The University of Denver has a prestigious lacrosse program. The men’s team won the national championship in 2015 while the women’s team has won the Big East five consecutive times.
This year, both teams are looking to make a wave in the national tournament, something neither side has done in a long time.
Last year, men’s lacrosse failed to make the NCAA Tournament, with two straight Big East losses to Providence and Marquette to finish their season 7-7.
On the women’s side, they won the Big East for the fifth year in a row to continue their post season, but lost to Stanford 10-4 in the first round, an abrupt end to what could have been a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
This year, the men’s team brought in 11 freshmen to hopefully try and shake up the roster. On top of these additions, redshirt junior attacker Cody Malawsky, who made the Big East second team last year and the Big East preseason team this year, is set to be a star player.
Malawsky will captain the team alongside redshirt junior defenseman Russell Overly, redshirt senior midfielder Joe Taraboletti and redshirt junior LSM Chris Caldwell. These four display a breadth of experience while also nodding towards the team’s youth, with three of the four captains entering their junior season.
Men’s lacrosse is coached by Matt Brown, who played lacrosse at DU before beginning his coaching career with the Crimson and Gold in 2007 then eventually becoming head coach in 2023. He now enters his third season hoping to outperform last season and looking towards the quarterfinals run he led the team to in 2024.
The women’s team will look to rally behind junior midfielder Olivia Ripple. In her sophomore season last year, she scored 63 goals, the fourth most in a single season in program history. She also broke the single game scoring record with ten goals against Marquette.
This earned her a spot on the All Big East First Team and the Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player as she led the Crimson and Gold to their Big East Tournament win.
If Ripple wants to top her sophomore season, women’s lacrosse will need to make a run deep into the NCAA Tournament.
The women will kick off their campaign on Feb. 12 against USC. Their first home game will be against Towson on Feb. 19. At the end of the season, they will be hosting the Big East Tournament, starting on April 30.
The men will start their season at home against Cleveland State on Jan. 31. They follow this with another home game against Air Force on Feb. 7. Big East play will start at home against Georgetown on March 28.
