The biggest question heading into the 2024 Denver women’s lacrosse season: can the team repeat the historic success they had last year?
It will be a tall task to accomplish—they had one of the best seasons in program history in 2023. Twenty-two straight wins led them to their third straight Big East title, their highest placement in the collegiate polls ever (2) and their first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament semifinals.
That being said, 13 of 15 last year’s starters in the NCAA semifinal returned to DU this season and new faces joining the program are producing a reloaded team heading into the new season.
Head Coach Liza Kelly and staff first brought in seven new freshmen from across the country this offseason. Three of the seven new freshmen, attack Kyra Obert, midfielder Alex Dorr and midfielder Olivia Ripple were listed as four star recruits according to Inside Lacrosse’s recruiting database.
Kelly has been impressed with the freshman class so far and how they have fit into their new program.
“They’re awesome, I am really pleased. They are such hard-working kids that really want to be here and help us be great,” Kelly said. “At the same time, they don’t want to take a back seat, so they’re pushing really hard to get some playing time and I think they have been showing us they are worthy of it too.”
Kelly and staff then brought in three new transfer players from respected programs across the country. First were two graduate players from Yale University, attack Olivia Penoyer and midfielder Payton Vaughn.
Penoyer had a career season last season for the Bulldogs and recorded a whopping 40 assists and 15 goals. Penoyer spent five years in the Ivy League and picked up two All-Ivy League First-Team accolades during her tenure with Yale.
Vaughn was the leader in ground balls last season for Yale with 38 pick-ups, and also added 18 caused turnovers and five goals. Vaughn was a team captain last season and was also an All-Ivy League Second-Team member.
Lastly, Denver brought in a D-3 superstar heralding from Middlebury College, attack Jane Earley. Earley won three national championships with Middlebury during her four seasons and picked up two prestigious IWLCA D-III National Player of the Year awards.
Denver and Kelly added three established performers to their program and Kelly is excited to see what they accomplish this season.
“They’re awesome, awesome kids. [They] really came from strong winning programs with great coaches and they understand the game. All three are very smart, very athletic; so they have been fantastic additions,” Kelly said.
Every positional group for Denver is retooled and reloaded to emulate the success of last season. The only group that will be missing most of their personnel is the leadership group, with captains Charlotte Boote, Gracie DeRose and Ellie Curry graduating last season. New roles for defender Anna Palmisano, attack Sloane Kipp and attack Raegan Wilson will highlight this change in leadership.
But the return of fifth year staples of the program, defender Sam Thacker and attack Julia Gilbert, will help ease the change of leadership for Denver. Both fifth year players are the two returning captains for the Crimson and Gold and are confident their leadership will lead the team to where they want to go.
“I think I’ve become more comfortable and I would say everyone does as you are on the team for longer. You kind of form more of a voice, so I definitely feel like I have more of a voice,” Gilbert said.
Thacker returns to her fifth year with Denver Lacrosse after her best season yet. The 2023 IWLCA Defender of the Year was one of two players in the country with 50 plus caused turnovers, 50 plus ground balls and 40 plus draw controls. Thacker was awarded an IWLCA First-Team All-American selection and was unanimously selected as the Big East Defender of the Year alongside many other conference and national awards.
A lot of accolades in one season, for one player, in one sport. But the accolades are a thing of the past for Thacker and what matters is “this season and this team.”
“I/we as a team, we are proud of the accomplishments that we do get and all of the outer recognition. But it’s not why we work hard. It’s not our why,” Thacker said. “Our why comes from who we are as a team, a unit. When you work hard, and put the work in, those good [recognitions] might come or they might not come. But it’s not why we do it, but still stuff to be proud of.”
Denver’s defense allowed a country low amount of goals per game last season alongside forcing the second most turnovers per game. Thacker is ready to lead her “Hot Pink” unit to defend their title of the “best defense in the country.”
“Playing a zone is fun because it’s not a 1v1v1v1v1v1v1. It’s all seven of us–every single person in the unit is so bought in and so important that you never feel alone out there,” Thacker said.
On the other side of the field, DU is led by the fifth year from Virginia, Gilbert. Gilbert made a great jump in her senior season and recorded a team high and career high, 59 goals and 67 points. She also had her biggest year in accolades and received a Big East Co-Attacker of the Year award, All-Big East 1st Team honor, and two All-American Second-Team honors. Gilbert was also the most clutch player last season and recorded a team high eight game-winning goals.
“Liza, [Assistant Head Coach] Brice [Queener], and [Assistant Coach] Brittany [Read] have really cultivated such a family culture and a great team and if I knew I was going to take my 5th year, I would only do it here,” Gilbert said.
The offense will look to improve more from last season after scoring the third most amount of goals in the Big East. The reputation surrounding DU women’s lacrosse is to be known for a gritty, underdog instilled defense that takes control of games, but Kelly says her confidence is all in with the Gilbert led unit.
“I think our defense has been our strength for a long time and I think that we’ve had some really exciting offenses on the other end of the field,” Kelly said. “But I think this season I’m pumped because we really have stellar players all over the place.”
One of Denver’s major obstacles this season is their schedule. DU’s first road game of the year on Feb. 17 is against No. 17 Michigan. Two winnable home games stand apart from DU’s first home test on March 2 against No. 6 Maryland. But the toughest test of the season will be in their next contest against No. 1 Northwestern, the defending National Champions and eliminators of DU in the 2023 NCAA semifinals. Kelly believes the difficult schedule will prepare them for better situations going into the later parts of the season.
“We’ve been a program that wants to play the best, and sometimes that is challenging with finding who’s willing to come to us and play on their schedule,” Kelly said. “But I think getting Northwestern early will hopefully teach us a lot about ourselves.”
A lot of experience describes the roster Denver has heading into the season. Twenty of the 36 rostered players have three years of experience which includes winning three straight Big East titles. Kelly and the team resonate that their experience will help them succeed in every type of situation they face.
“That’s always a really big part of your success, that you’ve gotten to go to places before in order to get back. We’ve won some tight games, we’ve been in some different blowout games, we’ve learned a lot from that Northwestern loss. So, I think the experiences we have had will be huge,” Kelly said.
So the short answer to the question, can the team repeat the historic success they had last year, is yes. An experienced and established winning squad combined with a skillful, hungry class of new players combined with a culture of a tight sisterhood that believes in each other will surely satisfy the desires of an energetic Crimson and Gold fanbase.
“Being back at PDB (Peter Barton Stadium) is awesome and these past couple of weeks of preseason have been great. With Louisville we want to make a statement–the team is excited to showcase who we are this year,” Gilbert said.
Denver women’s lacrosse’s season starts at Peter Barton Stadium against the ACC’s Louisville University. The match is slated for Feb. 9 at 3 p.m.
