By Dan Rosenfield
Breaking an all-time record is a very big deal. It is the culmination of everything that an athlete has worked for. There reactions should reflect that. Mia DeRuggiero on the UD Women’s Lacrosse team had other ideas after finding out she broke the school’s single season all-time assist record.
“I didn’t even know. After the game Sydney (Rausa) was like ‘Mia you broke a record’ and I was like ‘oh ok, thanks.’”
The record of 43 assists was originally held by Denise Swift since 1984. DeRuggiero broke the record in a 13-11 win over Drexel on April 19th. She finished the season with 53 assists
UD Rising senior Mia DeRuggiero (Bluehens.com)
“It’s really nice that we have people like way back when who have won National Championships and who have set all these standards for us,” said DeRuggiero.
Mia was never chasing the record, it just came naturally to her.
“Just do the work and then things fall into place. I don’t plan for it, you do the work and things happen the way they happen and I’m really excited about it.”
That’s not the only record DeRuggiero broke this season. She also broke the Delaware Stadium points record with 11 total points in the season finale against Towson. This was her second 10 plus point performance of the season, becoming the first CAA player to pull off that feat since 2013. Her 11 points were also the most in a single game since Karen Emas registered 13 points in 1986 vs. James Madison.
DeRuggiero was named CAA Player of the Week after her performance against Towson. She is now ranked 2nd in program history with 97 career assists, needing just 14 more to break Emas’s record of 110,
DeRuggiero finished the season with All-CAA First Team honors after acquiring an All-CAAn Second Team accolade in 2018. She will return to a 2020 roster that will retain five of it’s six top goal scorers. Delaware finished the 2019 season 7-10 overall and fifth in the CAA with a 1-5 mark.