DENVER — A historic season has really only just begun for the Pios. As head coach Liza Kelly noted, the real season starts in the postseason, where the University of Denver will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Women's Lacrosse regional at Peter Barton stadium in Denver. But she also noted how incredible the accomplishment it is to maintain a clean sheet through the entire regular season.
"It's a huge accomplishment," Kelly said. "At the end of the day, when we finished against Marquette, I said, 'Take a moment and really let this sink in. You guys have done something that no other team that I have coached here, or any other team in the history of the program, has done.'"
The Pios are now putting that undefeated season on the line in the first round of the NCAA tournament against Pac 12 champion USC.
"It's a little bit of pressure. I mean, we are 19-0 and we're the only undefeated team left, but at the same time we are the only undefeated team left and there's a reason for that," sophomore goalkeeper Emelia Bohi said. "We worked so hard all season and we're going to keep pushing ourselves and we pushed ourselves even harder today."
That same work earned them a crucial home field advantage for the first two rounds.
"I always said we could beat anybody in [Peter] Barton [Stadium]," Kelly said.
Bohi, who earned Most Outstanding Player in the Big East Tournament for saving 18 shots against Villanova and UConn, is relieved to not have to travel to the east coast once again.
"I'm very excited to be at home because travel is not that fun but yeah, it's really nice," she said. "Also to have all of our fans out and our friends, they're all going to come out to the game, that's really exciting too."
Nine Pios were honored with Big East awards, including senior Sam Thacker, earning her second-straight Defensive Player of the Year award, and senior Julia Gilbert, who was named Co-Attacker of the Year.
"I think it's incredible right now," Gilbert said. "We want to keep it going and it's one game at a time right now, you have to win to move on so that's our goal right now."
Denver hosts USC at Peter Barton Stadium Friday, May 12 at 3PM. Coverage is on ESPN+.