Their trash talking has flared again – a text-message tussle that spans 750 miles of Eastern seaboard yet reaches all the way back to high school.
Annie Leibovitz, a feisty Kent Denver graduate now revving Dartmouth’s lacrosse team, couldn’t resist tapping some choice words into her cellphone earlier this week, then zapping them six states south.
“The rivalry lives on,” she typed. “We’ll see who comes out on top.”
At Duke University, Caroline Cryer eyed the text tweak with a smile and instantly defended her alma mater, Cherry Creek High School. A freshman attacker for the Blue Devils, Cryer blasted a response back north.
“Can’t wait to see you this weekend,” she wrote. “You’re going down.”
Later that Tuesday evening, Leibovitz basked in prep pride: Kent Denver capped Creek 10-8 to win the girls state lacrosse crown. On Sunday, Cryer may get a crack at college payback: With semifinal victories today, Duke and Dartmouth would tangle for the national title at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Their potential showdown is, of course, back East – in breathing distance of the mid-Atlantic, still the nerve center of the lacrosse world. But faster than a dip-and-dunk goal makes you shout “Laxabunga,” the American West is rising as a lacrosse hotbed. And Dartmouth – with three Colorado players on the roster – is tapping that new talent pipeline.
“Coming from Colorado, we didn’t get to play against the best kids in practice, and the coaching isn’t what it is back East,” said Leibovitz, a junior midfielder with 19 goals. “But one of the things the Dartmouth coaching staff looks for is raw athleticism.”
Margo Duke, her Dartmouth teammate and a Kent Denver alum, put it more bluntly: Recruiters were drawn to the trio’s hustle and heart, “rather than because we are, like, sick lacrosse players.”
The star of the homegrown bunch is Dartmouth junior goalie Devon Wills, who learned how to quarterback an offense at Colorado Academy. This season, Wills held opponents to less than seven goals per game while Dartmouth’s fierce offense notched double figures in 14 of 18 matches.
“Devon is the best athlete on the field in every game, and I don’t just mean among the goalies. She’s one of the fastest kids on the field and has better stick skills than most of the girls playing,” Leibovitz said. “If the (clearing pass) is not there, she’ll run it halfway down the field, dodging people all the way.”
The lacrosse trail from Denver to Dartmouth was blazed by former Kent Denver scoring dynamo Elizabeth Right, who graduated from the college last year.
And like the other Coloradans there now, Dartmouth’s website described Right’s game in gritty terms: “scrappy, tenacious.” These days, the entire squad exudes a bit of Rocky Mountain spunk, the players say.
“As a team, we hustle to the groundballs,” Duke said. “It’s that fire in the belly.”
Across Colorado, lacrosse has boomed as summer travel teams expose local prep players to deeper teams in other states. The three Dartmouth teammates and Cryer played together on a summer team.
In 2001, 1,275 high school boys and girls played lacrosse in Colorado. By 2004, that number had jumped to 4,420, according to U.S. Lacrosse, the sport’s national governing body.
Cryer hopes the lacrosse boom in the Mountain time zone explodes Sunday with a Duke-Dartmouth final.
“It would be cool to reflect the Colorado players, to have that representation,” Cryer said. “It would be cool to show our impact.”
Growing in popularity
The success of area lacrosse teams reflects the game’s rise across the West and Colorado.
* In the 1999-2000 school year, Colorado prep sports included 27 boys lacrosse teams and 22 girls teams. Today, the state has 41 boys teams and 32 girls teams.
* In 2001, Colorado youth, prep, college and club teams contained 4,415 players. In 2004, that number had swelled to 12,204 players.
* In 2004, the University of Denver men’s lacrosse team beat defending national champion Virginia and spent all season in the college top 20 rankings. Air Force earned a spot in the poll as well.
* This season, the Colorado College women’s lacrosse team (15-1) is ranked No. 6 nationally and plays this weekend in the national Division III semifinals.
Sources: Colorado High School Athletic Association, U.S. Lacrosse
Staff writer Bill Briggs can be reached at 303-820-1720 or bbriggs@denverpost.com.
