2 April 2019
Brian Blevins
Christine Hatton, the head coach for women’s lacrosse, watched from behind a fence as the clock ran out in UCCS’ matchup against CSU Pueblo at Mountain Lion stadium. The scoreboard displayed a 14-16 defeat for UCCS.
Roughly midway through the second half of the March 18 game, Hatton was ejected from the game on account of two yellow cards handed to her by the night’s head official, who showed little hesitation in carding both teams.
“I yelled at the officials; I got a yellow card,” Hatton admitted from the sideline. “I continued to yell. I got a second one, so I got ejected from the game.”
At that point, Assistant Coach Lauren Wells took over for Hatton for the remainder of the game.
With 4:23 left to play, UCCS was handed its eleventh total yellow card, with CSU Pueblo having six on the record. As a result, officiating was the talk of the night on the sidelines, where Hatton joined UCCS Athletic Director Nathan Gibson at the main entrance to Mountain Lion Stadium.
“If you’re going to call it, call it.” Hatton said of the night’s officials. “It’s just so inconsistent, and that’s what’s frustrating.”
The game was a close one, with neither team gaining a lead by more than one point until five minutes into the second half. From that point on, CSU was able to maintain the lead, pulling ahead by four with 6:11 left to play, making the score 11-15.
“We knew this game was going to be like this,” Hatton said, “‘that it was going to be very aggressive. It’s one with a very high intensity and high emotion.”
The closest UCCS got to victory was a two-point lead early in the second half with a goal from freshman midfielder Angela Naughton.
Naughton, along with junior midfielder Brianna Martinez, were the top scorers for UCCS, with three goals in total.
Allison Wurscher led CSU in scoring, contributing five goals to the team’s total.
So far this season, UCCS has outscored their opponents 100 to 85. The Mountain Lions have seen few close calls, winning or losing by an average margin of 10 points, a number that is skewed slightly by a 24-1 win over Adams State University and a 23-4 win over Oklahoma Baptist University.
Three of UCCS’ opponents have been nationally ranked competitors — four, including New York Institute of Technology, who UCCS played at home on March 22. At press time, Regis University was ranked No. 7 in the NCAA, the University of Tampa was ranked No. 10, Colorado Mesa University was ranked No. 14 and New York was ranked No. 23.
Colorado College was ranked No. 21 when UCCS played them back in February, but was unranked as of March 20.
During the game against CSU Pueblo, Gibson commented on the scheduling, saying “I think that’s a tough move by a coach your third year, to see what you’re made of.”
The UCCS women’s lacrosse program began in 2017, and is only in its third year of existence.
Going forward, the Mountain Lions will take to the road this weekend, facing off against Adams State University on Friday and Fort Lewis College on Sunday. The team’s next home game is on Friday, April 12 at 5 p.m. against Westminster College.