SPARKS, Md. — Kelly Amonte Hiller, a three-time U.S. Women’s World Cup team member and a nine-time NCAA champion as a player and coach, has been named as the head coach for the U.S. women’s team that will compete in the 2019 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) Women’s U19 World Championship in Peterborough, Ontario.
“US Lacrosse is thrilled to have Kelly Amonte Hiller lead our 2019 U19 women’s national team,” said Ann Kitt Carpenetti, vice president of lacrosse operations for US Lacrosse. “Her combination of experience and leadership as head coach at Northwestern, and as a former U.S. national team player, is unmatched in women’s lacrosse. Kelly’s vision to prepare and inspire young women to become leaders, role models and champions, while providing a challenging and memorable experience for our elite U19 athletes, make her ideally suited to lead this team.”
“I’m very humbled and honored to be chosen to have the opportunity to represent the U.S.,” Amonte Hiller said. “I was able to play in three World Cups as a player and now this is a great opportunity as a coach to help US Lacrosse continue to excel. I look forward to evaluating the incredible talent from across the country and coaching the next generation of young stars and role models in our game.”
Amonte Hiller has achieved remarkable success as the head coach at Northwestern University since the school brought back its varsity program in 2002. In 16 seasons, she has compiled a record of 265-67, winning seven national championships, including five straight from 2005 to 2009.
From 2005 to 2014, Northwestern reached at least the NCAA semifinal round 10 consecutive years and the Wildcats have been selected for the NCAA tournament 14 consecutive seasons under Amonte Hiller.
Three of her players earned the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s top player — Kristen Kjellman (2006, 2007), Hannah Nielsen (2008, 2009) and Shannon Smith (2011), and 13 of her former players or assistant coaches are now head coaches at the NCAA Division I level, with dozens more serving as assistant coaches or head coaches at the college, high school and club levels.
Amonte Hiller will be looking to return the U.S. to the top of the world rankings after Canada, led by current Northwestern star Selena Lasota, upset the U.S. 9-8 in the gold medal game at the 2015 FIL Women’s U19 World Championship in Scotland. That ended a string of four straight U.S. world championships (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011) since Australia had won the inaugural U19 world championship in 1995.
As a player, Amonte Hiller was a four-time All-American in lacrosse at Maryland (she also played soccer), and was the Atlantic Coast Conference Female Athlete of the Year in 1996. The Terrapins won the NCAA championship her final two years, and she was named the national defensive player of the year in 1995 and the national offensive player of the year in 1996.
Following her Maryland days, she helped the U.S. capture the FIL World Cup in 1997 and 2001 and earned all-world honors in helping the U.S. to a silver medal finish in 2005. Amonte Hiller’s 35 career goals and 67 career points in FIL World Cup play both rank second all-time in U.S. history. She was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2012.
Tryouts for the 2019 U.S. team will be held in August 2018 (applications will be available in March) and will follow the US Lacrosse age-based segmentation policy that was adopted by the US Lacrosse Board of Directors in 2016. As a result of that policy, any age-eligible player under FIL guidelines will be able to be selected for the team, including players with college experience. Previously, the U.S. women’s team had restricted the U19 team to players that had not participated in college prior to the world championship.
Applications for the assistant coaching and support staff will be posted on Feb. 2, 2018 and remain open through Feb. 12, 2018.
The U.S. women’s national team trains and plays using best-in-class products provided by Nike (apparel and footwear), Brine (equipment), STX (equipment), Under Armour (equipment), SISU Guard (mouthguards) and The Pearl by Guardian (balls). In addition to these partners, Greenfields, Nationwide, Sports Force Parks, Sweat X, Bank of America and MedStar Sports Medicine are official sponsors of Team USA. Team training is also aided by products from DJO Global, Motive Pure, NormaTec Recovery and Athletic Republic.
Follow the team on social media @USLacrosse and @USAWLAX.