DENVER – University of Denver Pioneers women's lacrosse head coach Liza Kelly has been named the division-I West/Midwest Region Coach of the Year, the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association announced on Tuesday.
 
This is Kelly's first career IWLCA regional award after guiding the Pioneers to an 18-3 overall record and Big East Conference regular-season and tournament championships in 2022.
 
For the third-straight campaign, Denver went undefeated in Big East play and has now won 21-straight regular season contests against conference foes dating back to 2018. The Pioneers picked up their third-consecutive regular-season conference championship and their second-straight tournament title—the third such in program history (also 2014 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation).
 
Denver advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight full campaign and defeated Vermont 16-3 in the first round, the second-most goals for in a national tournament contest in program history. DU has advanced to at least the round of 16 in each of its six NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
Kelly, who leads the team's defense, saw the Pioneers allow just 8.38 goals per game, the fifth-best mark in the NCAA during the season. Denver was first in the nation with 273 caused turnovers, averaging 13.0 per game—second best in the country. DU also ranked fifth in the NCAA with 393 ground balls, with an 18.71 average per contest (15th).
 
The Baltimore, Maryland, native wrapped up her 16th season at Denver in 2022, improving her overall record to 278-109 and 214-76 with the Pioneers. Since taking over prior to the 2007 campaign, Kelly owns the most wins by a head coach in program history and picked up her 200th victory at DU this past season with a 12-5 defeat of Ohio State on Feb. 25.
 
Denver began 2022 on a six-game winning streak, the longest to begin a season in program history. The Pioneers went 5-2 against ranked teams last year, with their only losses coming to then-reigning national champion Boston College. DU had its school-record 21-game home winning streak come to an end with its loss to the Eagles on March 9, but the Pioneers have still made Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium one of the toughest places to play under Kelly. Denver is 28-3 at home in its last 31 contests (since 2019) and is 42-6 in home games since the beginning of the 2017 campaign.
 
DU went 7-1 on the road during the 2022 season, with its lone loss coming to host and No. 3 Boston College in the second round of the national tournament. The Pioneers held BC to two of its four lowest goal outputs during the campaign, with 2022 NCAA champion North Carolina having the other two.
 
Denver earned four individual awards from the Big East last season, including being recognized with the Coaching Staff of the Year, marking the second time that Kelly earned the honor after also doing so in 2019.
 
Under Kelly's watch, eight players were named to All-Big East teams last season while graduate student Bea Behrins (Big East Attacker of the Year), senior Kailee Lammers and junior Sam Thacker (Big East Defense Player of the Year) picked up IWLCA All-West/Midwest First-Team honors and Big East Freshman of the Year Lauren Black being named to the region's second team. Thacker (first team) and Behrins (third team) were also named All-Americans.
 
Kelly completed her 21st overall year of coaching in 2022, as she led Boston University for five seasons from 2002-2006 before coming west. In her time in Boston, she guided the Terriers to a 64-33 record and consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and America East regular-season and tournament championships in 2005 and 2006. She was twice named the America East Coach of the Year.
 
Three other division-I coaches earned regional honors from the IWLCA as Melissa Lehman (Rutgers) was named coach of the year in the Mid-Atlantic, Sara Graddock (Vermont) picked up the honor in the Northeast and Jenny Levy of North Carolina earned both the South region and the overall national D-I coach of the year award.
 

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