Forging the Path

Nadia Kachwaha traces the beginnings of GW lacrosse to University Yard.

As a first-year student in the fall of 1998, the Massachusetts native would head to the quad with a few friends from her dorm to toss around the ball.

"Every time that we had our lacrosse sticks out, people would stop us and ask, 'Is there a team here?'" Kachwaha said. "That just got the ball rolling for me in my mind, like, 'There's definitely the interest to do this.'"

Kachwaha's hard work to create and build a club lacrosse team on campus led to an unlikely opportunity to be a trailblazer for the new varsity program.

When the Buff and Blue debuted in the spring of 2002, Kachwaha was a captain alongside her friend and fellow club pioneer Raffaella Ceriello. Together, the veterans led a youthful group through that history-making campaign.

Twenty years later, GW lacrosse continues to push forward with a far-reaching alumnae network and a bright future thanks to the efforts of Kachwaha and Ceriello to help ensure a strong foundation for the fledgling program.

"I think it's humbling to be a part of something from the beginning and to see it grow and change and become this opportunity for other young women," said Kachwaha, now a realtor based in Connecticut. "It's great to see that it's continued, that it's grown stronger, that GW has put some focus there, and I'm proud to have been a part of it."

Kachwaha had looked at opportunities to play Division-III lacrosse before opting to study Economics at GW. She arrived in Foggy Bottom thinking it'd be fun to join the well-established club lacrosse team she'd heard about on her campus visit as a prospective student.

Kachwaha soon learned that squad had fizzled when its leader had recently graduated, and after getting enough questions from eager on-lookers during her catch sessions at U Yard, she got to work to help fill that void.

"Really, that was the beginning," Kachwaha said. "It grew out of noticing that there was a need or a want and just making it happen."

The first few practices Kachwaha was excited when enough students showed up to fill out a small-sided game in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, but by the next spring, they were traveling in yellow school buses to face a few local schools under the direction of a volunteer coach while repping the Buff and Blue in home-made jerseys.

Kachwaha said Joan Mitchell, then a Student Activities Center staffer and today a business manager within the Nashman Center for Civic Engagement & Public Service, provided indispensable support at the beginning, and the club sports office inside the Smith Center became her favorite hangout on campus.

"I had so many questions," Kachwaha remembered. "I needed to figure out how we were going to get things done."

Ceriello joined the group for its second season, looking to make friends and have fun rather than find a path to D-I lacrosse. Ultimately, the Long Island native would accomplish all three.

"We just had a blast," Ceriello said. "Those girls are still my heart."

By the spring of 2001, the group was training under the direction of Head Coach Jen Morris as it prepared to make the transition to varsity competition.

The Buff and Blue still didn't have a field of their own, so they hauled their own goals down 23^rd Street to the National Mall for 7 a.m. practices. Everyone worked together after the training sessions to make sure no stray balls were left behind among the monuments.

"I'm sure everybody complained, but it's what we had to do," Ceriello said.

When a crop of 14 first-years arrived in the fall of 2001, Kachwaha and Ceriello took on the responsibility of helping them adjust to the demands of life as a student-athlete, both on and off the field.

"It was fun to be around the younger girls and to help them navigate some of the challenges that they were going through for the first time," said Kachwaha, an attacker who earned a starting job thanks to her veteran savvy. "I enjoyed being in that role. I definitely wasn't the star player of the team, but I felt like I had a role in being there."

A rookie on that inaugural team, Erin Berry remembers that support being invaluable as she was learning the ropes in the nation's capital.

"Both of those women are just extraordinary human beings, and they were such great leaders for us," said Erin Berry, a Class of 2005 graduate who still ranks as the program's all-time leader in ground balls and caused turnovers. "It's absolutely amazing to think about the passion and commitment that it took for them to essentially build that program from scratch."

That 2002 season yielded a slew of firsts, highlighted by a 10-3 win over Marist on the program's new home field at the Mount Vernon Campus in the program's debut. All agree many of the most memorable moments in a 4-12 campaign came on a spring break bus trip to frigid upstate New York.

The group experienced expected growing pains navigating uncharted waters, but their spirit rarely wavered.

"I remember we all worked really hard," said Ceriello, a defender who made 14 starts during the inaugural season. "We had been so scrappy (as a club team), and we just continued to be a little scrappy. Everybody tried as hard as they could to make the biggest contribution that they could."

Kachwaha played just that one season before her graduation, while Ceriello stuck around with the group that progressed to 7-8 in 2003, including the first two Atlantic 10 victories in program history.

They've both enjoyed tracking the program's development over the past two decades and are excited about the future under Head Coach Jenny Ulehla as the Buff and Blue head into their 21^st season in the spring.

"It's very special to think that we were the first girls to forge the path," said Ceriello, who now works as a financial analyst at Teach for America based in New York City. "They've come such a long way since then. I'm not sure how much personal credit I take in that other than being in the right place at the right time and being willing and open to trying something new."

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