By Drew Buono
One of the most impressive facts about the Pride women’s lacrosse team has to be the play of junior attacker Kimberly Hillier.
She has scored 26 points during the team’s seven-game winning streak and has a team high 67 points (43 goals, 24 assists). These numbers, however are “not really important” to Hillier, who wants to win more than have a big individual game. The seven straight wins is the second longest streak in the nation and has helped the Pride clinch a spot in this weekend’s CAA Tournament, beginning on Friday.
Hillier is a native of Farmingdale, growing up only minutes away from Hofstra. She had the opportunity to go to other Division I programs such as Syracuse, Delaware and Virginia, but liked Hofstra and saw potential in the team. Head coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe states that Hillier has been a big part of the team’s turnaround over the past couple of seasons and that while here, she has become more of her own player.
“Kim used to make everyone else look good on the field and now she has developed her own abilities and balanced her game with passing and scoring,” Klaes-Bawcombe said.
Hillier certainly recognizes the desire to win. “We’re hungry to win a championship,” she says. “The team is doing better now than at the beginning of the season, but we still aren’t playing our best lacrosse.”
While working to improve her game, Hillier is majoring in psychology and attending classes five days a week scheduled all in the morning. “We practice from 2 p.m. until 6 o’clock, so most of the afternoon is filled with practice. It would be exhausting to then have to go to a night class afterward.”
Hillier usually takes 15 credits each semester, but devotes more time to school in the fall and takes what she considers the “harder classes” then because she isn’t playing and has more time to devote to her studies.
When not in school, Hillier coaches in a summer league with girls who are not that far away in age from herself.
“I coach the rising sophomores team of the Long Island Yellow Jackets,” Hillier said. The Yellow Jackets are one of the elite girls travel teams in the northeast region and have players that range from age 12 to 18. A former player for the Yellow Jackets, Hillier loves coaching the up and comers.
“It’s a great opportunity for the girls because the competition is at a much higher level than playing high school lacrosse,” she said. “Scouts from major colleges come and watch you play and you get to travel and take on great players from all over the east coast.”
Hillier has become so interested in the Yellow Jackets that she is seriously considering becoming a head coach once she graduates from Hofstra. Hillier’s passion for lacrosse is intense and she would like nothing more than to win another six games, which would give Hofstra its first women’s national lacrosse title.