PUEBLO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo women's lacrosse begins its 11th season of intercollegiate competition this weekend as they travel to Missouri for back-to-back games at Missouri Western State University on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 11 a.m. MT and then play a 9 a.m. MT game on Monday, Feb. 24 at William Jewell College.
 
The Pack, who is coached by former player Taylor Ward, finished its 10th season of play in 2024 with a 2-12 overall and an 0-10 mark in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Ward, who was named the RMAC Coach of the Year last season, is entering her third season as the Pack's coach in 2025.
 
"We have had lots of good, positive energy in our preseason practices. We've been working on building our team chemistry and creating a new culture for this program," Ward said. "We have a lot of younger girls this season that have a high lacrosse IQ and are also fantastic athletes and I'm excited to see us finally play against someone other than ourselves."
 
In the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, the Pack were predicted to finish fifth out of six teams, having earned eight points from the league's head coaches. Along with releasing the preseason poll, the league announced a Preseason Player to Watch List, which included sophomore goalie Breonna Mason (Colorado Springs, Colo./Air Academy). Mason was named an Honorable Mention All-RMAC selection last season.
 
"Breonna is one of the top goalies in the league and probably one of the best goalies in the program's history," Ward said. "She is a tremendous presence and leader in the cage for us."
 
Ward's third Pack team welcomes back five starters from last year's team, along with Mason, the other returning starters from last season are junior attacker Audrey Allendorf (Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls), sophomore defender Dylan Retzloff (Bend, Ore./Mountain View), sophomore midfielder Sophia Rinn (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley) and sophomore midfielder Reese Wasmund (Portland, Ore./West Linn).
 
The Pack lost its top four scorers last season as those four players combined for 87 goals, 36 assists and 123 points last season. The Pack welcomes back just 33 goals by its returners from last season in 2025 as the top returning goal scorer is Wasmund, who scored 13 goals and added five assists for 18 points a season ago.
 
"It's been cool seeing Reese grow and take on more of a leadership role on attack, as she's kind of been forced into that being the oldest one on attack," said the Pack coach. "But I think we've created better chemistry on attack because we're all new and that has helped create that chemistry together."
 
One of the biggest issues the past two seasons for the Pack has been their lack of depth due to injuries and other issues, and Ward says that depth will be a problem once again this season for her team
 
"The past few years have posed a challenge to conduct full field drills in practice due to injuries, and this preseason has been no different, so our first game will be our first opportunity to play together as a complete team," Ward said. "Fortunately, we are younger this season, and we aren't dealing with as many injuries as we did last year, but depth remains a concern this season."
 
One big addition this year for Ward was bringing back Claire Kallio as an assistant coach to work with the goalies. Kallio, who was assistant with the Pack from 2017-18, returns to CSU Pueblo after spending the past five seasons at UCCS working with the Mountain Lions' goalies, including helping Madison McGriff earn back-to-back RMAC Goalkeeper of the Year honors in 2022 and 2023.
 
"Clarie (Kallio) is a fantastic goalie coach and since she's been working with all three of our goalies, I've seen a lot of improvement from all of them," the Pack coach added about Kallio's impact on her coaching staff.
 
In addition to Mason, who was second in the RMAC last season in saves (154) and save percentage (.484) and her 154 saves were tied for the most in a single season in program history, the other two goalies this season are senior Naomi Price-Burton (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) and freshman Emily Beal (Justin, Texas/Keller).
 
"It is hard to steal a spot from Bri, so with our small numbers, we've actually had Emily take on a role as a defender this year. So she does reps on defense and in the cage at practice," added Ward.
 
One area that Ward hopes is improved this season is on the draw. Last season, the collected 158 draws in 14 matches, but were outdrawn, 186-158. The Pack averaged 11.29 draws per game in 2024.
 
"I am a big advocate for the draw and we've been focusing on ways to win the draw and we've added different techniques and things into our practices this year to make us better on the draw," Ward said. "If you can win the draw, you can control possession and give yourself an opportunity to win."
 
Along with improving on the draw this year, Ward is hoping her team defense is improved over a season ago.
 
"Our defense has struggled the past couple of years, but I'm hoping that we play better defense as a unit this season and having a goalie like Brie in the cage is also huge benefit for our defenders," Ward stated.
 
Among the key returners on defense this season for the Pack is Allendorf and Retzloff.
 
"So having Audrey, who's a fantastic captain come back on defense is a major plus. Plus, Dylan has stepped up and done a good job on defense in practice and we've had to actually move some kids around who came in as midfielders and are being asked to play defense and take on that new role," Ward said. "So we're relying on Audrey's leadership to direct those new defenders, but I think they've done a really good job stepping up and taking on this new position."
 
Ward is really excited about the freshman class she has brought in this season. This Pack roster this season features 11 freshmen, six sophomores, one junior and one senior.
 
"We brought in some absolute studs in this year's freshman class. They came in ready to go and they understand that this program is rebuilding and they want to be a part of this rebuilding process. They're excited to make an impact and create a new culture within the program," said Ward.
 
Among some of the top freshmen this season for the Pack are defender Kenzie Carpio (Colorado Springs, Colo./Rampart), attacker Mirah Cole (Fort Worth, Texas/Keller Central), attacker attacker Emily Doane (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro), midfielder Sydney Gunnels (Dallas, Texas/Coppell), defender Ryan Katz (Thornton, Colo./Horizon), and Moira Turpen (Newburg, Ore./Newburg). All those freshmen are expected to start Sunday's season opener at Missouri Western.
 
