level of seriousness to things because of my work ethic and and I think they were able to to just like bring this whole nother side of the game to me. And I just I just always say I'm forever indebted to those guys because They just like built something inside of me that never has gone away. And then obviously like I've made lacrosse is a big part of my life now. And and you know, my marriage is from lacrosse, my kids, and so I just feel lucky that I found something like that. And even like with Scott and I, our own kids, it's just like Their passion doesn't need to be our passion. Our our older daughter is a wrestler at the University of Iowa. And I think it's just so cool to kind of see her developing that same level of passion and excitement for something. And, you know, she calls us. And if her practice gets canceled, like or you know, she can't practice in that particular day, she's just like so mad. she's just like, I want to. practice and so it's kind of cool to see people get that level of mentality and not feel like it's you know something they have to do or daunting when they show up to to challenge themselves and and be great. Jamie Munro: I think one of the awesome things about your program is that your practices are fun. The practices, kids are getting reps. They're they're they're getting better. You really do a great job of scaling reps. And you know, you don't see very often, you know, a whole group of the team standing at one net. Usually it's like three or even four nets sometimes where you're working on various skills and doing tons of different things. Can you talk a little bit about how you sort of view skill development, player development in the sense of some of the ecological dynamics and constraints led approach stuff that we've talked about? Obviously the scaling of reps is just kind of obvious, you know, just like why wouldn't why would you use one goal when you could use three or four? But the way that you guys have begun to really use more variability in the things, the situations that you're putting the kids in, can you talk a little bit about that? Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah, I mean, I think that the fact that we have a lot of players. I mean, most teams are fairly large right now, just with the environment of what's happening with college athletics and it's less like it's one way one day and then all of a sudden everyone's got a fifth year. You know, it's just it's a lot Jamie Munro: Yeah. Kelly Amonte Hiller: going on. So you you know, most Teams, rosters are on the larger side. And just being able to create an environment where everyone feels that they can get better on a consistent basis. we try not to get hung up with okay, we're at a certain point in our season, so now it's it's just only focus on you know, compete. We're always trying to get better. And I think creating an environment where players can, you know, do different things, try different things. again, going back to like it's not always one way and kind of working through challenges and coming up with solutions. you know, that can be done and you know, you don't have to stop people in that environment. You can you can allow them to have the time and then you know, work things out and and give them coaching throughout the season from start to finish. and I think that we've always had, you know, young players come and and make an impact later in the season, probably because of that. I mean I can think back to, you know, even like Katrina Dowd in her freshman year in the final four. She had an amazing final four this year. you know, we had Gabby when Lucy went down, Gabby was able to step in and have a great final four. And I think a lot of that is just due to the work that, you know, you continue to put in and in the environment that you're continuing to be in. from day to day. And so I think that's that's probably the the huge benefit is just having that mentality of just keep keep getting better, no matter where you're at with things. Jamie Munro: Totally. And I'll tell you, like, it's so cool to see, you know, I got a chance to watch pretty closely for four years and to watch just how many of your players on the roster that aren't the given starters that get opportunities in big time moments, you know, like big time games throughout the season. Lucy would always say, like, if you have like a great week on Scout. There's a good chance you're going to get a look. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Mm-hmm. Jamie Munro: and you're kind of like always looking for the best in players, it seems like. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that every single person is really important to to our success and and you know, you don't you don't win with the without everyone and and so I think if someone's really making an impact, we really try to give them an opportunity in the game situation and see how that translates and and you know we don't we don't win games without having a great practice week. so just understanding and connecting those dots, I think can be really important. Jamie Munro: Totally. And also I just think it keeps everybody so engaged because they know that they're actually being watched. I mean, I just feel like universally it seems like in a lot of programs in both men's and women's lacrosse that like, you know, lineup gets kind of set relatively early. And once you're on scout, you're kind of on scout. And I I just think that, you know, it doesn't mean that You're guaranteed just because you get that run that you're going to be in the mix down the stretch. But it is pretty interesting to know that you're that you're watching, you're developing. And like you say, you never know when someone you're gonna need someone to step up like Abby at in in the in the national championship game. And it's it's really cool. I want to switch gears a little bit for some of the coaches that are on here and and actually talk a little bit about some of your defensive philosophies and some of the principles that you're trying to teach in sort of how you some some of the some of the ideas of how you sort of try to teach those principles. What are like your main defensive principles that you that that you're always you're always harping on and maybe some ways that you try to like teach those? Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah, I mean I think you have to be fundamentally sound. That's probably like the first thing, no matter what style D you play, you have to be able to to stop people one on one, and learn how to do that in an effective manner where you're, you know, disciplined enough to not give up, you know, foul opportunities, eight meter opportunities. and then also you know, just be effective to do do what you need to do, or whatever the goal is in that moment. You know, if we're p forcing people to the middle, like you need to make sure that you understand how to do that and effectively do that, because that makes everything else easier. and even just like fundamentals like ground balls or clearing the ball. when you get to our level You know, the attackers that we play against, not only are they amazing shooters, amazing passers and and great one-on-one players, but they also are great defenders and they can get the ball back for their team. So just having the competence to be able to pick up ground balls, clear the ball. you know, there's nothing probably worse to a defense where you make a great stop and then you turn the ball o over immediately. So, just being able to leverage what you do and and you know, we say just get the ball to the offense as many times as we can gives us a chance to create opportunities and and having that connection from D to offense is is really a fun part of it and and exciting. so I would say that is probably the the cornerstone of everything. Even if we're playing a zone D, we have to be strong fundamentally in in what we do. starting with one-on-one, picking up ground balls, being disciplined. I would say those are probably like the top three things that are important in any D that you play. And you know, give your goalie a chance to to make saves. We know that we can't stop stop everything, but we can try to give our goalies the best shots possible. Jamie Munro: One of the things I've always noticed about you is how much it seems like you like to pressure and be defensively sort of on the attack. Would you say that ball pressure and putting pressure on is one of the principles that you try to try to teach your girls within the context of playing great one on one defense and help defense and all that, but just being able to crank up the pressure. Kelly Amonte Hiller: I think that that's just a little bit my mentality as a person. I think that we we tend to be aggressive a lot of the time, but I think whatever the moment needs is what we do. And so having the ability to learn how to do it when you're pressuring, having the ability. To learn how to do it when you're not pressuring and when you're waiting, you're being a little bit more patient. And I think that just goes back to being a little bit dynamic with how you play and not just you know, thinking there's one way to do things. Like, yes, I in on the whole, I like to to be aggressive, but no, it's it's not. Jamie Munro: Yeah, yeah, totally. It's not a one size fits all game plan, but it does seem like you use pressure in practice, particularly, to be able to really teach defense. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think you know, we wanna have in general, like a fearless mentality. And I think that defensively sometimes it can be intimidating to step out and pressure. And I think if you can get past that, it can really just help you in your overall game. And it's a lot easier to pressure and then pull back. back than it is to Jamie Munro: Yeah. Kelly Amonte Hiller: not pressure and then ramp it up. Jamie Munro: Follow it. Kelly Amonte Hiller: so I think that that's kind of how we approach it. Jamie Munro: Plus all that pressure and practice and doubles and all that stuff, like kind of teaches your team defense how to fly around and rotate and help and and and Kelly Amonte Hiller: Mm-hmm. Jamie Munro: make plays that may show themselves even without the pressure when you have to slide and rotate and help on pick and roll slips and stuff like that. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Definitely. Jamie Munro: Yeah. one of the things that I think when I look at like the zone defense that you guys played, it's so interesting is that you have to have great ball pressure, but you also have to like sort of stay home too. Like Kelly Amonte Hiller: Mm-hmm. Jamie Munro: you can't just have everybody extending. You gotta figure particularly those like players on the elbows, they have to figure out that balance between like holding the elbow and not giving up a massive gap between them and the base defender. But at the same time you need ball pressure. Is that just a feel the kids have or is there are there some things that you like, you know, try to teach or some constraints that you might use on? Kelly Amonte Hiller: I think playing zone defense, you know, you really have to have everyone working in sync with with each other. I think that you know, you really need to have someone in like if you're playing like a backer or some teams play like two, you know, one on each side, some teams play a backer, some peop teams play someone that's in the middle. whatever you do, I just think there has to be a level of intelligence there with those types of people and a level of discipline. as I said before, I think discipline is is really important, especially given playing a zone because You have to be disciplined enough to stay out of the shooting lane to stay out of three seconds. And everyone has to be moving in sync. And and I think, you know, for us, we ha kind of have some do's and don'ts. but I think they also have the freedom to be able to like make a play as well. and like you said, like you can't You can't extend yourself so much that you're giving up a gap because attackers are really smart. And so you have to have really a level of trust. That's why most teams that play zone like stick with it because you really need like a high level of trust amongst your players to be effective. And Jamie Munro: Yeah. Kelly Amonte Hiller: they kind of need to know each other really well. so you know. I think it's even for us last year it