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Senior midfielders Ali Flurry and Lexi Sanders have spearheaded a late surge for the women’s lacrosse team, while putting their names into the DU record books for goals scored.
Flurry has a nation-leading 65 game point streak, while Sanders leads the league in assists.
“I think it’s really important to help your teammates offensively,” said Sanders. “An assist is my favorite thing to get, I just want to keep it up.”
In last Friday’s double-overtime 11-10 win over conference opponent University of California, Flurry scored a hat trick and added two assists, while the reigning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Play of the Week, Sanders, recorded a goal and an assist, which led DU to its seventh win in nine games.
The Pioneers (8-4) advanced to a 2-0 record in MPSF play with the win.
It was their first conference game since they beat St. Mary’s College 18-5 on Jan. 29.
“It was really important to play Cal at this point in the season,” said Flurry. “They are always good physical competition and having a big win over them gives us momentum going into our game with conference leader, Stanford, next weekend.”
So far this season, the offense has been a team strength, the Pioneers have scored in double-digits in eight of their 12 games.
On March 26 against George Mason, Flurry and Sanders each had career-best performances.
Sanders tied the DU single-game record with seven assists, helping the Pioneers (7-4, 1-0—Subject to change) to a 17-9 victory.
“Lexi was hitting every feed and giving everybody a good game on offense,” Flurry said of her teammate. “Going into the game we knew it was going to be a good one, because we have gotten to the point where we are willing to take risks in order to put the ball where it needs to be.”
Flurry was just as impressive, scoring seven goals, to tie her career high and placed her just one shy of Denver’s single-game mark. She added two assists in the game, bringing her point total to nine, which tied her for the sixth-highest single-game total in DU history.
Flurry and Sanders are two of five seniors who will graduate at the end of the season after enjoying four successful seasons at Denver.
“They’ve all been awesome,” said head coach Liza Kelly about the senior class. “Incredible leadership year for us with their voices and enthusiasm for the game being present every time we step out on the field.”
“I think one of our strengths is that our team is so young, especially on the offensive side and we didn’t think it was going to be a strength at first, but it has proven to be really strong,” said Sanders. “They are now some really good young leaders.”
Two of those emerging offensive leaders are sophomore midfielder Lauren Ciccomascolo and red-shirt freshman Kara Secora.
Against Cal, Secora scored three goals and Ciccomascolo had three points, scoring one goal and dishing a pair of assists.
“Lauren has stepped up as a leader and Kara is a key playmaker for us,” said Kelly. “Another underclassmen is Kate Henrich on the defensive end, she continues to prove herself.”
With four games before the MPSF championship, the Pioneers must hone their defense. The team has allowed their opponents to score in double-digits in four of the last six games.
They will be tested on Sunday when they host conference leader Stanford at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
For the senior class, winning the remaining games is an understatement of their goals.
“All of the seniors’ goal is to make the NCAA’s, which means winning the MPSF tournament and then win the play in game,” said Sanders.
Although not a favorite going into the postseason tournament, the Pioneers will be hosting the MPSF postseason tournament.
“Hosting the postseason tournament is incredibly important,” said Kelly. “We really want to take advantage of our field and our fans.”
