ITHACA, N.Y. – Christine Ferguson was halfway done with the walk that would end her lacrosse career.

As a freshman at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, Ferguson was an avid soccer player who just wanted to run track during the off-season so she could be fast when soccer came back around.

Ferguson was heading to her first ever track practice during her freshman year. That's when her lacrosse coach, Heather Crutchfield, intervened.

“She stopped me on my way to track practice and told me this amazing story about how she coached a girl just like me who ended up falling in love with lacrosse and then was a captain at Duke and was on the women's national team,” Ferguson said.

Crutchfield's story worked.

Ferguson never made it to her first ever track practice that day. She turned around and picked up lacrosse.

Four years later, the Cornell freshman has gone through a whirlwind lacrosse career that saw her travel to Hannover, Germany and win a championship ring at the Under-19 Lacrosse World Cup this summer.

“I always joke about seeing [Crutchfield] and saying, 'Good thing I never joined track!'” Ferguson said.

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After turning her back on track as a high school freshman, Ferguson joined club lacrosse and began to excel at the sport.
By the beginning of her junior year, she realized she had taken to the sport naturally, proving Crutchfield correct.
As a defensive stopper, Ferguson didn't necessarily think she had the talent of elite players and instead relied on trying her hardest. She learned that lesson from club coach Sarah Bullard. Bullard was one of the youngest players to make the U.S. National Team and an emerging star at Duke.

“I had the drive that she had,” Ferguson said. “It was more about knowing that if I kept working hard I would develop the skills more than I had the talent.”

Eventually colleges started noticing. So did the people in charge of picking an under-19 national team.

Tryouts for the U-19 team began in Maryland during her junior year of high school. There, Ferguson was pitted against 200 of the best women's lacrosse players in the country. Tryouts were three days of non-stop, intense action with coaches watching players' every step. The days were sweltering and the pressure was building as each day went on.

Ferguson was assigned a jersey number alphabetically by last name. She got 79, the number worn by her best friend on her club lacrosse team. A good omen, perhaps.

“I went in with the attitude of I'm just going to try my hardest and use it as a learning experience,” Ferguson said. “I don't know if any of the other girls had this same point of view, but I loved the tryouts.”

The goal was to pare the list of girls from 200 down to 24. Ferguson wasn't sure she had the talent of the best athletes on the team, especially when she was constantly awed by their trick shots. A fake behind-the-back rising shot to the top left corner from a Stanford commit had her particularly impressed.

But as the tryouts continued, she realized she was being put against the best offensive players on showcased fields. And holding her own.

“There's no room for someone who is being lazy or someone who is scared,” Ferguson said. “There's no room to fear anything or not want to do something because you're being watched all the time.”

When it came to decision time, Ferguson saw No. 79 on the final list. She had made the team.

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Finding a salad was difficult.

Germany didn't have many fresh vegetables, and the largely meat-and-cheese diet didn't mesh with what Ferguson was used to eating while training for lacrosse.

There were language problems, too. Ferguson took two years of German in high school and was excited to try the language out in real life. As it turned out, a few things got lost in translation.

At the U-19 World Cup in August, most communication with players from other countries went smoothly. But when Ferguson heard German girls referring to pop music star Justin Bieber as a “booby,” she was taken aback.

“Americans, obviously, we don't use that to describe Justin Bieber,” Ferguson said.

In Germany, it turns out, “booby” is a slang term meaning young boy.

Besides that little bit of confusion and some dietary differences, most everything else went Ferguson's way on her road to and during her stay in Germany. Nothing stopped them from winning the U-19 World Cup.

While getting to experience another country and watch the sport grow, Ferguson played in all eight matches for the United States. By tournament's end, she had five ground balls, two draw controls and forced two turnovers. Heading into the tournament final against Australia, the U.S. had outscored opponents by a combined 115 to 32 over its seven games and had never trailed. The team had even defeated the Australians earlier in round robin play 20-7.

That changed briefly as the teams went into halftime tied at 7-7.  The Americans eventually prevailed 14-11 with Cornell coach Jenny Graap watching from the stands, and that tight contest brought Ferguson and her teammates closer as they celebrated on the field afterward.

"After the victory over Australia in the finals, it was so awesome to see Fergie draped in the American flag and celebrating the win with her teammates," Graap said. "I'm glad I was there to give her a hug and to tell her how proud the entire Cornell Lacrosse family was of her accomplishment."

The celebration continued last weekend when Ferguson reunited with her teammates in Philadelphia to receive her championship ring.
With one journey complete – after it almost never got started – Ferguson is ready to begin her career at Cornell. And while she's not sure what kind of immediate impact she will have on the Big Red, she hopes to be the best teammate she can be during her freshman year.

“I hope I'll be able to be the loudest on the field or the one who's always cheering,” Ferguson said. “I hope I'm always that kid who constantly gives support to my teammates.”