Benet's Keating finds unexpected path to Northwestern through lacrosse
At first, this new experiment, wasn't going so well.
Karly Keating had been a runner for most of her young life, and she had always thought she would go out for track during her freshman year at Benet.
But a persuasive friend, and a desire on a whim to try something new, led her to lacrosse.
"It looked fun and my friend Isabella (Camba) was talking to me about joining, so I thought, 'Why not give lacrosse a try,' " Keating said. "I didn't know anything about it, but I figured that if I didn't like it, I could always go back to track for my sophomore year.
"At first, I was so bad. I got a yellow card like every single game, mostly for being too violent. I kept swinging my stick, I was so bad with all the rules. But pretty soon, it became my favorite sport."
And, to Keating's surprise, lacrosse ended up liking her right back, to the point that she eventually became good enough to sign a National Letter of Intent this fall to play college lacrosse at Northwestern, one of the top programs in the country and a seven-time national champion since 2005.
"It's definitely a cool opportunity," said Keating, who had contact with nearly 30 Division I schools and narrowed her list to Northwestern, Marquette, Arizona State, San Diego State and Cal Berkley. "It's also a little scary because those girls (at Northwestern) are really good. But that gets me motivated to work hard."
Once Keating realized how much she liked lacrosse, she was all-in on improving and even raising her game to the point where she could compete for a college scholarship.
"I loved playing so much," Keating said. "I had always thought that I would try to run in college, but then I found lacrosse and realized it was a combination of everything I love. There's running, there's the aggressiveness and physicality of basketball that I love. It was a great combination and something that I wanted to try to do in college.
"Once, I realized that, I started really dedicating myself to getting better. I worked out for four to six hours a day in my basement, doing a lot of stick work and footwork. Then I got on a club team and started working with a couple of trainers."
Keating used her speed and her endurance from cross country and track to outlast many of her teammates and opponents. She used her aggressiveness and footwork and athleticism from basketball to pick up the mentality and skills needed to play lacrosse quickly.
"I was one of the more athletic ones on the team," Keating said. "I think that helped a lot, and it helped that I played other sports where the skills were similar. Like defense (in lacrosse) is similar to defense in basketball where you are trying to use your footwork to force someone left or right."
Eventually Keating, a midfielder, earned a spot on the top team for her age group for the True Illinois club lacrosse team, and the Northwestern coaching staff then got its hands on one of her highlight videos.
"I'm definitely not one of the top recruits in the country, but my work ethic and my passion for the game, along with my speed and athleticism from cross country and basketball really helped me and got me to that level (to play Division I).
"I think it also helps that I started late. I have so much more to learn and improve on in lacrosse. I haven't really played a lot of games yet, so I have a lot of room to get better."
What Keating doesn't have a lot of is extra time.
She's a top student at Benet with a 3.8 grade-point average with an interest in majoring in economics at Northwestern.
She also has three jobs and volunteers with a local program that teaches sports to kids with special needs. And she also volunteers with Feed My Starving Children.
Keating wants to pay her good fortune forward. She says she is grateful every day for finding lacrosse almost accidentally.
"I'm just so thankful for my coaches who have helped me so much, and for how everything has worked out," Keating said. "I would have never thought all of this would have happened. Sometimes, I still can't believe it."