Lauren Russell couldn’t avoid the rankings, as much as she tried not to pay attention to them.
Week after week, the Colorado Academy (Colo.) senior midfielder saw rival Cherry Creek (Colo.) listed above the Mustangs in the Colorado High School Athletic Association state rankings.
While she understood the logic — the Mustangs were young and Cherry Creek was loaded with returning players — it was a bit of an insult for a three-time defending state champion that hadn’t lost to an in-state opponent since April 2, 2015.
Russell, a team captain, set out to prove Colorado Academy was still the top team in the state, and she ended up guiding the Mustangs to a fourth straight title, beating Cherry Creek in the final for a fourth consecutive year. The team’s leading scorer, Russell is the Brine/US Lacrosse Magazine West Region Girls’ Player of the Year.
“It was definitely a motivating factor for me,” Russell said. “I have a lot of friends on that [Cherry Creek] team so it was good competition to see those rankings come out. We tried not to look at the rankings because at end of the day it didn’t matter until the last one, but it was in the back of our minds at practice and in big games to keep us pushing.”
Russell played a significant role as a starter and impact player at Colorado all four years of her high school career.
She led the Mustangs in scoring her final three seasons, amassing 232 goals in her four-year career, including 66 as a senior. Russell also finished with 63 assists, 161 ground balls and 165 draw wins for her career.
“It’s incredible what she accomplished,” coach Stephanie Sanders said.
With 10 freshmen on the roster, Russell wasn’t so sure how the season would go but she was determined to keep alive the tradition she had been a part of building.
Colorado Academy hadn’t won a state title since 2000 when Russell entered high school.
“Just knowing how many freshman were going to be on the team was a little nerve-wracking,” Russell said. “It’s a big role to have everyone on the team looking up to you. I was worried about that and worried I wouldn’t be able to do everything I needed to to help the team. It ended up working out great.”
Russell recalls a conversation she and her co-captain had with the underclassmen about the need to stay focused. Being a three-time defending state champion was a lot of pressure, but Russell was impressed with how the young players handled it.
Meanwhile, Russell was handling all kinds of pressure from opponents who seemed to lock in on her after a 67-goal junior season. She managed to keep her scoring up, averaging 3.0 goals per game.
“I saw some faceguards, which is always a challenge because no one likes being in faceguards, but all the girls on different teams I knew well, so that was fun, because we were always at each other’s throats on the field,” Russell said. “I felt some pressure, especially being one of four seniors and having attention on me, but I tried not to let it phase me. I really just tried to focus on the ground balls, focus on what my coach was telling me and my teammates and never let it get in my head.”
Sanders emphasized improvement on the draw, and that was where Russell saw her biggest gains, statistically. After finishing with 37 draw wins in 2017, she collected 63 draw wins this year to go along with 49 ground balls.
Russell, a fiery competitor, lined up on the defensive side of the circle and learned to hesitate a little to see where the ball was headed before making a dash toward the ball. Freshman Katharine Merrifield took the draws, and Russell ended up the benefactor on a lot of loose balls.
“I was trying to do the little thing and focus on the little things. Coach always told us to draw better because if you don’t have the ball you can’t win,” Russell said. “Being such a young team that was going to be especially important. I focused on that and ground balls, which don’t seem to matter as much when you’re looking at stats but they are so critical. We have so many threats on offense so I was just trying to help as much as I could to get the ball into the attack.”
Russell said she had a good feeling about the season after the Mustangs secured an 11-7 win at St. Ignatius (Calif.) on March 20. Things just seemed to click in that game, she noted, and Colorado Academy rolled to a 19-0 finish, capped by a 13-7 win over Cherry Creek in a battle of unbeaten for the title.
It was the perfect ending to a stellar career for Russell, who began as the only freshman on varsity in 2015 and now moves on to play at William & Mary.
“I would never have imagined we would win four state championships,” Russell said. “When I first started, my freshman year was the first time in 15 years that we had won a title. That was a big deal. … It’s so hard to win one, let alone two or three, and four straight had never been done before in Colorado. All the support from our coaches and parents, that was a huge contributor. It was keep your head down, don’t worry about the other team. All that mattered was being there for the team and the score at the end and as long as we were learning, we were getting better. We improved so much, and it was a great feeling to go out with a fourth title.”
BRINE/US LACROSSE
WEST GIRLS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LAUREN RUSSELL
School: Colorado Academy
Year: Senior
Position: Midfielder
Stats: 66 goals, 15 assists, 49 ground balls, 63 draw wins
Coach Wendy Pinta: “What she accomplished is incredible. She was an All-American … a four-time state champion, three-time leading scorer. She was the leader.”
Also considered: Carlie Leach, Lake Oswego (Ore.); Charlie Rudy, Novato (Calif.); Hali Sibilia, Cherry Creek (Colo.)