Building a program is not always fun and sometimes it takes a while to see your work pan out, but for the lady Pioneers that work is finally paying off this season.
In its eighth season as a NCAA sport at the University of Denver, the women’s lacrosse team has compiled a 13-3 record and a first place position in conference play with a 4-1 record.
“We have a lot of very talented players, we are starting to get a lot of the top recruits. We have a beautiful stadium and a great Athletic Department and I have awesome coaches on my staff. We are going to continue to get great players in here and the level of Denver lacrosse is going to rise,” said Head Coach Cathy Reese, now in her third year at DU.
The first season of DU women’s lacrosse was in 1999 when the team complied a 4-9 record followed by season records of 3-11, 3-9, 6-11, 8-6, 7-12 and 8-12 last season. This season DU has shown its opponents the lessons the program has learned in the last seven years and all of the work that has been done.
“It is a nice way to end being here for five years. We have gone from the bottom of the barrel to basically just brimming the top. I am very pleased and happy that I am being a part of this team, I think this is a great stepping stone in what is about to happen in years to follow,” said fifth year senior Tanya Fuchs.
Denver opened the 2006 season with a pair of wins at home against Longwood and Duquesne, 18-4 and 9-7 respectively. Then the lady Pioneers hit the road for a couple of tough matches at Virginia Tech and Delaware.
DU lost to VTU 11-10 in overtime, followed by a 12-11 loss to Delaware, also in overtime. The two losses helped build DU as a team and players ready for the rest of the season.
After the two heartbreaking losses, the Pioneers followed up with 11 straight wins, against opponents like Hofstra, George Washington, Oregon, California, UC Davis and Mount St. Mary’s.
“We have more consistent play this season. We have a lot of newcomers and they have made a big impact,” said senior captain Stephanie Greenlees.
The lady Pioneers are similar to the men’s hockey team, in that they only have two seniors this season and lots of young talent on there roster, which makes for a very exciting future.
“We have a lot of young players. We have two seniors, four juniors and the rest freshmen and sophomores. Our overall work ethic and mentality has been different this year,” said Reese on this year’s preparation.
Junior transfer Kristie Leggio has led the way for DU this season with 57 goals and 32 assists. Greenlees follows with 48 goals and 14 assists, freshman Karen Morton from Australia has put in 37 goals and 17 assists, Fuchs has 35 goals and 15 assists, freshman Steph Coyne has 14 goals and 15 assists and sophomore Victoria Baines had 18 goals and six assists.
“Last year was a great experience for all of the players, learning from all of the losses we experienced last year. We learned so much from our mistakes and this year we have been able to cut down on our mistakes,” said sophomore goalkeeper Becky Childs.
When asked if she was surprised on her team’s 13-2 record, Coach Reese responded with, “No, no I want to be 15-0, I think our whole philosophy is to get better and to grow together as a team every practice, day and game and if we go out there and focus on ourselves and play the style of lacrosse that we want then the wins will come after that.”
This season DU has broken many school records, including most goals scored in a game by a team and a player and most wins in a season.
“I think we all come out here to work hard, our goals might be the same as last year, but we have learned this season how to win and keep winning. Every day we strive to get better and improve our skills,” said Fuchs.
In Denver’s most recent game last Saturday against conference foe Stanford, the Pioneers trailed early but came back to take a 9-8 lead before the Cardinal changed the momentum and rallied for a 11-9 win, the first DU loss since Feb. 28.
“It was a very exciting game. It was a really intense game, lots of shifts of momentum and unfortunately they got it in the end,” said Greenlees.
The Pioneers are in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), which will not get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament this year, because of UC-Davis changing from Division II to Division I and certain requirements. With a couple wins to close out the season DU could put itself in good position to get its first-ever bid to the NCAA tournament. It will be no easy task for The Pioneers as they will host inter-state rival Colorado College on April 26 for their last home game before going on the road to face no. 1 Northwestern, where they lost to last year, 20-9. Then DU will finish the regular season in Eugene, Ore., at the MPSF championships.
Even if DU doesn’t make the NCAA tournament, they will have accomplished their goal: let women’s lacrosse programs across the nation know that DU is ready to play.
