{"id":960678,"date":"2026-05-15T03:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T03:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/960678\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T03:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T03:25:13","slug":"denver-reclaims-wcla-division-ii-supremacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/960678\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Reclaims WCLA Division II Supremacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAPLES, Fla. \u2013<\/strong> For a period of about three years in the late 2010s, Denver ruled supreme in the WCLA\u2019s Division II ranks. The Pioneers regularly owned the top spot in the weekly rankings, made three straight trips to the national championship game from 2016-2018, and claimed two WCLA titles during those years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Denver has remained among the most competitive teams in recent years and earned its fifth straight WCLA tournament appearance in 2026, they have also watched newer programs emerge as legitimate contenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Thursday evening, the Pioneers issued a strong statement to the rest of the Division II ranks with a 12-8 victory over upstart Tampa to win their third WCLA championship. Denver has returned to the (rocky) mountaintop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is definitely exciting and just feels really good,\u201d said senior attacker and club president Emma Flynn. \u201cThere are so many things involved in getting to the championship, both on the field and all the details involved behind the scenes. It just feels very special to be a part of this team and have this experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to all the off-the-field coordination and administration that Flynn must do as club president, she did just as much on the field Thursday to lead Denver to the title. She finished with a game-high five goals and two assists as the Pioneers broke away in the second and third quarters. Eight straight goals over a 13-minute span turned a one goal deficit into an insurmountable lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really trust each other as teammates and we were able to move the ball around really effectively tonight,\u201d said Flynn, who was named the tournament\u2019s most outstanding player. \u201cOur defense pushes us very hard in practice, so competing against our own defenders every day really helps us in games.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Defenders Wrede Charleton and Eliska Ondrusek, both named to the all-tournament team, helped anchor the backline and keep Tampa\u2019s potent offense in check for much of the evening. Sophomore goalie Alex Rangel finished with nine saves and was also named to the all-tournament team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is such a fun group of girls to play with,\u201d Rangel said. \u201cWe were focused on closing off their cuts and keeping our energy level high. I think our whole defense played really well tonight. This is amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Denver finishes with a 14-1 overall record and a season-ending 10-game winning streak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tampa (12-1) tasted defeat for the first time this year, but the Spartans had an impressive run in their first tournament appearance. They arrived in Naples as the No. 7 seed and won three games to advance to the final. Senior Alexis Jones led Tampa with four goals and was one of four Spartans selected to the all-tournament team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With its third national championship trophy, Denver is now tied with Loyola for the most all-time WCLA Division II titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the third place game, Samanatha Miller scored four goals and Lily Brown registered 11 saves in goal to lead Missouri past UC San Diego, 10-7.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s Game Scores<\/p>\n

\u00a03rd Place Game:<\/strong> Missouri def UC San Diego, 10-7\u00a0
\u00a05th Place Game<\/strong>: Montana State def UC Davis, 11-4\u00a0
\u00a07th Place Game<\/strong>: Air Force def. Concordia Irvine, 8-6\u00a0
\u00a09th Place Game<\/strong>: Charleston def. Fullerton, 14-9\u00a0
11th Place Game<\/strong>: San Diego Univ def Florida Gulf Coast, 17-6\u00a0<\/p>\n

Capelli Sport, CWENCH, Halpern Travel, Gait Lacrosse, GoLive Sports, N&D Sports, and SportsEngine serve as official event sponsors for the 2026 USA Lacrosse WCLA Championships, with local support provided by Florida\u2019s Paradise Coast \u2013 Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention & Visitors Bureau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NAPLES, Fla. \u2013 For a period of about three years in the late 2010s, Denver ruled supreme in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":960679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-960678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116576460809647232","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=960678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/960679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}