Kristen Kjellman (born November 18, 1984) is an American

women's lacrosse Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...

player. She played for the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

and the USA World Cup Team.

Early life

Born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and raised in

Westwood, MA Westwood is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,266 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. History Westwood was first settled in 1641 and was part of the town of Dedham, originally called 'West De ...

. Attended Westwood High School from 1999-2003. Four year

varsity letter A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met. Description ...

winner in

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and lacrosse.

Career

Recruited in 2003 by Kelly Amonte HIller, head coach of the

Northwestern Wildcats women's lacrosse The Northwestern Wildcats women's lacrosse team is an NCAA Division I college lacrosse team representing Northwestern University as part of the Big Ten Conference. It was a member of the American Lacrosse Conference until the 2013-14 season, whe ...

team, Kjellman made her debut in 2004, starting all 18 games for the Wildcats. She was named

Inside Lacrosse Inside Lacrosse is a lacrosse media entity and ESPN affiliate. It includes many parts including a news website, an 11 times annual magazine, online video streaming, internet forums and an ESPN television show. The company is currently headquarter ...

National Rookie of the Year, Co-National Rookie of the Year, and led Northwestern with 53 goals, winning 3 straight national championships from 2005-2007. Kjellman was the first lacrosse player (men or women) to be named the

Tewaaraton Trophy The Tewaaraton Award is an annual award for the most outstanding American college lacrosse men's and women's players, since 2001. It is the lacrosse equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy. The award is presented by The Tewaaraton Foundation and th ...

winner in consecutive seasons. She led the team to a 77-5 record during her career and was arguably the catalyst to Northwestern's dynasty in Women's lacrosse. While at Northwestern, she won the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

as the nation's best female lacrosse player three consecutive years, in 2005, 2006 and 2007. She graduated in 2007 and now lives and works in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

as a Sales Representative for Nike Lacrosse. In 2008 Kjellman was named the National Rookie of the Year for Nike Sales. 2010 will mark her 4th year as a US National Team member. The draw specialist made her first World Cup appearance in the 2009 World Championships in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. The team reached the finals and beat Australia 8-7 in an amazing championship game. Kjellman had a goal, an assist and several key draw controls in the final match. She was named to the All-World team as a midfielder. Since her college debut in 2003, Kjellman has graced the covers of numerous publications, including

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

, SI on Campus, Inside Lacrosse and the New England Lacrosse Journal.

Awards and Accomplishments

National Rookie of the Year- 2007. *

- 2006, 2007. *Four-year All-America choice. *Three-time American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) Player of the Year. *Three-time National Midfielder of the Year. *All-time Northwestern record for goals (250) and points (349). *NCAA record with 39 career goals in NCAA Championship play. *Three-time

winner for lacrosse. *Member of the U.S. National Elite team, 2007. *Gold medalist in the 2009 World Cup, 2009. *All-World team midfielder, 2009.

References

New England Lacrosse Journal Fanbase
Living people American lacrosse players 1984 births Women's lacrosse players Northwestern Wildcats women's lacrosse players Sportspeople from Boston People from Westwood, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Chicago {{US-lacrosse-bio-stub