Denver Lacrosse Fund Raises at Alumni Game

The University of Denver womens lacrosse program will host its annual alumni game on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 12 p.m. at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

The Denver womens lacrosse program has been a division I program since the fall of 2002 and since then, the program has been ranked among the top 20 division I teams in the NCAA. In 2009, the team went 16-3 during the regular season.

Alumni players are invited back to challenge the team’s current players in an exhibition game as a warm-up for Denver’s 2010 season opener against Northwestern in January. "It is very important for us to show the alumni players how grateful we are for all they have done for our program and the more fans the better," said assistant coach Rachel Shuck.

With more publicity comesmore money that’s donated to the DU lacrosse program. In every season the womens lacrosse program is expected to raise $17,000 and this season is no expectation. On top of the $17,000, the lacrosse team is fund raising to go to Europe in June 2012 to play different European lacrosse teams and their alumni game is just one of those fund raising activities.
Head coach, Liza Kelly explains, "We need all the help we can get! The graduated alumni have already had the experience of playing high level lacrosse in different parts of the world and we want that same experience for these girls today, but it takes a lot of work, and a lot of effort."

The question many ask is "why are Division 1 varsity athletes fund raising so heavily?" To answer in the simplest terms, its not all sport teams and the ones that do, need the money. At the University of Denver there are 17 Division 1 sport programs and of those 11 fundraise and over half are the womens sport programs. College sport teams today fundraise primarily to pay for their events, but the bigger and more popular the teams are the less they have to do. The DU's hockey team doesn't have to fundraise throughout their season, however the DU womens lacrosse team does over 30 fundraising activities per year.

"Although fundraising is time consuming, in the end its helpful for not only those we are helping, but it also allows the girls to experience helping others, which is something that is important to our program," says Kelly.