Women’s lacrosse added as a new varsity CU sport

By Jessica Malknecht in Front Page, Sports on Feb 20, 2013 22:34 / comments

In 2012 it was confirmed that women’s lacrosse would become CU’s 17^th Division I collegiate sport. The Buffs will be competing in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation since there are currently not enough teams for the Pac-12 to form a league. The new addition of women’s lacrosse gives females a chance to showcase their talent in a Buffs jersey.

Former player and assistant coach of Northwestern University, Ann Elliot was named head coach. At Northwestern she had the opportunity to work under well-known coach Kelly Amonte Hiller and facilitate the success of her former program.

The CU women’s lacrosse team gathers during practice on Wednesday. Women’s lacrosse became the newest Division 1 sport at CU. (Annie Rumbles/CU Independent)

Some may say Coach Elliot was simply thrown into the chaos of developing the new program at CU, but she seems very eager about the entire development.

“It was pretty crazy; I was officially hired in the middle of my season at Northwestern,” Elliot said.

She finished out the season at Northwestern, and led her team to the championship. Her last day at Northwestern was her official start as a CU Buff. The transition may have been extremely quick, but was an electrifying turn around for this first ever head coach.

Elliot expresses her excitement on the opportunity to build a program from the ground up. Knowing that the process of building a program will take time is all the more motivating.

“This opportunity is really special, and we are really excited to kind of hit the ground and get started,” Elliot said.

Hannah Nielsen and Colleen Magarity were hired as assistant coaches and are both from Northwestern as well. CU is extremely fortunate that the new addition of the coaching staff share the same basic values as the Elliot, and will surely bring synchronization to this up-and-coming program. Elliot strongly believes that her staff will bring new things to the program and challenge her and the players as well.

The first step to program was to begin the recruiting process, which started in early June. Elliot believes they have been successful thus far.

“There was a lot to do, and we tried to take it one step at a time,” she said. “We tried to really focus on recruiting and find the right players to come out here and join us this fall.”

She believes CU has a lot to offer academically, athletically and in the community. The great support of the athletics within the Boulder community and within the student body leads to an exciting jump-start on the season. The staff is hoping to recruit great student athletes that will help in the process of building the program to compete at the highest level of play.

On November 19, players officially signed with CU and all of the recruits consist of the class of 2013 graduates.

With a new team set in stone her main goal is to get better every day. Elliot has high expectations for the team, her staff and herself. She thrives on bringing in players that are passionate about the sport and that want to work hard.

“Working hard will bring us one step closer to competing at the highest level,” Elliot said.

The values she plans to instill in her players are simple: “I believe in hard work. I believe in the little things. Most importantly you have to have a lot of passion for what you do.”

She believes this is what makes the sport fun and will prompt her players to work even harder. And Elliot hopes to have an exciting up-and-coming season and is thankful for the opportunity.

“We just can’t wait to get started,” she said.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jessica Malknecht at Jessica.malknecht@colorado.edu.