In high school, lacrosse player Kelly Kremer was a two-time All-American. She knew she would play lacrosse in college, but she did not know where.

In high school Kremer, an attacker, was scouted by various schools including Penn State and Notre Dame, both rivals of Ohio State. Ultimately Kremer chose to attend OSU after Sue Stimmel, head coach for OSU’s women’s lacrosse, recruited her.

As a freshman this season, Kremer led the team (6-10, 3-3 American Lacrosse Conference) in points (44), goals (38), game-winning goals (2), free-position goals (9) and shots (88). She also contributed six assists and picked up 22 ground balls. In a game against Johns Hopkins earlier in the season, she scored a career-high six goals, which ranks her tied for sixth in the nation for goals in a game.

Stimmel said what made Kremer a top recruiting priority was her uncanny ability to find the net and score at any time.

“Anytime the ball is in her vicinity she catches it and if she is around the goal she can turn and shoot and score,” said Stimmel.

At Unionville High School in Pennsylvania, Kremer was selected as a three-time first-team all-area and first-team All-Southern Chester County League. As a senior, she was named a U.S. Lacrosse All-American and received the Best Female Senior Athlete Award from her high school.

Transitioning into the college game, Kremer said she was anxious to see how she would size up against girls who had been playing longer and more competitively than her.

“I was really nervous because I didn’t know how I was going to be compared to everyone else,” she said. “Everyone is so good, but it wears off after a while,” she said.

Kremer said high school athletes are not as serious as college athletes and there is less time to relax in college.

“It’s a lot harder time management because in high school, lacrosse wasn’t as serious. Coming here it’s heavy. We didn’t get our first break until winter break and we played games during spring break,” she said.   

On May 11, Kremer was selected as the American Lacrosse Conference Rookie of the Year. Later that same week she was named to the American Lacrosse Conference second-team and her 38 goals tied her for fifth all-time in OSU single-season history.

“It is tough dedicating so much time, but it pays off,” Kremer said.

Although Kremer is proud of her on-field achievements, she knows that with such a young team she will need to lead them off the field if they want to capture a national championship.  

“With the seniors we’re losing it’s going to hurt us, but our team is young and the classes coming in are strong so hopefully we’ll put it all together and fill in the spaces,” she said.

“I would love for the team to win our conference in the next three years and make it to the tournament, it’s always been a goal of mine,” she said.

The team last reached the tournament in 2002 when they were knocked off in the quarterfinals, but Kremer said that with her attributes she can lead OSU to another postseason trip. 

“Good leaders help others improve and show by doing things and having a good attitude,” she said.

Stimmel said she has all the confidence in the ability of her star freshman to take the team where they want to go. She said there is a want and desire that a player must possess to make a positive impact on a team.

“Some people either have it, or don’t,” Stimmel said.