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Nine.
Kelly Amonte Hiller just became the winningest coach in Division I women’s lacrosse history. Here’s what it looked like.
I’ve watched a lot of lacrosse in my life. I’ve never seen anything like what Kelly Amonte Hiller has built in Evanston.
Nine national championships. Nine. The most in Division I women’s lacrosse history — more than anyone who has ever coached this game at this level.
She passed Cindy Timchal on Sunday (won eight at Maryland), the same woman who coached her when she was a player at Northwestern, the same woman who was sitting in the stands watching it happen.
Think about that for a second. The student surpasses the teacher. The teacher shows up to watch and calls it “a statement of excellence.” That’s not a rivalry. That’s a legacy being handed down in real time, and it’s one of the most beautiful things this sport has ever produced.
Final score: Northwestern 14, North Carolina 11. Home court. Memorial Day weekend. In front of 8,316 fans who didn’t want to be anywhere else on earth.
The Number That Matters
Before we get into the game — let’s talk about 40-0.
Kelly Amonte Hiller has never lost an NCAA tournament game in Evanston. Not once. Forty tries. Forty wins. If you need me to explain why that’s absurd, you haven’t been paying attention to college lacrosse long enough.
Sunday was the ultimate test of that record. Northwestern hosting the Final Four at home, as the No. 1 seed, against a North Carolina program that was undefeated last year, won the 2025 championship, and came into this game wanting revenge after losing to the Wildcats 17-16 in overtime back in March.
UNC wanted this badly. They didn’t hide it.
Forty and one was not in the cards.
Gaby McCollester Just Announced Herself
Here’s the thing about Northwestern that drives everyone crazy — just when you think you’ve seen the last of their great players, another one appears.
Izzy Scane graduated. Madison Taylor took over. Taylor graduates Sunday. And in the middle of a national championship game, with the program’s best player crumpled on the turf with a non-contact left leg injury, a freshman named Gabriella McCollester walked onto the field and scored four goals on four shots.
She had six goals all season. Six. Then four in one game, in the biggest moment of the year, against the defending champions.
“Welcome to the big stage, Gaby,” Amonte Hiller said after the game.
I don’t know what the recruiting pitch at Northwestern sounds like, but whatever it is — it works. It has always worked. McCollester just signed up for the next three years of carrying this thing forward, and based on Sunday, the Lake Show isn’t going anywhere.
How UNC Made It a Fight
Northwestern led 4-1 when Munro went down, and for a moment it looked like this might get ugly fast. It didn’t.
UNC’s Sarah Gresham — playing through a torn ACL from earlier in the year — came on and helped balance the draw game. Eliza Osburn found openings in the middle. The Tar Heels chipped back to 4-3, tied it at 5, and kept trading punches until Kate Levy knocked in a free-position shot to give UNC a 9-7 lead.
Then 11-9 heading into the fourth.
Chloe Humphrey was the story for UNC all season — the best player in college lacrosse, chasing Madison Taylor’s NCAA single-season goals record of 109. She tied it in the fourth quarter. Mary Carroll, who shadowed her for most of the afternoon, kept it a tie and nothing more.
“I expected nothing less from Mary,” goalie Jenika Cuocco said. “She’s a beast and a dog.”
Cuocco made 11 saves. She transferred from Drexel. This is what Northwestern does — they find players at every level, fit them into the culture, and they become champions.
The IT Department Won the Championship
I’m only half joking.
Two coach’s challenges. Both won by Amonte Hiller. Both crushing for UNC.
The first: Caroline Godine to Reese King, looked like a goal, King’s foot was in the crease. Wiped out. Northwestern scored immediately on the other end — a two-goal swing that stopped the bleeding.
The second — and this one was the dagger — came with the Wildcats up 12-11 in the fourth. UNC finally cracked the zone, Godine got a clean look, shot it, and it was reversed. Dangerous follow-through. Yellow card. Goal erased.
UNC went scoreless the rest of the way.
Amonte Hiller’s postgame quote on the challenge system: “I just have to give credit to Eric Winchester from our IT department. Our first two rounds, we had a heck of a time with that replay, and I didn’t have access to it. And we got it figured out in the week off.”
Eric Winchester, if you’re reading this — you are officially a national champion.
What Maddy Taylor Leaves Behind
She came in as a freshman and won. She leaves as a senior and wins. In between, two championship game losses that would have defined most careers — here they’re just part of the arc.
Taylor finished Sunday with one goal and six assists, tying Izzy Scane’s program record of 483 career points. Pure facilitator. Pure leader. She set the NCAA single-season goals record last year with 109. She leaves as one of the greatest to ever play for one of the greatest programs in the history of the sport.
Jenny Levy had the class to acknowledge the zone: “It’s a zone. There’s a lot of traffic and congestion inside the critical scoring area. Congrats to the zone defenses out there.”
Cindy Timchal, the woman whose record just got broken, put it better than anyone: “This is truly a statement of excellence.”
Nine titles. A freshman who scored four goals in a national championship game. A senior who bookended her career with championships. And a coach who has never lost a home NCAA tournament game.
This is what the ceiling looks like.