The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame will enshrine nine new inductees — Kevin Cassese, Leigh Buck Friedman, A.J. Haugen, Alex Kahoe, Phyllis Kilgour, David Morrow, Ryan Powell, Denise Wescott and Tami Worley Kirby — in a ceremony Sept. 29 at The Grand Lodge in Hunt Valley, Md. Tickets are available for purchaseuntil Sept. 21.

Success doesn’t come without challenges.

Alex Kahoe came to the University of Maryland from Villanova, Pa., where she starred at Agnes Irwin (Pa.) as a goalkeeper. But playing in net wasn’t her original plan.

Kahoe fell into the position for the love of competition after first picking up the sport in sixth grade as a defender. Honing her skills as a three-sport athlete in high school — also playing field hockey and squash — Kahoe discovered goalies can be athletic thanks to then-senior Lisa Dixon, who went on to play for William & Mary.

“She made the position an athletic position,” Kahoe said. “Why we like the position is the pressure and the challenge. We’re not playing for the recognition. We’re playing because we like to compete.”

By eighth grade, Kahoe found role models in U.S. goalkeepers and made the decision definite to put on the pads for the remainder of her lacrosse career – a smart choice for the future four-time NCAA champion, 1997 ACC Rookie of the Year, three-time ACC Goalie of the Year, two-time NCAA Goalie of the Year and now a 2018 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee.

Kahoe graduated high school in 1995, but again had to make a decision that could impact her career. With Jamie Brodsky returning as the clear anchor for the 1996 national champion, she decided to redshirt her freshman season, while pinching herself to realize she was actually a Terp.

“When I got to Maryland, it took me a while,” Kahoe said. “I remember laughing with my friends about it. When we’d talk about the team, it was ‘they.’ Wait, this is ‘we.’ This is ‘us.’”

When Brodsky graduated, Kahoe had large shoes to fill. She had to usher Maryland, which had won back-to-back national championships, into a new era in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In 1997, the sport’s first year in the ACC and Kahoe’s first true season, she led the Terps to the first-ever ACC crown and a third straight NCAA title. As the sport evolved with rule changes, including the addition of restraining lines in 1998, Maryland won three more national titles with Kahoe.

But the most memorable NCAA victory for Kahoe was the 11-5 win over Virginia at UMBC in 1998.

“Every championship has its own story,” Kahoe said. “But for me, the one that meant the most was the one that actually was the most challenging to get there.”

In 1995 and 1996, Maryland went undefeated en route to the top of the NCAA. In 1997, it recorded just one loss, to Loyola, before winning the national title.

But for the first time since 1989, Maryland started the 1998 season with back-to-back losses to ACC foes Duke and North Carolina. The Terps won the next 11 games before again falling to the Tar Heels in the ACC tournament.

“We hadn’t lost like that,” Kahoe said. “We had to dig deep.”

A month later, Maryland faced its archrival for a third time in the final four in Baltimore. This time, the Terps came out on top, defeating North Carolina 14-9. They then went on to dominate Virginia for the 1998 crown.

“We got to the NCAA tournament and saw Carolina in the semis — again,” Kahoe said. “We’re playing under the lights at UMBC. It was amazing. We were all clicking at the right time.”

It was a reminder for Kahoe that no one can be complacent.

“To me, through the adversity, through those challenges, by handling those things the right way and coming together as a team, we were able to turn things around,” Kahoe said. “There are great things on the other side.”

Even after waiting a year for her turn to shine as a Terp.

“Being a starting goalkeeper in high school and that excitement of being recruited by Maryland, having to redshirt was challenging for me because all I wanted to do was just play,” Kahoe said. “It was challenging to sit and wait, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I made.”

And now she’s sitting among the greatest in the Hall of Fame.

“I truly believe that everything happens for a reason,” Kahoe said. “Lacrosse takes you places.”