Building the Pitt Program: Kierin Ratliff-Kailbourne

PITTSBURGH – In the Northeast, lacrosse is a way of life. Being from Honeoye Falls, N.Y., Kierin Ratliff-Kailbourne has played since she was eight years old. When Pitt added a varsity team, Ratliff-Kailbourne knew the opportunity she had been waiting for would soon be within reach.

Early in second grade, Ratliff-Kailbourne joined the school lacrosse team and began picking up the skill. Even from the beginning, she knew the sport was special. "I love the physicality of it and how different it is compared to everything else," she said. "It's not something you can just pick up and be good at. You have to really work hard to be successful."

When she reached fourth grade, she also joined a club team, Relentless Hustle, where she played through high school.

As she was making the important decision of which college she would attend, Ratliff-Kailbourne considered which university she thought would offer the best academic, athletic, and social environment for her. After considering some Division I, II, and III programs, Ratliff-Kailbourne decided the University of Pittsburgh had the best combination of everything she was looking for.

"I felt like athletically, I could play club and be satisfied, academically, it would challenge me, and socially, I thought it had the diversity to meet all kinds of different people, which I really liked," Ratliff-Kailbourne said.

Although there wasn't a varsity program at the time, Ratliff-Kailbourne decided the club level offered enough physicality and competition for her. "I knew that in 2014 the club team had won a national championship, so I expected to come in with some really great competition, which I did," she said.

That competition pushed Ratliff-Kailbourne and the 2019 squad to win the Women's Collegiate Lacrosse DI National Championship last spring, after which Ratliff-Kailbourne earned WCLL DI Player of the Year, Second Team All-American and First Team All-League honors. After an incredible season, Ratliff-Kailbourne was still eager to move up to the next level.

"When I found out that Pitt was adding a varsity lacrosse team, I was so excited and instantly wanted to figure out how I could be on it," she added. "I emailed Coach Boissonneault the first day they announced she would be the coach. I had no idea if she would even want us on the team, but the fact that we are now is such a dream come true. I've always wanted to play at the DI level, but it just didn't work out."

Along with her, teammates Payton Reed and Caroline Lederman will be joining the inaugural lacrosse team. The trio played alongside each other on high school and club teams in New York and became inseparable their first semester at Pitt. "At first we all stuck together and helped make a group of friends on the club team and off," Ratliff-Kailbourne said. "I think that was super helpful because we all are so close but so different, so it just brought a lot of different friends together."

Sticking together through freshman year and a club lacrosse championship has prepared the three rising juniors to lead the team. "I have known them both for as long as I can remember and getting to do this with them is so awesome," Ratliff-Kailbourne said. "I think this will be great for all of us and I think we will all be really good at it with the help of Coach Boissonneault and Coach Eppler setting the tone."

While Ratliff-Kailbourne has yet to meet all of the incoming players, she tries to keep in touch over summer break. "I set up a video call two weeks ago for all of us to get on and share our names and positions just to have a first meeting, so we know each other when we get to campus," she said. "Seeing everyone again and meeting all the new girls on the team is going to be awesome."

Being away from campus and daily training, Ratliff-Kailbourne has continued to get better. "I do online workouts with one of the gyms from around here and I've been just keeping up with wall ball," she said. "All the turfs around us are closed so it's hard to get shooting in, but I'm taking advantage of my front yard and looking up videos of people doing footwork drills and trying to keep myself where I was before break," Ratliff-Kailbourne said.

With the help of Coach Boissonneault and Coach Eppler, Ratliff-Kailbourne believes she and the team can be great. "Her [Boissonneault's] knowledge of lacrosse is so beyond anything that I know," she added. "Even in just those five or six weeks of us training, I could tell that my game had changed, especially when I would go to club practice afterwards. It was awesome."

Ratliff-Kailbourne has strived to improve her game since she started playing and will never stop trying to reach the next level.

"We are going to win some games, we are going to lose some games, but I think being able to be the first people to do that really sets a tone for what the program is going to become under Emily and Daniela's coaching," Ratliff-Kailbourne added. "There are not many people who can say that they were the first class to go through a brand-new Division I team, especially in a Division I conference, so I think it's going to be a great experience."

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Building the Pitt Program: Kierin Ratliff-Kailbourne

Players Mentioned

Caroline Lederman

Kierin Ratliff-Kailbourne

Payton Reed

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