BOULDER — In a stunning upset nine years ago in University Park, Penn., the CU women’s lacrosse team put itself on the national map.
The Buffs’ 16-11 win over No. 4 Penn State — which came a month after beating powerhouse Northwestern in overtime at home in the season opener for their first victory over a ranked team — underscored CU’s quick rise to Division I relevance. Despite the program only being four years old at the time, the triumphs over those two schools paved the way to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2017 to 2019.
“One small moment after the next in that game (against Penn State), we were finding success,” said , the lone head coach in CU history. “We were doing all the little things right, and it seemed like we were all just in the moment of it, not thinking about what if we lose or what if we win. We just focused on the competing and the excitement and the energy of playing.
“For that team then, that is when we were at our best, and (building off small moments) is how we’ve generated success in this program. And for my team now, that is when we’re at our best, too.”
This week, the Buffs (14-3) are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Fresh off winning the Big 12 Tournament last weekend, CU is hosting an NCAA Tournament game for the first time on Friday at 4 p.m. at Prentup Field against Jacksonville.
Like that ’17 season that asserted CU’s ability to hang with the sport’s top programs, the ’26 campaign has also brought another revelation. This year, it came when the Buffs beat Northwestern on the road in the season opener, 10-9. It was the biggest win in program history, given that the Wildcats had appeared in and were ranked No. 2 at the time.
That victory and other high points this season showed the Buffs, whose best showing in the NCAA Tournament came with second-round appearances in 2018 and ’19, are capable of making a deep run in this year’s tournament, where every qualifier is battle-tested. CU beat Jacksonville earlier this season, a 10-9 OT triumph on the road on April 6.
“It is not lost on me that we could lose Friday afternoon, or that we could compete for a national championship,” Elliott Whidden said. “I very much think both those two things could be true.”
CU’s defensive identity
Should the Buffs win on Friday, they might face the University of Denver on Sunday in an all-Centennial State second round. CU beat DU 9-6 on April 15. Coach Liza Kelly’s Pioneers, which clinched their sixth straight Big East Tournament title with a win over Georgetown last weekend, are making their
Northwestern, which earned the tournament’s top seed, is also in CU and DU’s quadrant. One of those Colorado schools could meet the Wildcats, which lost in the championship game to North Carolina last year, in the quarterfinals. If CU can get to that matchup, it would be a familiar foe for the Buffs, who have played Northwestern and in each of the past three seasons.
Elliott Whidden is a former Northwestern star who was a defender on the Wildcats’ 2005, ’06 and ’07 national championship teams. That included being a captain as a senior in ’07, when she was a third-team All-American on a defensive unit that allowed an NCAA-low 6.1 goals per game. She then went on to win three more titles as an assistant under longtime
“At Northwestern, we played a style that was pretty aggressive and focused on trying to just speed you up and take you out of what you normally do,” Elliott Whidden said. “We play a different style here, but with the similar principles of playing aggressive, trusting our instincts and flying around and taking offenses out of what they normally do.”
The same defensive intensity has been a pillar of CU’s success over the years and especially in this one, as the Buffs are first in the country with just 6.35 goals allowed per game. DU is second at 6.61.
“This year’s defense is a reflection of the grittiness that Ann brings to the team, our ability to fight for every single play, and for our defenders to make themselves involved in the play no matter where they are on the field,” CU sophomore goalie Elena Oh said. “Our defense, especially the girls playing in front of me, have won us a lot of games this season.”
Balancing success with potential
During CU’s ascension, Elliott Whidden says she’s had a couple opportunities to go coach elsewhere. But she’s passed on those to remain in Boulder, where she was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation coach of the year in 2017 and the Pac-12 coach of the year in ’18.
“For me, the biggest thing is I’ve built a life here with my family,” Elliott Whidden said. “… And also, when you build a program from the ground up, it’s hard to leave because it is yours.”
