February 08, 2024 | SPORTS | By Veronica Bianco
Women’s Lacrosse preseason is underway and Colorado College’s team is already turning heads across the nation. The Tigers received votes in the national preseason poll, a good sign in their mission to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
CC has a unique slate of games in front of them in their inaugural season in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) after the SCAC discontinued women’s lacrosse. CC and former SCAC rival, Southwestern University, accepted invitations to join the conference where they’ll compete against four schools in the University of Wisconsin pool.
The WIAC will have an automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament after a two-year waiting period. Until then, teams in the conference will have to perform well enough to earn an at-large bid, which is no easy feat. Head coach Susan Stuart, who has led the program since its inception 29 seasons ago, says that the team is ready to make a run: “This team has put in a lot of work in the off-season on the mental and physical game to get those close games this season finishing in our favor.”
CC women’s lacrosse has a storied history. They’ve made 11 post-season appearances and are the only DIII women’s lacrosse team in the west to have reached the Final Four of the NCAA tournament (they did so in 2005).
Their last appearance in the NCAA tournament was in 2019, advancing to the second round as the No. 1 team in the western region.
COVID-19 stopped any momentum they had built up, and the team fell short in 2021, 2022, and 2023. So now, with a star-studded roster, an experienced coach, and an electric freshman class, the Tigers are ready to get back to winning ways.
“I think we can go pretty far. We have a bunch of strong players and I think everyone is really motivated, especially coming off a few years when we didn’t get as far as we hoped,” goalkeeper Kathryn Mahoney ‘27 says.
It won’t be easy though: CC has a tough slate of opponents ahead of them, including the College of New Jersey (#10), Pomona-Pitzer (#12), University of Chicago (#19), Stevens (#17) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (receiving pre-season votes). These out-of-conference matchups will prime them to show well against their conference foes and perform at a higher standard in playoffs.
The team plans to play at Washburn eight times, along with traveling to California, New Jersey, Washington DC, Texas, and Wisconsin.
CC is returning a few powerful players with accolades to their names. Kendall Havil ‘24 is ready to go after receiving third-team All-American honors last season.
“(Kendall’s) got a powerful shot and it’s definitely tricky as a goalie. She’s always ready to play and lifts the team up with her,” Mahoney says.
Havill’s classmate Devon Ortman ‘24 is just as an important piece of the puzzle. A dual-citizen, she has represented Germany at the European Championships and the World Lacrosse Super Sixes tournament in Hong Kong. She hopes to play in the Olympics in 2028, as six-on-six lacrosse makes its debut at the games.
Last season, Ortman played in all 17 of CC’s games, notching 12 goals and 29 total points. She also led the team with 81 draw controls.
Stuart says that spectators should also look out for midfielder Caroline Shay ‘24, defender Evelyn Baher-Murphy ‘25, and attackers Grace Bean ‘26 and Tobin Lonergan ‘25.
Stuart says that the team is committed to being one percent better every day. “This team has a high degree of accountability to themselves and their teammates translating into a higher level of execution at every practice and, hopefully, a lot of success this season.”