In the fall of 1988, the Duke women's soccer team began its first season and finished 10-6-1. Four years later, it competed for the national championship against North Carolina.
As the first women's lacrosse head coach at Duke, Kerstin Kimel hopes her team has the same success. Kimel sites Bill Hempen's squad as her model as she looks forward to the inaugural season of women's lacrosse at Duke.
"Duke's the type of school that when they decide to start a program, they do it right," Kimel said.
Women's lacrosse gained varsity status at Duke last season after lingering at the club level for nearly 15 years. The program joins a growing number of other schools around the country that boast a varsity women's lacrosse team. And now the Blue Devil edition hopes to achieve national exposure as quickly as its soccer counterpart.
"As a team, we want to compete as fast--if not faster--than the soccer team," said sophomore Kristen Lonergan, a member of last year's club team. "It's a goal to look at them and see they did it so quickly. It's inspiring to people on our team who don't think it's possible."
Kimel said this year's squad will be composed of five new recruits, many of last year's club players and players who make the team from tryouts to be held in the fall.
"The majority of the team will be made up of the club team," Kimel said. "Recruiting was tough last year since I got off to a late start. But I'm very pleased with the five recruits that are coming."
Kimel has already received phone calls from several prospective freshmen who are hoping for a chance to play this season.
One player Kimel hopes will join the squad is women's basketball recruit Payton Black. Black was an honorable mention All-American in lacrosse at Unionville High School near the Philadelphia area, and, according to Kimel, would be a welcome addition to the team after the basketball season. But Black is going to wait until school begins to make her final decision.
"Lacrosse would be third in order, behind basketball and grades," Black said. "There are a lot of options."
Among those options are to play this year when basketball is finished or start playing lacrosse next year. Either way, Black appreciated Kimel's patience.
"Coach Kimel said I don't need to rush and that I wasn't obligated to say yes or no," Black said. "If she would have said I had to decide soon, I may have said no."
One player who is already guaranteed a spot on the team is freshman Kendra Basner, from West Chester High School in the Philadelphia area. Basner is one of the five recruits who signed with the Blue Devils. She passed over other schools with established women's lacrosse programs because of Duke's reputation for supporting athletics.
"When it came down to it, the feeling I got when I made my visit was the school really cares about athletics," Basner said.
Basner is also excited about playing for Kimel, who was a member of the national team and was also a part of two national championship teams while at Maryland.
"Kerstin is a great player, and I feel that I can learn a lot from her," Basner said. "Having her as a coach, I think our program will really grow in a couple of years and will be a powerhouse."
When forming this year's schedule, Kimel wanted to include some tough opponents. But she did not want to have a schedule that would be too difficult for a first-year program. The Atlantic Coast Conference will provide the Blue Devils with some of their toughest competition against teams like Virginia and Maryland. Those two schools have claimed the NCAA women's lacrosse title four of the past five seasons.
Also in the ACC will be arch-rival North Carolina, which is also starting its program in 1995. The Duke and UNC club teams met four times last year, each team winning twice, so Kimel sees the possibility of a new Blue Devil-Tar Heel rivalry brewing.
"I think the rivalry will be very intense, especially since we're starting off at the same level," Kimel said. "Their head coach went to UVa and I went to Maryland, and we actually played each other."
Kimel also added a mix of what she calls middle-of-the-road teams, like William & Mary, and schools with new lacrosse programs, like Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt. With such a schedule and the Blue Devils' talent, Kimel predicts a .500 season next year.
"I think it's important [to start well] for the good of the team," Kimel said. "Losing doesn't breed confidence. We'll prepare the best we can. I want to keep morale up. The biggest thing is using this as a learning experience. But we're definitely going to have some wins."
Besides looking to Hempen and his soccer program for advice, Kimel has built a strong relationship with men's lacrosse head coach Mike Pressler.
"He's been very supportive of me," Kimel said. "I don't think that's the way it is at every place."
In order to boost the women's program, the two coaches hope to schedule doubleheaders, with the men playing first followed by the women. Only one doubleheader is scheduled this year, with more to come in the future.
Lonergan hopes that fans will start supporting the women's team as much as the men's program. And she's confident that fans who think this team will be a typical first-year washout will be surprised.
"I think people will be expecting less than what we are expecting of ourselves," Lonergan said. "There are a lot of teams that we can beat. Our club team last year was competitive at the varsity level.
"I think we're going to surprise a lot of people with the talent that we already have."
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