“Four more years.”

The popular chant for political incumbents could very well serve as a slogan for start-up lacrosse programs. Year Four has seen a breakthrough for plenty of newer programs, and that trend gained steam with the first big weekend of this season.

The unranked Colorado women defeated then-No. 9 Northwestern, 11-10, in overtime for their first win over a ranked opponent. Now the Buffaloes are No. 11. The unranked Elon women knocked then-No. 12 Virginia out of the Nike/US Lacrosse Top 20 with an 11-10 win. Elon is ranked 19th now. Last year, it upset a Duke team ranked 10th.

“I’m so excited about how quickly we progressed,” Phoenix coach Josh Hexter said. “To go back and beat a top-10 team in Duke in our third season at their place was fantastic. I really didn’t know what our timeline should be, but I’m excited that the kids we have are working as hard as they can to max out their potential and they’re having fun with it.”

On the men’s side, it was unranked Richmond that dismantled Fairfield, 15-3, and unranked Monmouth that stopped Big East preseason No. 2 pick Villanova. Boston University, another fourth-year men’s program with lofty goals, has started 2-0.

“I don’t know that we really thought what this would do for our program,” Monmouth coach Brian Fisher said. “We went in with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder and that attitude that we knew we had something to prove and wanted to prove we could play at that level. It’s been a long time coming for us over the last three-plus years as we built this program.”

As more programs are added each year, they can take notice of the possibilities to compete for the top 20 within four years. Last year, the Marquette men, in their fourth season, upended Denver to win the Big East championship and reach the NCAA tournament. They had climbed from a five-win season in 2013, to six in 2014 to 10 in 2015.

The USC women’s team reached new heights in its fourth year last season. The Women of Troy were 20-1 and reached the NCAA tournament quarterfinals after winning eight, nine and then 14 games in the previous three seasons, respectively.

“It’s the exciting part of the sport and the growth of our sport across the board,” Colorado coach Ann Elliott said. “Whether it’s a program that’s newer or just programs that have been around and are just competing at a higher level — although it seems like when you get down to the final four it’s similar faces — that’s continuing to change. Across the board, every game is a tough game. Every game you watch, anyone can win and it’s competitive.”

Elliott knows better than many how fast programs can grow and change. She was a sophomore defender on the Northwestern women’s first NCAA championship team in 2005 — the fourth year for the Northwestern program restarted by coach Kelly Amonte Hiller. Elliott also coached under Amonte Hiller before taking the Colorado job, and played at Northwestern with the orchestrater of USC’s climb, Trojans head coach Lindsey Munday.

“Coming from Northwestern, you know it’s possible,” Elliott said. “Northwestern and what Kelly did there was incredible. To build a program in four years and in year four win a national championship, it truly is incredible. And when you look at it now, you look at all the teams that have been added, no one else has done that. They’ve done great things, but no one has done what Kelly has done at Northwestern.

“Coming out here, I knew what was possible. You build something understanding what’s possible, but knowing how difficult it is. We know we can compete as we keep going, but we know we have a lot to prove. And we’re definitely not where Northwestern was in what they’ve done... We have to think big and we have to work hard and see what’s possible.”

It doesn’t even have to take four years to be able to compete at the highest level. It wasn’t so long ago that that the Florida women burst onto the scene. The Gators followed a 10-8 debut season in 2010 with a 16-4 record and a ranking that climbed as high as No. 2 in 2011. They reached the NCAA final four in 2012 and have been consistent top-five contenders each year since then.

“You can find incredible athletes that are top players no matter where you go,” Elliott said. “That’s the real exciting part, and the exciting part about our future. More and more schools in these conferences will see that as an incredible opportunity to add a program in a sport that is growing quickly and be successful if they do it the right way.”

The Richmond men nearly took down a Virginia team ranked seventh in their program’s debut. The Spiders have risen quickly, from a 6-11 team in 2014 (they made the NCAA tournament as the winner of a then-weak Atlantic Sun Conference) to 11-5 in 2015 and 11-5 and Southern Conference runner-up in 2016. More and more programs are seeing a blueprint for how to find success in four years.

What is the right way?

It starts with finding players to fill out the program. At Elon, Hexter initially worried about how he would add enough quality players. It was one of the tasks that seemed daunting when he considered how to start his program from scratch.

“Recruiting is getting earlier and earlier. I thought we were way behind, and I thought that would be a huge challenge for me,” Hexter said. “It turned out it was a really good lesson, because there are so many good athletes that are still out there. In my opinion, I have the best goalie in the country in Rachel Ramirez, and people just don’t know it.

“I have great athletes on this team that were just overlooked because of the early recruiting process. It turned out what I thought would be a challenge really was not at all."

Still, getting those first players to come to campus can be a challenge, especially in less traditional lacrosse areas.

