LaPrise leads UConn attack heading into NCAA tourney
Lia LaPrise was recruited by UConn women’s lacrosse to be a midfielder.
The Windsor native, who attended Loomis Chaffee School, played defense growing up and became a midfielder in high school. She loved the ability to be everywhere at once.
But it’s in the attacker position — a role she took on following her freshman year — where the junior has made her biggest impact for UConn, which faces Virginia on Friday in its secondever NCAA Tournament.
LaPrise’s experience in all three positions makes her one of the strongest attackers in Big East conference.
“She has eyes everywhere at all times,” UConn senior Sydney Watson said. “She can be in the middle of taking a drive but see someone who is streaming open in the middle as a cut and she can hit you and make it look so easy. And it’s the same with her drives, she can go back and forth, back and forth around the crease and still be able to beat one player, two players, anything like that. The athleticism Lia has is absolutely amazing. … I am very grateful that she’s on my team and I don’t have to play against her.”
At the end of LaPrise’s freshman year, the Huskies
had finished the season 3-14 and were losing offensive players to graduation. Coach Katie Woods pulled LaPrise aside and asked her what she thought about becoming an attacker. She had shown her offensive skill that season already, leading all freshmen with 37 points, the team with 17 assists and placing fourth with 20 goals.
The idea of becoming a sole attacker felt almost overwhelming to LaPrise at first. She had just started playing collegiate lacrosse and was already taken aback at the increase in speed and intensity of the game compared to high school.
“College lacrosse was kinda like a big shock to me in a sense of the game was just so different and I was trying to catch my feet under myself,” LaPrise said. “By the end of my freshman year, I really understood, like I can be a great player in the Division I program. … That’s when I self-reflected and I was like, ‘Wow, I can be a leader and a great player on the attacking side,’ and I think I just had to come to terms with it over time, but it definitely was kinda a process for me and still is to be honest.”
The change in position has paid off for LaPrise and for the Huskies.
During last year’s abbreviated season, UConn finished 5-2 and LaPrise started all seven games. She lead the team in points (40) and assists (21) and was second with 21 goals. At the abrupt conclusion of the season, she was tied for fifth in the country in assists per game (3.00).
But it wasn’t until this year that she finally found comfort in the new role. And it’s shown.
LaPrise leads the Big East in points (76), recording a conference-high 4.22 per game. She also leads the Huskies in assists (40), is second with 76 shots and third with 35 goals. Nationally, her assist total ranks 11th and she is tied for 16th with 76 points.
Before the season started, LaPrise and Watson were named to the Preseason All-Big East Team. Now, heading into the NCAA Tournament, the star attacker has earned All-Big East First Team honors.
“I would definitely say it’s my favorite position now. I can confidently say that now, no doubt about it,” LaPrise said. “I just love being able to see the field really well and helping out my teammates obviously on the assisting side. Scoring goals is super exhilarating because you get to throw your stick down and scream, you get to clap your hands, do whatever you want.”
And it’s not just LaPrise’s skills on the field that have improved. Her ability to lead off the field and be an example to her teammates has also grown.
“Just being a leader, I think that’s been really special for me and stepping into that role and being asked to be a leader so early on in my career,” she said. “That’s been something that’s been super challenging for me, but also something that’s been rewarding as well.”
For LaPrise, this leadership can be in the form of silliness, keeping everyone lose and relaxed — like egging Woods on to dance during practices and dancing with teammate Kyra Place after scoring goals — or showing her dedicated competitiveness on the field,which she says she gets from growing up with two brothers, including her twin, Sam, who plays lacrosse at Curry College in Milton.
In UConn’s 15-13 Big East Tournament semifinal win over Georgetown last Thursday, LaPrise scored five goals, including her fourth at 19:59 to give the Huskies a commanding five-goal lead. Her assist to Grace Coon at the 10-minute mark ended a Georgetown rally.
“She is a neat kid. She is so competitive. Sometimes to a fault. She’s so quick. She’s so agile. When she is in that mindset, she is tough to beat,” Woods said. “She has been such a terrific asset in the program since she has been here. I think she is just getting started in terms of what her overall impact can be.”
Connecticut (12-6) faces UVA (8-8) in South Bend, Indiana, Friday at 5 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner would play the winner of No. 5 Notre Dame vs Robert Morris in the second round on Sunday, May 16. The last time the Huskies were in the NCAA Tournament was in 2013 when they fell in the first round to No. 8 Massachusetts, 14-10.