When Alia Marshall stepped onto the practice field at Northwestern Lacrosse for the first time, a question she never had before came to her mind.
“What will happen if I don't cut it?”
“What if I don't have it anymore?”
Marshall excelled in every sport he tried at Cape Henlopen, winning player of the year awards in field hockey and lacrosse as a senior for the state champion Vikings. But now, after a field hockey career that included three trips to national championships, Marshall was holding a lacrosse stick in organized practice for the first time in five years. And she was doing so surrounded by some of the best players in the country.
“What was really stressful was not knowing what I could do,” Marshall said. “Everyone was the best in high school. When you go to college, you're on a different playing field, not to mention the strongest team in the nation.”
Looking back, my worries about how she would look while playing certain balls and how she would digest the new rules quickly subsided. Her athleticism took root and her instincts for defensive positioning carried over from the flooded field hockey fields to the lacrosse turf. But the changes are still noticeable. Since then, Marshall has become a regular on Northwestern's defense, appearing in 13 of 15 games this season as the Wildcats seek their second straight national championship.
The Cape Henlopen midfielder, who scored 47 goals as a senior in 2019, never imagined his college career would unfold this way. When Marshall went to Northwestern University, she was content to play only field hockey, and she was excited to affiliate with a nationally ranked freshman class. Her multi-sport talent will be left behind in the First State.
Delaware state record for multisport at the collegiate level
These accomplishments in Delaware are worth repeating. Marshall won a total of seven state championships at Cape and was named first team all-state six times in field hockey and lacrosse. During that time, she played basketball her three seasons and transferred to indoor track and field as a senior. At the state meet, she placed third in the 400 meters, eighth in the 200 meters, second in the long jump, and fifth in the triple jump.
As originally planned, Marshall's time at Northwestern University was scheduled to end in the 2022-2023 academic year, but due to interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was given an additional year of eligibility. It was done. When Marshall decided to take advantage of her fifth year, she started thinking about playing lacrosse in the spring.
Wildcats field hockey coach Tracy Fuchs is on the same floor as lacrosse coach Kelly Amonte-Hiller. Fuchs introduced Marshall to Hiller when Hiller first came to campus five years ago. At one point he received a call about Marshall from longtime Cape coach P.J. Kesmodel, who became interested and occasionally asked Fuchs about Marshall. Now, Marshall had asked Fuchs to help him prepare for the meeting.
“If I'm going to come here, I'll kick myself in the future if I can't ask Kelly if there's a way I can get involved or help,” Marshall said.
After many discussions, Hiller approved the transfer in the summer. Helping Marshall's cause was Lindsey Frank, a two-sport star at Richmond for the past four years, who committed to Northwestern in his fifth year. Marshall could follow her formula.
Possibility of winning again after returning to lacrosse
Marshall picked up a lacrosse stick that summer, but started preparing in earnest the following winter after field hockey season ended. Her older brother, AJ, is an All-State defender who graduated from Cape College in 2015 and trained Marshall during winter break. After that, days of high-pressure practice began at Northwestern University's indoor facility.
Marshall's 9-5 focuses on lacrosse. She will finish coursework for her professional studies certificate program in the winter and begin her master's program in speech-language pathology in the fall. Most days, she heads to the team's practice facility around 12:30 p.m. and has lunch with her teammates before her practice begins at 2 p.m. The lifts continue several times a week and end around 5:30 p.m. The team then catches Bite.
Northwestern ended the regular season with a 13-2 win over No. 4 Michigan on Sunday. The Wildcats are ranked No. 1 in the nation with a 13-2 record. They will next play in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday, May 2. The NCAA Tournament begins next Friday. The Wildcats could win back-to-back national titles for the first time in 12 years, ending a run of seven championships in eight years.
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This is not Marshall's first experience on the national championship stage. In 2021, Marshall started 20 contests as Northwestern field hockey made an unexpected run to the title game.
The Wildcats lost in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, but opened the NCAA Tournament with a draw against powerhouse North Carolina. Marshall and his teammates told each other they would turn the conference and tournament losses into positives and get fresh legs for UNC. They ultimately lived up to their “nothing to lose” mentality and defeated Liberty for the national championship, the first win in program history.
“That was supposed to be our season, that was supposed to be the story of that season,” Marshall said of the Big Ten Tournament loss. “We had the talent, but we just weren't producing enough.”
If anything, the win raised expectations for the program. The Wildcats' seasons ended with losses in the national championship the next two years, Marshall's final years. Marshall said this fall was “the best last year I could have hoped for.” That included a sweep of the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, as well as a national championship game loss to UNC that ended in a sudden-death shootout.
“It's a pretty tough road,” Marshall said.
Marshall hasn't closed the door on a field hockey career.
When Marshall decided to pursue lacrosse, she also had the option of competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic field hockey team. That would have required her to at least temporarily give up her fifth year at Northwestern and move to Charlotte, North Carolina, where USA Field Hockey is based starting in 2022. Unsure if she would join the team, Marshall chose to return to Northwestern University. However, she is still in their ecosystem as a candidate for a future team.
“If I ever reach a breaking point or have to choose between my career and field hockey, I'm going to cross that bridge,” Marshall said.
Brandon Holbeck reports on high school sports for the News Journal. Please contact bholveck@delawareonline.com.
