The Hoos started from a good place this year. From a team that finished 14-7 overall in 2023, mainstays Laura Janssen and Adele Iacobucci are gone, but among the players back are Dani Mendez-Trendler (team-high 27 points last year), Noa Boterman, Taryn Tkachuk, Emily Field, Jans Croon, Mia Abello, Minnie Pollock, twins Lily and Meghen Hengerer, and goalkeepers Tyler Kennedy and Nilou Lempers.
Virginia’s incoming recruits include Suze Leemans, one of the top young players in Europe. “She will be big-time,” Keusgen said of Leemans, who’s from the Netherlands.
Keusgen filled out his staff in February by hiring Carrera Lucas as an assistant coach. A former standout in the goal for UVA, Lucas spent the past five seasons as an assistant at Villanova.
“Our first objective was to bring someone into our program that fits in as a person, with character,” Keusgen said, “and then see, OK, what skills do we need? Carrera was really a no-brainer. She obviously is an alum and knows the program. I coached her for four years. She also brings a very detailed skill set from the goalie perspective. We needed a goalie expert. She’s a goalie expert, and her knowledge about [technology is] quite impressive. She worked for some time with the national team. So that will enhance our program too. She literally fit in that niche that we needed in the best possible way.”
The Cavaliers’ other assistant, Alyssa Parker, is heading into her fourth season on the staff.
“Alyssa is a great coach,” Keusgen said, “but more important, I think, is just how she treats our student-athletes and makes them feel. Feedback can be harsh, but it always is in a way that doesn’t take away your confidence. If you want to give players ownership and they need to make decisions that might be creative, they need to have confidence, and if they don’t have that confidence they can never execute it. With those two coaches”—Lucas and Parker—“I think the delivery is demanding, but it’s in a way that it doesn’t destroy or hurt [players’] level of confidence. They understand where it’s coming from.”
In Keusgen’s six games as acting head coach last season, Virginia posted a 4-2 record, with both losses to eventual NCAA champion North Carolina. In the NCAA quarterfinals, UVA blanked Maryland 4-0 to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2019.
That wasn’t the first time Keusgen has been in charge of a team. He’s a…