Starting Oct. 24, Denver’s women’s lacrosse team traveled to Princeton, New Jersey, then to Baltimore, Maryland on Oct. 25 for exhibition matches against NCAA top-20 ranked programs.
Denver, currently ranked no. 27 took on no. 20 University of Albany, no. 6 Princeton University and no. 91 Lafayette College in Princeton.
The Pios then faced no. 16 University of Pennsylvania, no. 11-ranked Loyola University at Maryland and former back-to-back National Champion, University of Maryland in Baltimore.
“We really came into this weekend being flexible and adjusting to the other team,” said senior defender, Emily Conway (Darien, Connecticut).
Over the past couple weeks, the Pios have been preparing for the Fall Ball match-ups, a series of tournament scrimmages split up between locations over the course of two days.
“[We’ve] been working on offense and defense, a lot of scrimmage scenarios and a lot of defensive-type scenario’s [we’re] expecting from other teams,” said freshman midfielder, Kendra Lanuza (Littleton, Colorado).
Additionally, the team has been focusing efforts on improving basic skills in order to assure strong game performance in the coming season.
“[We’ve] been doing a fair amount of stick work and then a couple of picture tickets,” said Head Coach Liza Kelly.
“One of [our] goals this fall was really getting a good idea of who our starting lineup was by the end of it, and [I] feel comfortable that we’ve done that.”
Denver finished the 2015 season 13-5 and made it to the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament where the Pios fell to the University of Southern California 17-9.
“[We] want to win the regular season conference, conference championship and go deep in the NCAA tournament. [I] think that’s the overwhelming goal for the entire season,” said Kelly.
The Pios welcomed eight freshmen to the 2016 roster and former starting goalkeeper, Hannah Hook, as an addition to the coaching staff.
“[We] want to figure out who we are as a team and what our strengths and weaknesses are,” said Kelly.
Fall Ball typically does not keep scores because of the scrimmage-style of play taking place, but it was an excellent opportunity for Kelly and the the coaching staff to analyze the team against skilled competition before the Pios take on the regular season.
Conway is confident about the upcoming season. She said, “It really starts off the field. [We] have a great team chemistry, [we] have a lot of depth, speed and athleticism, which can take [us] really far.
The 2016 season’s schedule is still TBA for the women’s lacrosse team.