was a little bit personnel specific. Like we would bring certain players in for our zone D that we wouldn't use for our man to man D. And they were really, really effective because of, you know, certain characteristics that they brought to the table. so I think just like recognizing that in your players and and you know, not not being afraid to kind of give someone a chance because of of some specific characteristic that they bring to the table. Jamie Munro: It was so interesting to watch the way you guys were able to bounce between man and zone. And I really feel like it made such a huge difference, you know, in the in the final four. You know, you started off in man and we're playing pretty well. And then Hopkins started scoring some goals. And then he went to zone and it took him a few possessions to kind of get comfortable. And then they started to score some goals and then back to man, and then bang, it took him a couple more possessions. How hard was it for your team to be able to play man in zone? Because usually you've always done both and you'll sw you used to switch sometimes if one thing wasn't working, you would switch. But I feel like this year you you probably went back and forth more than I'd seen. I might be wrong on that, but how how how challenging was that for your players and how how important was it for your team? Kelly Amonte Hiller: I would say it it was it wasn't that challenging. Probably the person it was most challenging for was Nicole Beardsley in the box. Just making sure we had Jamie Munro: Ha ha ha Kelly Amonte Hiller: the right people on the field in what we're trying to execute and making sure that I was communicating that to her. but I think for our players, they were pretty confident in both defenses and confident in their ability to move back and forth and and understand the game plan for for Types situations. I think when you make a final four, you, you know, it's a pretty special thing. So just being able to, you know, we had a week to prepare for Hopkins. We had already, played them. So we understood that. And we understood that, you know, they were gonna bring their A game to it. And we know that they can score goals. So just like not letting the fact that they were scoring goals. impact us and and not associating switching with a lack of confidence, but it's more just our ability to to do different things. Jamie Munro: To be variable. Yeah. It was pretty awesome. I know we don't have Scotty on this call. I should probably do a a zoom with him to talk about I'll get him separately. But Kelly Amonte Hiller: If you want I can pull in, but Okay. Jamie Munro: how would you characterize the way you guys try to play on offense? How would you describe the Northwestern offense? Kelly Amonte Hiller: I would just say that I I think we really try to gear the offense like similar to the defense to the players that we have in that particular year. So I don't think it's a one size fits all situation. I think it's pretty dynamic. I think it can be very confusing to play against. And I I just think that it's it's really fun to play because you have to utilize every single player on the field in order to be effective. And, you know, a lot of teams you're you're just really utilizing one or two people to create and then go from there. And I think we really have this mentality that, you know, we wanna we wanna involve everyone and and And it's it's fun. It's fun to kinda see those openings and it's fun for the players to to learn about each other and and how each other plays and and I think it yeah, it just makes the day to day fun, but I also also think it it makes the the game day fun as well. Jamie Munro: I agree. I think it's a fun offense to to watch. It's a fun offense to play. And just so the listeners kind of know, you know, when you make a point like everybody has to be involved, I mean, that's what great team offense has to be. In every second of a possession, players have an ability to help your offense score. Just like on the defensive side, they have an opportunity to do something that's going to help stop a s a goal from being scored. And With all of the actions you guys have going on at the same time on the ball side, on the backside, not so much plays that are being called out, but but actions that your players know how to do. I feel like it just allows so many players to play to different strengths because, like you keep saying, everyone is so different and there's so many different ways to do things. Well, there are so many different ways to create advantages. And it's not just a traditional. I'm gonna put my foot in the ground and run right by you while you need that. There's also so many other ways. Can you speak a little bit to some of the different ways that you've you've seen player, you know, that your your team creates various advantages in different ways? Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yeah, I mean, I I think it might be game specific. I think it might be player specific. I think in the Final Four y you kind of saw Maddie Taylor had a lot of pressure on her. And I think of just her ability to kind of see what was happening and identify the opportunities, she became a primary feeder. Jamie Munro: Yeah, that was amazing. Kelly Amonte Hiller: and, you know, I think She could have just said, what, you know, I need to dodge through. Like this is my role. I I'm a dodger. And and I think Maddie Taylor is is a phenomenal feeder, right? I Jamie Munro: Yes. Kelly Amonte Hiller: I've seen a lot of feeding over the years of my playing and my coaching. And I think we utilized her quite a bit as a dodger, but I think the last two years. She really showcased her ability to feed. I think her ability to to do things off ball as well, to create opportunities for others. And, you know, you you kind of saw you know, different things were open for us. And obviously, like UNC had played us once, so we knew they were gonna come with a unique game plan and we didn't know what that was. So just the ability to identify that in real time and then be effective in that situation was gonna be really, really important. And you know, I think I think our offense did a great job of that, but I think we also had a resume of