US Lacrosse Magazine released the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Preseason Top 20 on Dec. 17. Team-by-team previews will be unveiled on uslaxmagazine.com through the end of the month and will also appear as part of the magazine’s NCAA preview edition in February.

Don’t get the mag? Join US Lacrosse today to start your subscription.

No. 18 Colorado

2019 Record: 11-8 (8-2, Pac-12)
Coach: Ann Elliott Whidden (7th season)
Assistants: Mitch Fenton, Nicole Levy, Carly Cox

All-Time Record: 76-38
NCAA Appearances: 3
Final Fours: 0
Championships: 0

2020 Schedule

Save the Date
March 29

Two of the top Pac-12 teams will meet for the second time in a week, this time at USC. Last year, Colorado showed it was on the rise when it handed USC its only conference loss of the season in the rematch. The Buffs went on to lose the rubber match for the Pac-12 championship.

Young Buffs Brimming with Potential

Ann Elliott Whidden sees potential in her young Buffs.

Colorado will start three juniors and five sophomores. Even the coaching staff is young, with the addition of Nicole Levy, who graduated last year from Syracuse and will coordinate the offense, and Carly Cox, the director for player development, who graduated from CU in 2018 before serving as a graduate assistant last year.

“It’s always exciting to get new people into your program and new visions and new ideas and change things up,” Elliott Whidden said. “We’re entering our seventh season, and we’ve been pretty consistent in our growth, and we’re looking to do some things differently and see if we can do even more this season. With a young group that’s eager to learn and push themselves, it’s a great time for some change.”

Nowhere are the Buffs younger than on offense, where they expect to start a junior and three sophomores, including U.S. U19 national team final pool player Charlie Rudy, who had five goals in last year’s season-ending loss to Boston College.

“I don’t think they’re afraid to step up,” Elliott Whidden said. “I think they have that confidence. It’s getting them to understand some of those moments that maybe they relied on other people in the past, and this is their moment and they have to understand what that’s like and the decisions they have to make.”

This fall was hugely important to the Buffs as they looked to establish their roles. Colorado is replacing three of its top five scorers from a year ago, but at the other end has a defensive stalwart in goalie Julia Lisella. The Buffs are hoping their attack and midfield can take some pressure off her.

“If we can be more efficient offensively in terms of our shooting percentage, if we can give ourselves a few more possessions, it’s really going to help us down the stretch,” Elliott Whidden said.

Colorado got off to a slow start last year with one win in its first four games, and with a young group this year, the Buffs could experience some growing pains early again. There is some experience among their youth, however. The eight sophomores and juniors expected to start are not new to the field; they just have more on their shoulders.

“They’ve gotten a lot of experience over the last two years,” Elliott Whidden said. “That’s exciting for us to see them step up and take on new roles and see what they’re capable of doing. Their potential is endless.”

Projected Starters

A – Charlie Rudy – Soph. – 26 G, 27 GB
A – Sadie Grozier – Jr. – 36 G, 10 A
A – Liz Phillips – Soph. – 10 P, 16 GB
A – Chloe Willard – Soph. – 8 G, 1 GB
M – Devon Bayer – R-Soph. – 8 GB, 7 DC
M – Jen Mistretta – Sr. – 28 GB, 17 CT
M – Kate Burnside – Soph. – 56 DC, 1 G
D – Macaul Mellor – Jr. – 19 GB, 18 CT
D – Elinor Wolf – Sr. – 30 GB, 13 CT
D – Anna Collawn – Sr. – 36 GB, 18 CT
D – Eliza Cahill – Jr. – 34 DC, 24 GB
G – Julia Lisella – Grad. – .470 SV%, 10.19 GAA

Tewaaraton Watch
Julia Lisella, G, Grad.

The fifth-year senior is the backbone for the Buffs. The IWLCA Goalie of the Year in 2018, she ranked among the top 20 in goals against average last year in her second season as the Colorado starter. Lisella can be a difference-maker in tight games.

X Factor
Devon Bayer, M, R-Soph.

Bayer was one of two freshmen to start every game in 2018, and 2019 was off to a promising start before a season-ending injury in the fifth game. Bayer’s loss was felt, and she is being counted on to return to the lineup and stuff the stat line.

National Rankings

0

Urinals in Colorado’s new locker room. After six years of hiding the urinals in the old visitors’ locker room that they were assigned, Colorado unveiled a new locker room just for the women’s lacrosse team in the Coors Events Center. The upgrades include new TVs and couches, wooden lockers and the installation of showers that bring their locker room up to the standards of other CU facilities. One locker pays tribute to Julia Sarcona, who was killed in a car accident in January 2018.