Gina (Fisher) Kmeic ’16 won three conference player of the year awards while finishing her career ranked first in program history for goals (216), assists (107), ground balls (375), draw controls (260) and caused turnovers (205). She was such a force on both offense and defense that the first two player of the year awards were defensive awards and the third was for her offensive success.
“That is what the role of a midfielder is, being able to play offense and defense to be a complete two-way player,” said Kmiec. “The ground balls and caused turnovers records are my favorite because those are pure hustle awards. My mentality was that every 50/50 ball was going to be mine and if I was guarding the ball that it would soon be mine.”
Kmiec came to North Central from St. Louis for a variety of reasons with lacrosse as a driving factor.
“North Central ultimately had the most to offer in terms of academics, city life distance from home, and study abroad opportunities which I took advantage of my junior year. “There were also already some women’s lacrosse players from St. Louis so that home away from home feeling helped me,” Kmiec said.
She started every game her freshman season, finishing with the most assists (21), caused turnovers (48), and ground balls (84) on the team while ranking second in goals (37).
“My high school lacrosse experience played a big part of my success in college,” said Kmiec. “My high school team trained at a very high level, and we played in the state finals three years in a row. I also played on a club team where I was able to play with the best girls in the state of Missouri. That coupled with my high school lacrosse experience allowed me to find success playing alongside seniors in college that were 22 years old, even though I was 18 years old. I also played multiple sports growing up. The discipline of the college athletic schedule, and what it took, mentally and physically to thrive were ingrained in me at a pretty young age. I have had some awesome coaches throughout my life, one of them being my dad, who still gives me coaching advice to this day.”
Following the most successful lacrosse career in school history, Kmiec earned the right to play in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association’s Division III All-Star Game.
“The top players in the nation at the DIII level played in the all-star game, so receiving that invitation was an extremely memorable closing to my career. They had a banquet and an award ceremony to honor the achievements of participants. There was so much talent on the field, it was super fun playing with and against women from across the country,” Kmiec said.
Kmiec’s name is all over the career, single-season, and single-game record books. She also ranked first in the nation in ground balls per game (6.94) and fourth in caused turnovers per game (3.67) her senior season. Kmiec was a four-time first team all-conference player and an eighth time conference player of the week selection. She was a three-time IWLCA All-Region player as well.
She was also successful in the classroom as she was a four-time academic all-conference selection. In 2016, she won the CCIW Jack Swartz Academic All-Conference selection.
“I'm incredibly grateful to be chosen into the 2023 Hall of Fame class, especially since I wore number 23 or four years at North Central. North Central has such a rich athletic history in DIII athletics. To be a permanent part of that is a true honor Being the first lacrosse player, male or female, is super significant and I'm appreciative of that recognition,” Kmiec said.
