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| 2003 Graduate Katie Lambert has Stonehill in contention for their ninth Northeast-10 Championship. |
Brockton Enterprise: Skyhawks follow Lambert's lead
again in lacrosse
May 2, 2008
By Jim Fenton, Enterprise Staff Writer
Easton, Mass. - She put together a
sensational women's lacrosse career at Stonehill College, earning
Div. 2 All-America honors four years in a row.
Katie Lambert had 220 goals, 106 assists and 326 points, was a three-time Northeast-10 Conference player of the year and the NCAA attacker of the year once.
Her stay at Stonehill was capped with a national Div. 2 championship as a senior in 2003, the final memory from an incredible four-year run.
Five years later, Lambert is back on the Stonehill campus in charge of the lacrosse program she was such a big part of from 2000-03. After four seasons coaching Merrimack College, Lambert has returned to a familiar setting.
"It's an honor to be coaching this team," said Lambert. "That's the only way I can describe it. I don't think that anyone cares about Stonehill lacrosse more than I do.
"It's awesome being back. I loved Stonehill when I was here, and when I was at Merrimack, it was always great to come back here as a coach."
Lambert replaced Michael Daly, the architect of the program who is now an assistant coach at the University of New Hampshire after winning two national titles at Stonehill.
In her first season, Lambert guided the Skyhawks to the NE-10 regular-season championship with a 10-0 mark this spring. Stonehill, which has won 78 straight conference games, will host Saint Michael's today at 4 p.m. in the semifinal round of the tournament.
If the Skyhawks (12-3) advance, they will host the conference championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday against either Southern New Hampshire or Bryant University.
Stonehill, which will not make the NCAA tournament this season, won all nine NE-10 tournaments under Daly. He built the program into a powerhouse, and Lambert has been charged with the responsibility of carrying it on.
"There are big shoes to fill, no question about it," said Lambert. "To be honest, I never thought that I wanted to coach here. ‘Dales' had done such a great, great job and they are huge shoes to fill.
"But I was nervous when the position came up because my biggest fear was that someone would come in as the new coach who didn't know what kind of program had been put in place, what we had here. I was proud to play for Stonehill and I love the school."
Lambert didn't figure she would be getting into coaching after graduating from Stonehill, but a friend at Merrmack who was coaching field hockey, got her interested in the lacrosse job at the North Andover school.
"Stonehill lacrosse was an awesome chapter in my life and I thought I'd walk away from it and that would be it," said Lambert. "But my friend talked me into going for the Merrimack job, and I'm glad it happened."
The Warriors went 45-19 with Lambert on the sideline and played Stonehill in a pair of NE-10 championship games.
"My first year coming back to coach against Stonehill, it was just terrible," said Lambert. "My good friends who I had played with the year before were on the team and they beat us by 22. That was a tough pill to swallow."
Leading the way for Stonehill this season are Michelle Kelly (52 goals, 28 assists), Kristin Darrell (48 goals, nine assists), Mary Maloney (38 goals, five assists) and Liza Gross (34 goals, eight assists). Goalkeeper Amanda McGeachey is 12-3 with a 6.64 goals against average.
Darrell, a two-time All-America, recently set the program record for career goals with 236, surpassing the 227 scored by Erin Acone.
"We've had a good year and we're playing for another NE-10 championship," said Lambert. "I've learned an awful lot this season and I'm definitely looking forward to next year."
