50 Years of Women's Varsity Athletics: Lacrosse

50 years of women's varsity athletics graphic with women's lacrosse player Katie Chrest

Photo by: Duke Athletics

50 Years of Women's Varsity Athletics: Lacrosse

6/26/2022 9:30:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse, Athletics

By: GoDuke The Magazine

Duke is celebrating 50 years of varsity women's athletics in 2021-22. This is the eighth installment of a year-long GoDuke The Magazine series reflecting on the Blue Devils' 13 women's sports programs. For more from the university, see dukengwsd.com/dukewomens50 or #DukeWomens50 on social media.

The first player in ACC lacrosse history to garner Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year and Tournament MVP honors, Katie Chrest led the Blue Devils to some of their greatest heights. Duke won three ACC regular season titles during her four years and took home the first ACC Tournament crown in program history. The Blue Devils also played in four NCAA Tournaments and reached the final four twice during her career. Chrest set the single-season school scoring record when she was a junior, on her way to national player of the year honors (Tewaaraton). She still ranks as the all-time leader in goals and points. A 2018 Duke Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, she now lives in Highland Falls, N.Y., near Army West Point, where her husband is a professor. They have four children under the age of 8.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE FILE

» The program began varsity competition with the 1996 season. Kerstin Kimel was the Blue Devils’ start-up coach and has been their only head coach across 27 seasons.
» Duke made the NCAA Tournament in its third year of existence and has only missed the tourney three times since while earning
seven trips to the national semifinals (most recently in 2015).
• The Blue Devils enjoyed four straight final four seasons from 2005 to 2008 and had 10 straight seasons of finishing in the top 10 of
the national poll from 2006-2015.
» Katie Chrest (2003-06) ranks as Duke’s top career goal scorer with 216, while Kerrin Maurer (2012-15) leads in career assists with 119. They are the top two point producers all-time, Chrest with 287 and Maurer at 280.
» Two of Duke’s early standouts, Kate Kaiser (1999-2003) and Tricia Martin (1997-2000) made the ACC’s 50th anniversary team.
» Duke’s most successful alum in international lacrosse has been Sarah Bullard (Class of 2011), who played midfield for USA Lacrosse on three consecutive World Cup gold medal teams (2009-13-17). She was captain of the 2017 USA team.

Being at Duke during one of the most successful periods for women’s lacrosse with an ACC title and a couple of final fours, what are some of things that still stand out?

Actually, I was asked recently to give a talk to some of the cadets at West Point, the captains of the competitive club sports teams, about leadership and my experience at Duke. And what I talked about was, my first two years at Duke we weren’t as successful. We lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament both years. Then a few of my teammates and myself got together and basically just tried to rebuild the culture and spent a lot of time working behind the scenes and really making everybody feel like a valued member of the team whether you started, played a lot or didn’t play at all. I think that those lessons learned are the things that stand out the most from my career at Duke and they were directly linked to the success we found on the field. I believe that. Professionally, personally, I feel like those lessons still resonate about investing in people, investing in teammates, building great culture, choosing to be positive when it’s easy to complain. There’s a lot of that stuff that I’ve taken with me when I think about my Duke days. It was built there.

Do you have a favorite lacrosse moment?

A few stand out, definitely our ACC championship (in 2005). That was such a mental and emotional hurdle to get over, but also the culmination of so much hard work that we did off the field. Playing at Ravens Stadium (in Baltimore, her hometown), beating Virginia, that was such a great day, full team effort. From my senior year we had a night game on Koskinen where we played Northwestern and beat them pretty bad. That was such a great game — everybody was on that night. That’s one of the best memories I have from my playing career.

When you were inducted into the Duke Hall of Fame, in your speech you mentioned how transformative your four years at Duke were. What was that transformation like, from how you came in to when you finished?

I think I also said in that speech that Duke pushes you in every aspect of your life. I came in as a very naïve, raw athlete. I came to Duke to play lacrosse, that really was my major. But you can’t be just an athlete at Duke. It’s going to push you in all aspects of your life. I became a better student. It pushed me a ton in the classroom and intellectually — not just the subject matter we were learning but the people around you are so brilliant so you develop in that way as well.

One thing I really value about being part of the Duke lacrosse program is that Kerstin (Kimel, Duke’s head coach) really pushed us as people and helped us to grow up. There were little things like, we had to dress up for pregame meals. It was just a small thing, but at the time we’re like, why do we have to dress up? We’re just going to Devils Den and going right home to change into our uniform. But it taught us a professionalism that still resonates with me. When you are doing something important, you dress the part, you show up put together and ready to go. Even that small detail has served me so well in life.

I feel like I went in as a kid and came out as an adult. As cliché as that sounds, Kerstin really takes that seriously with her student-athletes. She really wants to help them grow up and be ready and prepared for the real world. I definitely look back and say yeah, that was the transformation that happened for me.

Title IX obviously was in place as you were coming along. It was supposed to create opportunities. Did you notice that, or feel like you had the opportunities you needed to develop in sports?

Honestly I do feel like I had every opportunity athletically. I remember (in ninth or tenth grade) watching the 99ers, which was the U.S. women’s soccer team (that won the World Cup), and I think that was kind of the first time I saw women’s sports on TV. Later down the road I was fortunate enough to meet Julie Foudy and do a camp with her, and that was cool because it was those women who paved the way for getting women’s sports visible and on the map. They did so much behind the scenes for youth programs and that kind of thing that when I came along I feel there weren’t any restrictions or anything like that. I had plenty of opportunity. But I know now after listening more, hearing more and talking to different people that there was a lot of work that went in behind the scenes for women to have the opportunities they have now.

Can you describe the feeling of being a part of the whole fabric of women’s athletics at Duke, both as a player but also now as an alum?

What’s interesting is that as time has gone on, my membership in Duke women’s lacrosse has meant more and more and more, just because of how sports have grown, how women’s sports have grown, how Duke has grown. It was a big deal then, but now it’s like, “Oh you were a part of Duke, you went to Duke.” There’s more exposure, more people understand the magnitude of what that means.

Also Duke has been special because they’ve always given so much to their programs, including the women’s programs. We never felt slighted, we never felt like we weren’t getting what the men were getting. That was special, and they’re still doing that. It’s brought success to all their programs, so it’s special to be part of this alumni base and part of Duke Athletics.

There’s a term that’s been coined for our group, Duke Lax Love, and it’s a thread that’s woven through many, many years of alumni. I was back on campus this spring for an alumni event…and there’s such a commonality when you get in the same room (with other former players). I didn’t know half of them, but what’s really cool about Duke women’s lacrosse is that every single person who has come through the program has been coached by Kerstin, so the culture and the way she does things is the same. We’ve all had the same experience. She’s changed over the years and adjusted so it’s fun to get together and tell stories, but by and large we’ve all had the same experience and that’s pretty special. A lot of programs can’t say that.

50 YEARS OF WOMEN'S VARSITY ATHLETICS

“With the 50th anniversary of women’s varsity athletics at Duke, I am reminded of how proud I am to have served as the women’s lacrosse coach for
the last 27 years. When I arrived at Duke in January of 1995, never could I imagine how Duke Athletics would grow and evolve in its robust commitment to
women’s athletics. I am deeply appreciative of the university and athletic department’s leadership and vision which has afforded our women’s programs the opportunity and resources to build championship caliber programs and provide a world class experience for our outstanding student-athletes.”