While helming a growing program, the 41-year-old has found a balance between celebrating successes in the moment and looking down the road at what’s ahead. Elliott Whidden did just that with the Buffs following the win over Northwestern this year, after senior attack Maddie Shoup said the coach noticed that the Buffs’ basking in that victory “was definitely holding us back in the weeks that followed.”
That was evident after CU lost two road games in a 10-day span, first a 9-7 defeat to Stony Brook and then an 8-7 setback to Michigan.
“A lot of us couldn’t really see that (complacency forming) because we were so excited after that Northwestern win,” Shoup said. “But she told us, ‘We have to keep going. We have to move on from that feeling, because we’re still capable of beating more top teams.’ That was a little hard to accept, but it was a big key that we were missing in that lull where we were stuck in that moment.
“And I think her saying that really kind of changed our season’s trajectory for us.”
The Buffs lost only one game since, a 9-7 road defeat to Florida, which CU avenged with an 8-6 victory over the Gators in the Winning that tournament was even sweeter considering the Buffs’ shortfalls over the past few seasons, including getting upset by Arizona State at home in the Big 12 semifinals in ’25 and losing in the Pac-12 championship game the prior two years.
“This season, my senior class has that mentality of finding a way to get it done,” Elliott Whidden said. “I don’t think any of us have forgotten last year and the things that slipped away from us against Arizona State. Our emotions got the best of us in that game, and we lost that focus and control on ourselves and weren’t really able to reel it back in. We struggled to stay composed. But we learned a lot from that in terms of this year.”
‘A different type of program’
While enduring a six-year NCAA Tournament drought, Elliott Whidden looked south to what Kelly and the Pioneers were doing to achieve consistent tournament bids.
For both CU and DU, success doesn’t come from signing hoards of prized recruits, who are much more likely to go to bluebloods such as Maryland, North Carolina, Boston College or Northwestern. It comes from finding recruits that fit — some of whom were overlooked by those aforementioned programs — and a heightened emphasis on development.
“When you look at Denver, one of the things they do so well is they are who they are,” Elliott Whidden said. “… So when we’ve had a little bit of these ups-and-downs the last few years, it’s a great example to look at for us to remind ourselves that at the end of the day, we’re going to be who we are, too.
“We don’t have to be Northwestern. We don’t have to be North Carolina. We have a different type of program. We have a lot of different things that we’re selling and that kids are coming here to be a part of. And the more we can focus on ourselves and just know who we are offensively and defensively, the more success we will find.”
As a case in point on this year’s team, consider the recruitment of who came to Boulder straight from Tar Heel territory in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. CU was Oh’s lone offer out of high school, as she spent most of her life as a competitive jump roper — including for Team USA — before picking up lacrosse as a sophomore at East Chapel Hill High School.
Oh was CU’s primary goalie last season, but got pulled during CU’s loss to Arizona State in the Big 12 tournament. The sophomore, who has started every game this season while emerging as a reliable stopper for the Buffs’ dominant defense, says that conversations with Elliott Whidden after the ASU loss catapulted her to more consistency in 2026.
“The thing that I felt the most in that game was the breakdown that I had internally,” Oh said. “There was negativity that I put on myself during that game. Afterwards, most of the conversations Ann and I had were mostly just about the staff’s belief in me and that I needed to find it for myself.”
CU initially spotted Oh at a camp during the goalie’s junior year, and Elliott Whidden envisioned a player she could build her defense around, even if there would be a steeper learning curve than usual.
“From that point on, we were like, ‘We have to go after this kid,'” Elliott Whidden recalled. “And the more we learned about her and her story, the more we were like, ‘This could be huge for us. There’s so much potential and upside.'”
With Oh in net and five locals on the roster, headlined by senior midfielder Lily Assini, CU believes more of the program’s history can be accomplished in the coming weeks.
“We’re really excited to host, and (beyond Jacksonville), we know we’re capable of seeing Northwestern again and beating them again,” Shoup said. “Just focusing on ourselves in this tournament, and our game plan, it can translate over to (a tournament run) this program hasn’t achieved yet.”