"Emily (Doane) from California is a lefty attacker and we haven't had a lefty attacker since I've been here, so having a lefty down on attack makes a major difference," added Ward.
 
Ward said that several players have stepped up in the preseason and one of those players that has stepped up has been Drinkwater. Last season, she battled injuries as she tallied seven goals and one assist for eight points.
 
"Clara really struggled with some injuries last year and she's still struggling with them this year, but has battled through them. She is very tough and has some of the best hands on the team and one of the best shots on the teams and makes an impact every single practice," Ward added.
 
Once again this season, Ward expects the RMAC to be much the same as it has been lately with Regis and Colorado Mesa battling it out at the top of the standings, but Ward thinks the battle behind those two teams will once again come down to UCCS, Westminster, CSU Pueblo and Fort Lewis.
 
"It is always a tough battle between UCCS, Westminster, CSU Pueblo and Fort Lewis and I expect that once again this season. There are some new coaches in the league, so I'm not sure how that might change things up in the standings," said the Pack coach. "I don't expect Regis and Colorado Mesa to fall from the top, but I could see the other teams moving up and down the standings this year."
 
The Pack will play seven of its 14 games at home as after opening the season this weekend with two games in Missouri, the Pack will have a five game homestand, before playing five straight games on the road and concluding the regular season with back-to-back home games on April 17 and April 19 against Westminster and Colorado Mesa respectively.
 
"It's definitely a little odd playing all those games at home, and then all those away games and then coming back home again, but it's nice to have that home field advantage," Ward said about her team's schedule. "We have one of the best facilities in the conference and we love playing in front of our home fans. We have an awesome fan base and that home crowd helps encourages our team, so we're excited about our schedule this year," added Ward.
 
ABOUT MISSOURI WESTERN
Missouri Western, who plays lacrosse as a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, comes into Sunday's game with the Pack having opened the 2025 season with a 15-12 home loss last Sunday to Colorado Mesa.
 
The Griffons, who are in its fifth season of playing women's lacrosse, were tabbed to finish third in the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll as they earned 34 points after a record-setting season in 2024 as they posted a 10-6 overall record and went 4-3 in the GLVC.
 
Fourth-year coach Jessica Berg welcomes back eight starters from last season's team, including four returning All-GLVC selections from a season ago.
 
Among the key returners for Missouri Western is senior attacker Sam Pruitt, who is a three-time All-GLVC selection and led the team last season in points (76), goals (55) and shots (134) and was second in draw controls with 29.
 
In addition to Pruitt, senior defender Grace Williams led the Griffons with 46 ground balls and was second with 30 caused turnovers en route to earning First-Team All-GLVC honors, while junior midfielder Serah Ryals tallied 43 points as she scored 37 goals and had six assists and also collected 37 ground balls and 13 draw controls in 2024 as she earned Honorable Mention All-GLVC honors and sophomore midfielder Brooke Tjernlund earned All-GLVC honors after finishing third in points with 27 as she tallied 25 goals and two assists.
 
The Griffons, though, must find a replacement for their four-time All-GLVC goalie Mackenzie Porter, who was a senior last year. Sophomores Anna Raumschuh and Ava Garaway are the top two contenders to replace Porter.
 
Missouri Western also added five freshman to its roster this season with the top newcomer being midfielder Maddie Chidester, who prepped at Air Academy in Colorado Springs and was a four-time First-Team All-Conference selection and a two-time Honorable Mention All-State selection as an attack and draw specialist. She tallied 212 career points from 164 goals and 50 assists in her high school career.
 
Sunday's game will mark the third all-time meeting between the two schools as each team has picked up a win in the series. In 2021, the Pack fell 18-16 to the Griffons in Pueblo, but the Pack collected a 14-7 win in the 2022 season in St. Joseph, Mo.
 
ABOUT WILLIAM JEWELL
William Jewell is playing its second season of women's lacrosse in 2025 and the Cardinals are a member of the GLVC. In their inaugural season in 2024, WJC posted a 1-14 overall record and went 0-7 in the GLVC.
 
Entering this weekend's action, the Cardinals, who are coached by Kallie Muck, are sporting a 3-1 overall record and have won three straight games since opening the season with a 21-11 home loss to Benedictine (Kan.) College. The three wins are two more than the program won in 2024.
 
On the season, the Cardinals have scored 52 goals in four games and have also caused 51 turnovers and collected 45 draw controls.
 
Leading the way offensively for WJC is sophomore attacker/midfielder Olivia Fornelli. Fornelli leads the team in goals (9), assists (13), points (22), shots (23), ground balls (10) and draw controls (18).
 
In addition to Fornelli, sophomore midfielder Kaylee Gross is second in goals (8), points (11), shots (21) and draw controls (9), while freshman midfielder Elle Eastwood and sophomore attacker Ella Childress have each scored seven goals this season.
 
Defensively, Gross and freshman defender Zoey Keefer have each caused eight turnovers and combined for 14 ground balls. The Cardinals have allowed 90 goals in four games.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Claire Eastwood has allowed just 12 goals and recorded nine saves this season in three games, while the team's main goalkeeper is sophomore Haydin Gibson, who has allowed 27 goals and made 19 saves in four games and four starts.
 
Monday's game will be the first-ever match-up between the two schools in women's lacrosse.
 
UP NEXT FOR PACK
Following this weekend's two games in Missouri, the Pack will open the home portion of its 2025 schedule with a 1 p.m. game on Thursday, Feb. 27 against Davenport University, before hosting Ashland University for 1 p.m. game on Sunday, March 2. Both games will be played at the Art and Lorraine Gonzales Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium on the CSU Pueblo campus.