Fort Lewis has moved on from Ashley Travis as the women’s lacrosse head coach and has hired Ariannah Ritter as the next head coach the school announced on Saturday.
Travis coached the Skyhawks for five seasons and had an 18-40 overall record and a 16-27 record in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. FLC went 3-11 overall and 2-8 in the RMAC in 2024.
Ritter comes from Division II Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach. The Griffons finished 10-7 in 2024 and 9-8 in 2023. Missouri Western State made the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament for the first time in program history in 2023.
Before that, Ritter served as a graduate assistant for the women’s lacrosse program at Division II Lincoln Memorial.
Ritter had a stellar playing career at Division III Carroll University and graduated from there in 2019. Ritter scored 116 goals and had 12 assists in her career.
“I've been coaching now since I was fresh out of college back in 2019 and the ultimate goal was getting to where I'm at,” Ritter said. “So it's definitely an absolute dream and being in a place like Durango is hand in hand. It's a dream … I'm really excited to get out there and get to work.”
Ritter credited Michael Hodge, her former head coach at Carroll, for being a mentor to her and encouraging her to get into coaching. Hodge always had faith that Ritter would be a good head coach and has encouraged her throughout her coaching career.
Every stop Ritter has made in her coaching career has taught her something different and has culminated in her being hired at FLC.
“Her passion and involvement in the game of lacrosse became very evident during our process,” FLC Director of Athletics Travis Whipple said. “We appreciate and value her work with the Tewaaraton Foundation, the IWLCA DII Poll Committee, high-level camps, and more. Finally, she is dedicated to enhancing the student-athlete experience and our program at FLC.”
Ritter wants her team to be scrappy in the midfield and she likes her team to ride in the midfield. She likes an aggressive, high-pressure but clean defensive style.
On offense, Ritter likes a fast, motion offense. She likes to bring sets that give her attackers a lot of options and allow them to be creative.
“Just the creativity and the flare that I like to bring to the game are definitely things that the girls are really going to take in stride and really buy into my whole coaching philosophy,” Ritter said. “It really matches well with what we're doing and with how the girls have responded based on what I've been able to chat about with them. But at the end of the day, I really look into the review, reflect, refocus and resources. So the intention behind this is celebrating the wins and it's learning from those results, whether it’s a win or a loss.”
Ritter is excited about the potential of the Skyhawks’ roster, the incoming recruiting class and wants to take the RMAC by storm.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