“The toughest thing we have in terms of recruiting was, in the beginning, getting people to understand where the University of Colorado was, especially as we recruit all over but from the East Coast,” Elliott said. “We had to let them know that the University of Colorado had a lacrosse program, that the university athletically and academically has so much to offer. And it’s not snowy and cold here. It’s actually usually pretty sunny and warm. We’re battling up against a lack of information in the beginning, but I think the girls that chose to come to the University of Colorado and play in our program really believed in the program and believed in the vision and they probably have a little chip on their shoulders the same way my staff does. We have something to prove and we’re going to keep working every day.”

Fisher experienced some of the same issues at Monmouth.

“Our biggest challenge was getting guys to come here and see this place,” he said. “Once they did, it sold itself with the support and resources. Everything they were putting together for men’s lacrosse and athletics across the campus really has Monmouth on the rise. It’s been great to be part of an institution on the rise over the last five years.”

.@MonmouthMLAX beat #16 Villanova this past weekend? Yeah, that happened. Here is the proof! Take a look at some highlights! #FlyHawks pic.twitter.com/PlTR1sZFJP

— Mon Digital Network (@MDigitalNetwork) February 13, 2017

It has become easier for Fisher to get recruits and look at a higher caliber of player after the Hawks program started to establish that it can compete against good teams.

“Recruiting momentum is a funny thing,” Fisher said. “Winning helps. In 48 hours since our first game of our 2017 season, we’ve heard from a lot of guys.”

Winning has gotten easier in year four because these teams finally have deep senior classes. There are 22 seniors at Monmouth, some of which went through a leadership seminar this fall to prepare for this season.

“It’s not that the expectations are different, there’s just a belief and a confidence,” Fisher said. “Those seniors at Villanova this past weekend were awesome and a big part of our success. Watching them grow has been one of the more fun things about building a program, and watching their games take off.”

Colorado has had one senior in program history, a walk-on from its club team, Sarah Lautman, who graduated last year.

“This is the first year that most of our starting players are back, and they’re back in the same role they were last year, which really helps us with that chemistry and understanding what everyone is trying to do on the field and what we’re trying to do as a team overall,” Elliott said. “When you have seniors, and a class where this is truly it for them, it’s the end of the road, it’s always different. Everyone plays with a little more sense of urgency. They understand that there is no next year. In years past, building the program, it’s always been like, ‘What can we do this year? But we’ll get better next year.’ [Now] the sense of urgency is there, and with that comes the sense of belief.”

Without a large upperclass influence when programs begin, it takes time to build confidence. Hexter loves that Elon now has a culture that combines a joy for competing as fiercely as possible.

“It hasn’t always been like that,” said Hexter, a former Duke assistant. “You can’t just create something like that overnight. We’ve got a good fun group of kids who have eventually bought into what we’re doing. We have a lot of fun at practice. It’s competitive, but it’s fun. It’s truly giving each other their best and enjoying the competition. It’s taken a few years to build up that culture, but it’s been a blast.”

At Elon, there’s another significant change that has helped the program. They added Beth Ellis Roberts to the staff to go with Brittany Dipper and Hexter. It’s the first time that the program has been fully staffed, and it shows a greater commitment by the school.

“They’ve made a big impact,” Hexter said. “That is something that’s really important to me.”

While there is enough evidence out there that it’s possible to build a contender in four years, coaches don’t like to stick to a firm timeline when measuring development.

“Realistically I didn’t know what it should look like,” Hexter said. “We’ve just made the decision to stay balanced and work as hard as we can and push each other and compete as hard as we can, mixed in with just being goofy and having a ton of fun. We’re on a really good trajectory here.”

Starting the season off topping ranked and more established programs is a huge boost for fourth-year programs. It gives them reassurance that they are doing the right things to build a more competitive program.

“We’re on the right path,” Fisher said. “We’re excited about the future, enjoying the moment now and seeing some of the fruits of the labors of those first couple years and with this senior class. We’re excited about the opportunity to make it a memorable and special season.”

None of the coaches, however, are satisfied with one win over a good team.

“One win doesn’t make a season,” Hexter said. “Our girls learned a hard lesson with that last year. After beating Duke, we lost five games by either one or two goals. It shows the margin of difference. We could have finished the season 16-2 with a CAA championship and that would have probably put us close to the top 10. But we lost five games by a goal or two because we didn’t commit to that culture fully and we ended up not even ranked. The margin of difference there is pretty slim.”

Added Elliott: “You always have something to prove, no matter what. I don’t think that’ll change this year. We were an unranked team that has never made the playoffs and never won against a ranked team. That one game doesn’t change that. I know that from my experience being at Northwestern, where we’ve lost one game and we end up winning a national championship. It’s never about one game, no matter what side you’re on. It’s about what you do every day to prove that we belong here and to prove to ourselves we can compete at this level.”