Feb. 26, 2008

by Jac Coyne, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff

Sitting at her computer in Adelaide, Australia, Kylie Flett decided to check her email one last time before she went to bed. There in her inbox was an electronic letter from a Candace Taglianetti. It didn't look like spam, so Flett double-clicked on it, starting a journey that would take her halfway around the world and help lay the foundation of a fledgling women's lacrosse program.

In her quest to build a competitive team as quickly as possible, Taglianetti, the head coach of Notre Dame College of Ohio since the team's inception, was putting out feelers to any potential candidates in 2004 for the Falcons' inaugural season coming the following spring. State or international borders were of no consequence. She needed players, especially a top-flight goalie, and she needed them quickly.

Hence, one of her missives arrived on Flett's laptop.

The Aussie wasn't an easy catch, however. A member of the U-19 Australian World Team and one of the last cuts from the 2005 national squad that went on to win the world championship, Flett is a premier goalie, the kind of keeper that usually catches the eye of the bigger programs.

Undaunted, Taglianetti continued to pursue Flett - "She pretty much stalked me for a year," laughed the Aussie - and finally got her girl. It helped that Notre Dame was a small school of 1,200 students, providing Flett with a needed change from her experience at a large high school. But for the most part she was swept up in the excitement Taglianetti had for her program.

"Candace sold it that there were just great girls in the program. She was really excited about starting the program, which helped me be excited about it," said Flett.

Being excited and staying upbeat is critical for Taglianetti as she builds a Notre Dame tradition. She realized that in order to spark the quick development of the program, especially at a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school that doesn't have the luxury of a postseason tournament, she would have to provide most of the inertia. That would demand tireless recruiting in many locations she was not familiar with.

"If I hear there is a good lacrosse player in that area, I'll go anywhere," said Taglianetti, who played her college ball at Ohio State. "I think that was really important when we were first starting. Being from the East, it made me look outside of the box and think outside the box. I was inclined to just look at the East at the start, but now that I'm here and I see we have a building program, we've got to get girls who are good athletes and train them."

Having to stand around while the coaching staff taught the game to players on the fly was a bit of an eye-opener for Flett, who was used to playing with high-end talent. During the first season in 2005, Flett quickly realized she was in for a different kind of lacrosse experience.

It started in the second half of the first game of the season. Off the draw, Flett found herself staring down one of her teammates - a freshman who was playing lacrosse for the first time - who was sprinting directly at the Notre Dame goalie on a fast break. "She didn't know you switched ends at halftime," laughed Flett, who managed to wave off her teammate in time.

Later that season, the goalie had to endure another reality of a start-up program. Competing against a ranked team and already a player down, Flett watched as the opposition's starters padded their stats until the final whistle, peppering her with over 50 shots.

Flett admits that the hardships made the Falcons stronger, and certainly contributed to Notre Dame's ability to post a winning season in 2007 after just six victories in the first two years of its existence. Taglianetti's presence, and her unwavering demand for excellence, also played a large role in the development.

"I think Candace is just really hard-working and extremely dedicated," said Flett. "She has a tough business attitude. She made it pretty clear form the start that she wanted a good program. If she had the attitude that we were a beginning program and didn't expect us to catch balls or accept losing, we wouldn't have been pushed to be this good now."

"We just talk about playing good lacrosse and getting better every time we step on the field," said Taglianetti, who served as an assistant at Haverford for two years before joining Notre Dame. "I think that is really important. I've seen other coaches with new programs just teach the players to get by and get the good player to run down the field. That's not something I particularly like. So we'd rather take a loss and teach them good lacrosse than just have one girl score seven goals.

"We're running plays where we have everyone getting touches on the ball and we know that is benefitting us in the long run. Every day you step on the field your goal is to be a better player and understand the game of lacrosse."

Notre Dame is going a long way to put Cleveland on the women's lacrosse radar, but there is still one large issue that needs to be addressed.

The Falcons are a team without a division.

Because the school's athletic department is affiliated with the NAIA, the women's lacrosse team is not eligible for any of the NCAA tournaments. Notre Dame's schedule is primarily that of a D-2 institution, but because it has not gone through the onerous process of converting to the NCAA there is no hope for a postseason. While this wasn't an issue in the first three years, with everyone returning from last year's team the expectations are the 12-4 mark of a season ago will be eclipsed.

"It would be nice if we had a postseason tournament this year because it is hard to keep up that motivation when you're winning if you're not sure what you're striving for," said Flett. "But we haven't been allowed by the coaching staff to settle for anything but excellence."

As Taglianetti continues to draw more and more interest on the recruiting trail, the inability to play in a postseason tournament may become an issue. While the NAIA rules allows the Notre Dame staff to recruit some non-traditional students (in terms of age; the NAIA and NCAA share similar academic eligibility standards), there is no NAIA championship for women's lacrosse due to the paucity, and consistency, of programs that sponsor it.

"Anytime you can tell someone you have the opportunity to compete for a national championship, just knowing you have that opportunity, always helps," admitted Taglianetti. "In the past three years prior to last year, even if we said it was an opportunity we weren't there yet anyways. It definitely wouldn't hurt, but prior to this year we were still in those building stages."

In an effort to give her student-athletes a taste, albeit a bland one, of what it's like to play in the postseason, Taglianetti is trying to coordinate an unofficial NAIA Invitational Tournament. What she describes as a way to "establish some sort of first hurdle to give us an opportunity for postseason play," Taglianetti is inviting all of the NAIA women's lacrosse teams who have the sport, including Women's Division Intercollegiate Associates, to play in a season-ending exhibition. It probably won't rival the excitement of an NCAA tournament, but it's a start.

This spring will be Flett's senior season and it will likely be one to remember. While the youngsters on the teams, the ones who didn't experienced the trials of the first few years at Notre Dame, can't appreciate how far the Falcons have come, it's something that Flett and the seniors will never forget.

"Oh my goodness, you have no idea," laughed Flett. "There were some tears, and obviously there were some laughs, as well, in those first couple of years. It was really, really tough. But it was one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done."

Notre Dame is now the better team more often than not when the players step on the field, but they don't pound their opponents into submission because Flett and others are keenly aware of how it feels. There is certainly some satisfaction in taking the higher road. There are also the little things, like the development of Nikki Gatlin. It was Gatlin who got turned around in the second half of her first game and made a run at the wrong goal. Now in her senior year, Gatlin will be expected to provide some scoring punch after netting 12 goals last year.

These are the memories that will last for Flett.

Memories made on the field, anyway. She has made many more off it. Flett has yet to return her home in Australia since she first made her foray to Notre Dame in the fall of 2005, a span of nearly four years. Because she has had to rely on the support structure put in place by Taglianetti and the rest of the players to fight off homesickness, lacrosse is just part of the memory.

"They've had to be another family for me, not just a team," said Flett.

At the end of the day that is more important than a possible trip to the NCAAs. But Flett is a special case. As Taglianetti continues to improve - and judging by her tenacity, Notre Dame will get better - there will be questions pouring in from prospective recruits about the possibility of playing for a championship. It will take time, money and a huge commitment from the college to make this happen. Until then, Notre Dame of Ohio will be a team to be heard from, just not in the postseason.

"Obviously, it would be nice and something tangible to say we want this postseason award and we want to be ranked in the country, but I've seen that even backfire for some coaches," said Taglianetti. "In a sense, we have nothing to lose every time we go out there."

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