playing I think the toughest schedule in the country last year and playing all different Jamie Munro: Okay. Kelly Amonte Hiller: types of styles, zone, low pressure man, high pressure man, you know, you name it. And, you know, even just like playing that Colorado team, like I Jamie Munro: Wow. Kelly Amonte Hiller: you know, their defense last year was phenomenal. And, Jamie Munro: Phenomenal. Kelly Amonte Hiller: you know, obviously, have a lot of respect for their coaching staff and the job that Ann did last year with her team was just unreal. And you know, we we just just made it through that game, but our offense really thrived in that game and and scored the most goals that that you know Colorado had let up in the season. And I think that Maybe people's focal point after that game was like, Northwestern's very beatable. They just almost lost to Colorado. But my focal point after that game was like, Colorado is the best defense in the country right now, or one of them. Jamie Munro: Yeah. Kelly Amonte Hiller: And we were very, very effective offensively. Yes, can we do things better in some ways, or maybe things better on the D end or on the draw or whatever. Absolutely, but I I think there was a lot of positives that came out of that game you know, just our ability to handle that was was pretty impressive in my opinion. Jamie Munro: Totally. What an epic game. And yes, Colorado was such a good team. and it was kind of crazy how much zone you guys had to play against until like, you know, the championship game, where all of a sudden you knew it was gonna be manned and you kind of knew if you got there and they got there, it was gonna be manned, but you also knew that you had like all these zone teams you had to kind of get through. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yep. And that's that's Jamie Munro: So again it's Kelly Amonte Hiller: just today in in lacrosse. I mean, I feel like there's so many different so many different styles. And that's a credit to all the coaches across the country and just their ability to be creative and and come up with different things that we have to go against and and that's why you know, I don't mind doing different things in the practice setting because I think that helps prepare our team as well. Jamie Munro: Sure. I also think that the way you guys play, you don't have to change that much from man to zone. It's not exactly Kelly Amonte Hiller: Yes. Jamie Munro: the same, but it's not that different. And I think that the way the the players are able to sort of attack gaps in a zone. It's not that different than when you set a pick for the ball and there's a switch. It's very similar read of of two players on two players. Or in occasionally it's like a two on one, but it's still gonna be a pick and the way that you guys move without the ball and the axes that you run, I do think allows you to just kind of keep getting better at both the whole time. Kelly Amonte Hiller: One hundred percent. Jamie Munro: One of the things that I wanna share from a bird's eye view perspective as a former parent of a player in the program is you know, you guys your players like love Northwestern. The culture that you've been able to build, and I know it's like a fleeting thing. It it's not like just because you have a good culture, you know, you're gonna have one tomorrow. You have to just kind of keep working at it. But I do think that one of the things that you guys do such a good job with is that these players are very serious. You know, like you, you don't run them into the ground. You you give multiple days off to make sure that they're rested and healthy. they have fun. Like, you know, they're as serious as they come, but you know, they're a team that hangs out, they get their sleep when they're supposed to, they have fun when they're supposed to. and how do you sort of try to find that balance? Kelly Amonte Hiller: I think just communicating a lot with them is really important. I think, you know, Northwestern obviously being a top academic school, I think that you know, we have to understand that as a coaching staff and understand when they're being pushed in in different ways and and you know, just have like a holistic approach. of things and not just silo ourselves into lacrosse and thinking lacrosse is the only thing that they do. Like they enjoy each other, they enjoy hanging out, they enjoy learning in the classroom and they enjoy lacrosse. So we wanna do that too. We want to have a balanced approach as a staff where we can you know, work hard and and do what we want to do, but also, you know, enjoy spending time with our own families or friends and and you know, just really have that balanced approach and be leaders in that as well. And, you know, telling them the times that we're where we really need them to to lock in and sacrifice and and different stuff like that. I think it It makes it they they understand that we see that whole perspective and I think they appreciate that a lot. And I think it helps them love the game a lot and love being part of this program, for sure. Jamie Munro: Totally. Well, Kelly, I just gotta say thanks because it was an awesome four years that Lucy had playing for you guys. You guys were awesome. Obviously there was great success on the field, but it was just the overall experience that was the best part. And it's been great to get to know you and Scotty and love the relationship that I have with you guys and looking forward to seeing what you what you can bring to the bring to this lacrosse world in twenty twenty seven with these these athletes that you have. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Absolutely. We so much appreciate you being part of this this journey with us. and Lucy is just done an amazing job in our program and now being a coach as well. It's been been really fun to to have her on staff so far and just really excited to see what the future brings. Jamie Munro: Awesome. Go cat. Kelly Amonte Hiller: Go cats. Jamie Munro: Thanks, Kelly. Have a great day. Sara Munro: Thanks for listening to the JM three lacrosse podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate, and share with a teammate or coach who loves the game. We'll see you next time.