Ratzlaff, after all, was a three-sport standout, earning all-league accolades in volleyball, basketball and softball.

The surprise is that Ratzlaff is competing successfully at the University of Kansas in the little-known and even less understood sport of lacrosse.

"A lot of my friends in Hillsboro know I'm playing some sport, but some of them think I'm playing rugby or something like that," Ratzlaff said. "So I have to explain it to most of them and tell them about the rules."

Even though lacrosse is a club sport at KU-meaning no scholarships are awarded and players pay to play-Ratzlaff said lacrosse scratches her competitive itch nonetheless.

"The main reason I'm playing was to keep competing," Ratzlaff said. "You can get that in intramurals, but since lacrosse is a club sport, it's quite a bit more competitive and intense."

An aerospace engineering major, Ratzlaff said she became involved in the sport at the urging of her roommates, who also are on the team.

But because lacrosse is a club sport, don't think the time requirements for athletes are much less than they are for their scholarship counterparts.

"We practice four days a week unless we have games, which are usually played on weekends," Ratzlaff said. "Sometimes I think my whole life is studying and lacrosse-especially being an engineering major. But I pretty much think I'd go crazy if I wasn't competing."

Although Ratzlaff had never played lacrosse before college, it isn't unusual for a first-time player to see action on the field.

"We have 23 players on our team and probably over half of them had never played before," Ratzlaff said.

But that hasn't affected her ability to grasp the game.

"Emily has learned the basic skills of the game very quickly," said David Wiley, who is in his ninth season as coach of the women's club. "As with most athletes with a basketball background, she picked up on settled defense and offensive motion-picks and screens-with no trouble.

"(Emily) has tried to develop her stick skills in an ambidextrous fashion, which makes her a much a tougher player to defend, and one of about four players on the team who can use either hand comfortably," Wiley added.

"She is an extremely intelligent player with excellent instincts on defense and rarely gets beaten one on one."

Lacrosse rules are complicated but revolve around a basic quest: to score goals.

Each team puts 12 players on the field-four on offense, four on defense, three as midfielders and one goal keeper. Each player has a stick with a pocket on the end.

The lacrosse ball is similar in size to a tennis ball but made of hard rubber. Participants attempt to put the ball into their opponent's goal.

"We have to wear goggles and mouthpieces, and if you get hit with the ball it really hurts," Ratzlaff said with a laugh. "Men who play lacrosse have to wear shoulder pads, but women don't because theoretically it's a non-contact sport. Kind of like basketball.

"We're trying to catch the ball in the net at the end of our stick and score a goal that's about 4 wide and 6 feet tall," she added. "The most difficult part of lacrosse is catching the ball because sometimes it gets pretty frustrating."

The field is similar in size to a football field but divided into thirds.

"You can only have seven people playing on the ball at once trying to score a goal," Ratzlaff said. "You have to have four players behind the two-thirds line at all times."

Rules are governed by two officials who referee two 25-minute halves.

Ratzlaff is a midfielder for the Jayhawks, a position that requires a lot of running.

"I'm not a big scoring threat, but I have scored six goals this season," she said.

Coach Wiley said her lack of scoring is the result of being willing to help the team wherever she's needed.

"She's not taken on a shooter's role, which, given the number of shooters on this year's team, is probably for the best," he said.

"She often hangs back on defense to cover if someone else has ventured too far up field.

"I do think she has the potential to be a great offensive threat, but she has a good sense of where she is needed on the field."

The Jayhawks compete in the West Division of the Central Plains Women's Lacrosse League along with Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Creighton and Missouri.

Lacrosse also has pitted Ratzlaff and her teammates against the University of Minnesota and the University of Chicago.

"We beat Minnesota in overtime," Ratzlaff said. "And they're a very good team."

Winning isn't foreign to this year's team.

"We're currently the best team KU has ever had," Ratzlaff said. "We made the league tournament for the first time in school history, we set the record for most wins in a season and the most consecutive wins."

Ratzlaff has been a key contributor. Recently, she was selected to the second-team All-Division squad.

"Emily is a coach's dream," Wiley said. "She's smart and athletic, willing to try new things in practice to improve her game.

"She's also a natural leader out on the field, both by her communication skills and by the example she sets," he added.

"I'd say the best part about having Emily on my team is that I could play here in just about any position on the field on a given day, depending on the needs of the team, and she would excel in her role that day. That's a nice bit of insurance to have on the roster."

This Saturday, Ratzlaff and her teammates will travel to St. Charles, Mo., to play Lindenwood University in the opening round of the league playoffs.

Ratzlaff said the fact she's not a scholarship athlete doesn't diminish the pride of wearing the crimson and blue of KU.

"It's pretty cool to wear a KU jersey and know you're representing a student body of almost 30,000," she said. "It's really an honor for me.

"When I first started playing, I knew I didn't have the skills of some of the other players, but one thing I knew I could do was hustle-and that's what I try to do every time I go out."