Junior Sarah Urbanic recently earned an All-American honorable mention nod on USA Lacrosse’s preseason polls.
Fans of the team eagerly awaited to see what Urbanic would do this season as she has improved by the year. But unfortunately, we will have to wait another year as Urbanic decided to redshirt this season.
This decision for Urbanic comes after she tore her ACL last season, opting to take time to let her leg fully heal instead of risking another injury out on the field, “I just want to give myself the best possible outcome for my long term health and to be able to perform the way I want to,” she said.
Urbanic said it wasn’t an easy decision for Urbanic as there was a lot of contemplating. Ultimately, she decided that redshirting would be the best for both her and the team.
“I think if I came back this season, I wouldn’t be satisfied with what I’m doing, and I want to make sure that when I’m on the field, I’m giving everything I can to my team, and right now I can’t do that on the field,” she said.
This late decision is also a result of an NCAA rule that was being considered that would have given every student athlete five years of eligibility. Had the rule passed, Urbanic confirmed that she would have played but with it not going through, Urbanic decided to focus on her academic career as she pursues her masters degree.
While Urbanic won’t be able to show why she earned the All-American honorable mention on the field this season, the award is still important as it brings national respect to a program Urbanic feels is overlooked
“I think a lot of the time we’re not really in the national conversation, and to be someone who can bring our team forward and get us more focus is awesome,” she said.
Praising the team for achieving an individual honor is the kind of mentality that led to Urbanic being chosen by her teammates to be a captain for this season. So while we won’t see All-American play from Urbanic this season, we will still get to see an All-American mentality as she embraces her role on the sidelines, “I think this year it’s all about how I can make other people feel confident and hungry to be a playmaker this season,” she said.
This is usually the part where an athlete would talk about how they are going to approach the season and how they wish to perform. For Urbanic, she’s all in focusing on the things she can do outside the field to help her team win.
“As a captain it’s a lot of checking in on people. Pushing people when they can, and keeping them calm, it’s talking through hard situations and being a positive shoulder to lean on,” she said.
The team is young as it features 15 freshmen on the roster. Urbanic has focused on spending time with them on and off the field and believes that the future of the program is in good hands.
“I think that’s the biggest mentorship role that I take right now is just helping them with nerves and understanding our system but talent wise, I think they’re there,” she said.
UCCS was ranked third out of the six teams in the RMAC in the preseason coaches poll. For Urbanic and the team, this only serves as motivation as she believes the team is better than any poll or ranking say they are, “I think a lot of people on this team are tired of being overlooked by both the RMAC and the national picture. We’ve got hunger from the upperclassmen, and we’ve got the depth from the underclassmen who are just coming up, and I think that’ll be a good combination to have us move forward in a positive way,” she said.
The team looks to showcase this hunger as they open up their season on Feb. 22 against No. 6 ranked Maryville. Urbanic assures that there is reason to believe, “Anyone can beat anyone. They’re just another team,” she said, “I think we have a chip on our shoulder of ‘we need to prove something here,’ and this is a good opportunity to do it,” she said.
Even with one of their stars redshirting, the team still dreams big as they have their sights set on an RMAC championship. If you ask Urbanic, she will tell you that this year is one of the best shots the team will have at winning the conference, “Playing together, playing as a community and working hard is always the backbone of what we’re doing,” she said.
While she hopes to see the team pull off some big wins this season, Urbanic is trying to rack up her own personal wins in her rehab process as she hopes to return better than ever the next season, “Things that I used to hate in practice, like sprints, that’s what I can do, so now my favorite part of practice is when we run,” said Urbanic, “it’s just kind of taking the little victories, it’s a process and it’s a marathon,” she said.
The team looks to showcase their hunger against Maryville in the opener and throughout the rest of the season. Watch the team through the RMAC Network and follow along the team’s schedule on UCCS Athletics as the team chases the conference title.
Attacker #15 Sarah Urbanic. Photo via The Scribe archive.