Stanford coach Amy Bokker has had quite the year – finishing her final season in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) with the Cardinal, winning back-to-back gold medals with the U.S. women’s national team at the FIL Women’s World Cup in England and the IWGA World Games in Poland, and then returning home to California to prepare her team for its first season in the Pac-12.

This spring, Stanford will join Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon and USC in the third power five conference for the sport, following the ACC and Big Ten, the latter last adding lacrosse in 2015. That same year, the Sun Devils announced lacrosse was going Division I for the 2018 season. 

“Lacrosse has shown over the years that it truly is the fastest sport on two feet and administrators are realizing that it’s a great sport to add with a growing fan base,” Arizona State coach Courtney Martinez-Connor said.

All six Pac-12 coaches agree that next year will mark a historic moment for the growth of the sport, specifically in the West.

“It gives our sport more credibility,” Bokker said. “That’s a big thing, I think for me, in the summer being able to watch us go from the World Cup to the World Games and now to representing a conference that’s somewhat nontraditional in our sport. I think that it’s just really pioneering everything. It’s propelling the sport forward. It seems to me that it’s becoming more legitimate.”

With the increase of Pac-12 teams cracking national Top 20 polls in recent years, including USC, Stanford and Colorado, the conference has made a commitment to increasing the exposure of women’s lacrosse.

The Pac-12 Network will open more airwaves for lacrosse games to be televised at home and streamed online, including on Twitter. Its marketing efforts, including social media, will put the sport in front of new fans in more states every day. The conference also allowed the Buffs to travel to Australia in December to showcase the sport and the Pac-12 internationally.

“The MPSF was incredibly supportive and is the reason for the huge growth of lacrosse out West,” Colorado coach Ann Elliott said. “However, the Pac-12 provides us many more resources to utilize, a larger established infrastructure and level of exposure.”

With a boost in visibility, Pac-12 teams aim to become top programs that attract elite recruits, both locally and across the country. Though homegrown talent is essential for success of the Pac-12, according to Oregon coach Katrina Dowd, who last was an assistant for national champion North Carolina in 2016.

It helps when the coaches have a great message to sell.

“We say a lot, as I’m sure my counterparts do in the Pac-12 do, that you have the opportunity to be the first – to win the first Pac-12 championship and to be the first Pac-12 school to go to the final four, to really set that standard,” Bokker said. "Within recruiting, that’s how you become one of the best teams – you recruit the best athletes. ... Visibility – whether that’s over the scope of recruiting and we’re on the sidelines or on TV or online, and you’re able to see on social media all the schools that have the sport – that helps with our recruiting a ton."

Ultimately, it’s the overall growth of the sport that can secure its long-term viability.

“Lacrosse will always be steeped in great tradition,” Dowd said. “First off, before it was an East Coast sport, it was a Native American medicine game. For me, there is no battle between East and West for ownership of our sport. If we have Olympic dreams, pro lacrosse dreams and fields filled with kids playing need to be a major part of the equation.”

TEAM SNAPSHOTS

The Pac-12 features five former members of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) – Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Stanford and USC – plus one newcomer, Arizona State, which is embarking on its inaugural season in 2018.

The Trojans won back-to-back MPSF tournament titles in 2016 and 2017 in just their fourth and fifth seasons, but Stanford has been a mainstay on the West Coast, winning nine MPSF crowns in the league’s 14-year history. Cal won the inaugural championship in 2004.

The six Pac-12 teams will experience many firsts in 2018, but the biggest change is each team will play each other twice – one home and one away – mimicking other Pac-12 sports to maintain strength of schedule.

“We made a pretty big statement, as far as keeping our strength, playing each team home and away each year,” Stanford coach Amy Bokker said. “Taking a step like that is a big deal for how we want to establish ourselves as a conference.”

Colorado, which had a historical 2017 campaign, cracking the top five in national polls and making its first NCAA tournament appearance, will host the first-ever Pac-12 championship April 26-29 at Kittredge Field.

Arizona State

Coach: Courtney Martinez-Connor
Assistants: Tierney Conlon
2017 Record: N/A
Key Players: Senior leaders Sydney Bosmans, Lexi Kasofsky, Madi Hicks

2018 Vision: 

“In your inaugural season, you have to be realistic in a tough conference,” said Martinez-Connor. “Each week we are going to work hard, compete and then continue to get better. … The fact that we are the new team on the block is a bonus for us. Other than fall ball, most teams don’t know what to expect from us. We are young but we are going to be relentless.”

Cal

Coach: Brooke Eubanks
Assistants: Jennifer Porretto, Paige Soenksen
2017 Record: 5-13
Key Players: Sophomore attacker Susie Ropp (40 PTs), senior defender Meredith Haggerty (39 DC, 23 CT), junior goalie Jenny Wilkens (41 GB, 0.392 SV%)

2018 Vision:

“Our focus is always making progress,” Eubanks said. “Overnight success is hard to replicate. We know where we are and we know where we are going. Each day, we take as an opportunity to get better. We will be competing against the best in the country and we wouldn't want it any other way. This is a moment to showcase everything we have been building.”

Colorado

Coach: Ann Elliott
Assistants: Alex Frank, Mitch Fenton, Marie Moore
2017 Record: 16-4
Key Players: Senior attacker Darby Kiernan (77 PTs, 120 DC), senior defender Sarah Brown (33 PTs), senior defender Kelsie Garrison (43 GB)

2018 Vision:

“We are looking forward to the 2018 season, after ending the season in disappointing fashion last year,” Elliot said. “In our fifth season, first-ever Pac-12, we are establishing our new identity after graduating 14 seniors from our first-ever recruiting class. … We know we have a lot to prove, but believe we are returning a lot of experience and we are excited about the potential of our younger players.”

Oregon

Coach: Katrina Dowd
Assistants: Becca Block, Michelle Tumolo
2017 Record: 9-8
Key Players: Senior goalie Brittany Read (Louisville transfer, 2017 ACC Defender of the Year), senior defender Jill Zubillaga (53 DC), junior Shannon Williams (72 PTs)

2018 Vision:

“Our team’s goals are to compete,” Dowd said. “It's simple be prepared, work hard and have fun. The roster we have will give us the opportunity to compete for a Pac-12 championship. … We have seen the strides our team has made with believing in themselves, becoming lax rats and enjoying being together. It's always small steps to greatness.”

Stanford

Coach: Amy Bokker
Assistants: Kristen Carr, Chelsea Gamble, Alex Zaugra
2017 Record: 12-6
Key Players: Senior goalie Allie DaCar (40 GB, 0.428 SV%), senior attacker Kelsey Murray (87 PTs), senior midfielder Dillon Schoen (28 CT)

2018 Vision:

“We have a really great group of senior leadership,” Bokker said. “We have a lot of strength in the midfield with our senior core. We have a good recruiting class too. … Our team is really excited and feels really energized as far as coming into the Pac-12. They want to represent the conference well and put their best foot forward, so I think that’s what we’re aiming to do come February.”

USC

Coach: Lindsey Munday
Assistants: Devon Wills, Amanda Johansen
2017 Record: 18-4
Key Players: Senior goalie Gussie Johns (98 GB, 0.464 SV%), senior midfielder Lydia Sutton (35 GB), sophomore midfielder Kerrigan Miller (31 CT)

2018 Vision:

“It’s just doing the things we’ve done since the beginning of the program,” Munday said. “Continue to get better each and every day, both individually and collectively as a team. Prepare to be our best, challenge ourselves [and] leave it all out there on the field. … If we work hard, have fun and push each other to get better, we’re going to be in a good place and be happy with where we’re at come the end of the season.”