Completed Event: Women's Lacrosse at Cornell on March 28, 2026 , Loss , 6, to, 11
Final
Women's Lacrosse
at Cornell
6
11
Spotlight on Katherine Chiusano
6/8/2009 10:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
“Never quit. Don't ever, ever quit. Recognize that stopping now, regrouping to try a new approach isn't quitting. If you quit you'll regret it forever.” ? Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger
A slender 5-11 with a bright smile, when Katherine Chiusano walks into a room, tough is not likely the first word that comes to mind.
Though long scars down the center of each knee are harbingers that there might just be more to it.
More, in fact, than even those scars tell ... more than most would venture to tackle.
It all starts back in high school, when Chiusano was a three-sport athlete at Shawnee High School and Lawrenceville Prep. She had broad athletic and high academic interests and looked to play field hockey or lacrosse in college. Meanwhile, her prep coach, Holly Burks Becker '81 had played lacrosse at Dartmouth and recommended her to head coach Amy Patton and the Big Green to Chiusano.
Fate threw a twist at Chiusano in the winter of her junior year, however, when she tore her ACL during a December basketball game. An injury that serious would eliminate her spring lacrosse season and a chance to be seen by college coaches. In addition to the scholastic season, with a general timetable of at least eight months before returning to competitive sports, the ACL tear would jeopardize the club season, which runs through July.
Patton recalled when the younger version of her now senior captain visited campus that spring with her family. “I told her we had heard great things about her but needed to see her try to play a little bit,” said Patton.
So Chiusano did it. Seven months later she came back, as Patton imagined “way too early,” to play in the last tournament in mid-July in Annapolis. Though maybe still a step slow, Patton saw all she needed with her feeding capability and field vision that a coach can't teach.
“You could tell that Katherine was nowhere near 100 percent at that point but it really struck me that she was tough enough to give it a go,” recalled Patton. “It's scary coming off an ACL and being thrown into that level of competition with no lead up is crazy, but it showed me that she had a lot of guts.”
Born smack in the middle of seven children, including five brothers, that toughness was instilled at an early age.
“We all play sports and grew up being competitive and learning how to handle so many situations,” said Chiusano of growing up in a big family. All three older siblings played college sports and a younger brother is currently on the football team at Johns Hopkins.
“Setting an example for my younger siblings has helped me grow as a person,” she notes.
Chiusano ultimately chose the chance to hone her lacrosse skills at Dartmouth over an opportunity to play both field hockey and lacrosse at Division III power Middlebury.
 |
For the 2006 season, Chiusano and her four freshmen classmates joined a stacked team that featured eight seniors and was fresh off a 2005 Final Four appearance. Like her classmates, the rookie Chiusano saw little time on the field, playing in just six games behind the veterans including All-Ivy attack Sarah Szefi '07. That team famously made a mid-season turnaround and tore through April
and May all the way to the NCAA National Championship game before
falling to Northwestern, 7-4, for the second of the Wildcats now
five-straight national titles.
“Katherine was a student of the game, she learned a ton from Szefi just watching and taking it all in,” said Patton. “And not playing, she could have just coasted on that like freshmen sometimes do but she made the most of her time and got better every day.”
As a sophomore, Chiusano was poised to take a starting role in the offense, but she'd find herself making that transition solo, as all four of her classmates left the team before the season. She was the only recruited player left in the class of 2009 as the spring season approached before Ashley Hines '09, already a standout field hockey player, walked onto the team and a bond instantly formed.
“I learned to take pride in sticking with it,” said Chiusano about being the only four-year player to graduate this year. “It's a strenuous program and times were tough but I never considered quitting and I didn't really understand it.
Chiusano earned the team's Most Improved Award that spring of 2007 after blossoming into a force who started all 16 games and ranked fourth on the team in scoring with 25 goals and 18 assists. With four of the top six scorers on that team graduating, next spring's attack would rest firmly in the capable hands of Chiusano.
In 2008, with Chiusano running the show and the speedy Kristen Barry '08 lighting up opposing goalies, Dartmouth got off to a 3-1 start her junior year. But on March 15, during warm-ups at Maryland, it all came to a halt ? again. Four years later it was a different knee but the same feeling and Chiusano knew the moment it happened that she had torn her ACL.
The Big Green struggled for the balance of that season, winning only four more games without her in the lineup. As always, Chiusano dusted herself off and endured the grueling rehab process yet again, with a goal of playing during the team's December trip to Australia.
“That injury was hard, but I got through it thinking it would make me stronger,” said Chiusano. “The team and coaches were so supportive and I still felt like such a part of the team. It's easy to give up in those situations but they made me feel so involved and I wanted to get back so badly.”
Naturally, Chiusano met her target date, joining her team on the field against the Australian National Team during a return to the country where she spent her junior fall off-term. She went on to have her finest season ever in a Dartmouth uniform, ranking second on the team in scoring with 25 goals and an Ivy League-best 23 assists, earning All-Ivy second team accolades.
“This year Katherine was one of the most targeted players on our team,” said Patton. “Any opponent knew that she was what made our team tick on offense and having missed her junior year, it shows that she's just a fighter.”
Chiusano's fight was rewarded in the win over Columbia on April 26 when she reached the 100-point plateau for her career, remarkable considering that she did so in just 42 games, finishing with 102 points. She matched her mentor Szefi's senior year mark of 23 assists this spring and passed her on the career list to rank eighth all-time at Dartmouth with 45. Chiusano served as captain along with classmate Hines this spring, leading a team that had just six juniors and 15 freshmen and sophomores.
“Katherine is such a poised leader, which is something I absolutely admire in her,” said Hines. “She is so true to herself and does not waver in her morals. She works so hard to better herself and her teammates and I know everyone looks up to her confidence and grace on the field.”
The tests she went through during her time at Dartmouth and prior have set up a career path for the psychology major. Two markedly different rehabilitation experiences have set her eyes on becoming a physical therapist after a year of post-grad coursework in Boston.
“Katherine is someone who sees the good and the value of being in this program and that whether you're playing for a national championship or an Ivy win or just to finish strong, for her it's all about the bigger picture, the memories and the friendships,” said Patton. “I'm just so proud of her.”
“I will be forever indebted to her in a lot of ways because she stuck it out without her classmates around her ? not one else will ever understand what that felt like, but she never once doubted,” said Patton. “She loved this program, loved lacrosse and was going to see it through and did so in a really classy manner, putting her best foot forward every day.”
In this year's press guide, Chiusano cited Rudy Ruettiger as the athlete she most admires because “he did everything it took to make his dream a reality.” While the last three years of her Dartmouth career may not have played out the way Chiusano dreamed it, it seems she wouldn't have it any other way.
“I hope my teammates saw my commitment and knew that I would do anything for the team,” said Chiusano. “I am so thankful that I decided to come here. The things we are put through have made me grow. I came in a quiet freshman with no confidence and I became so much more than that these past four years and most of it is due to lacrosse.”
Yes, there was so much more to it for Katherine Chiusano.
Battle tested both emotionally and physically, she navigated her challenges with grace, leaving both her team and herself better for it.
Players Mentioned
Saturday, April 18
Monday, April 06
Tuesday, March 10
Saturday, March 07
