I took advantage of one of the few remaining beautiful Saturdays t0 head to the lakefront one last time. On the way, I took a detour to Northwestern University’s lakefront facilities. I spent time bouncing between watching a few sports.

Completed in 2018, Ryan Fieldhouse is a state-of-the-art facility located in Evanston, bordering Lake Michigan. The venue contains football and lacrosse practice fields, a sports medicine and athletic training center, a full-sized indoor athletic field and all else needed for Northwestern’s student-athletes to practice in any weather.

Located within the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, the Dellora A. and Lester J. Norris Aquatics Center opened in 1987 and was renovated in 2012. In addition to hosting swimming and diving team events, it offers instructional, fitness and recreational activities including swim lessons, water aerobics, competitive swimming, diving, scuba, lifeguarding and CPR courses.

The swim and diving team took a split doubleheader, beating the University of Miami and Southern Illinois University. The crowd was larger than I expected and full of spirit, creating loud roars throughout the matches.

Coached by Kelly Amonte Hiller since 2001, the women’s lacrosse team has been quite successful. Under Hiller’s leadership, the team has won 10 Big Ten Conference regular season championships and eight NCAA Tournament championships. While it wasn’t the 2024 team (the season starts in February), I enjoyed watching the action. It sparked my interest in attending regular games.

The field hockey team is 16–1 with only a few games remaining. The varsity team, founded in 1980, has won seven Big Ten Conference regular season championships.

Northwestern football usually grabs the headlines, and the softball team is my favorite overall, but it was fun watching these lesser-known sports. These athletes work just as hard and are elite in their chosen sports. Having beautiful Lake Michigan as a backdrop was an added bonus.

— John Wroblewski, online writer