The Monarch Coyotes are on a roll racking up Boulder County firsts when it comes to boys lacrosse this season.
Already the first area squad to ever notch a conference title in the area’s decade-plus history of fielding lacrosse teams, the Coyotes added to their list of achievements on Tuesday when they became the first to earn a first-round bye in the state playoffs.
The Colorado High School Activities Association released the boys bracket on Tuesday, and Monarch checked in with the No. 8 seed in the 24-team field.
“It’s great to finally get that kind of acknowledgement from the rest of the state that we’re a top-8 team and that we deserve to be up there,” said Monarch senior Nathan Puldy, the Northern League’s player of the year. “I think it’s huge. It shows the rest of the community that Monarch’s kind of the league power in the Boulder County community. That’s just going to bring more young kids into the Monarch Coyote program.”
A rarity, Monarch is the only local squad to make the playoff field, as Boulder, Fairview and Alexander Dawson all missed the cut in the final season before the sport splits into two classifications next year.
The Coyotes (12-3) will host a second-round playoff game at 4:30 p.m. May 8, but their opponent is to be determined. As the lowest seed of the eight teams to receive first-round byes, Monarch will play the highest-remaining seed among the first-round winners.
There’s a good chance the foe could end up being No. 9 Castle View (12-3), which faces No. 24 Highlands Ranch on Friday night. Castle View beat Monarch in a preseason scrimmage, though lineups were being mixed and matched liberally back then.
After pulling off an inspired victory over Wheat Ridge to close the regular season on Saturday despite missing two starters to injury, the Coyotes are looking forward to the time off the bye affords them.
“It’s big-time,” Monarch coach David Auday said. “It’s really advantageous to a team. This will give us an opportunity to get better, have all these days of practice and get healthy.”
The Coyotes, after all, aren’t satisfied just earning the bye. They’ve advanced to the second round before, as have other Boulder County teams.
Come Tuesday, MHS will be aiming for one more first.
“Everything in our program, we talked about leaving your own Coyote paw prints,” Auday said. “Now we want to be an elite team and make it to the (quarterfinals). That’s our mission, and it’s going to be tough.”
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