Lisa Loptien remembered with deep affection some of her experiences as a soccer player at the University of Northern Colorado in the late 1980s.
Loptien, known then as Lisa Jacobsen, was a high-scoring forward for the Bears before graduating in 1989. She teared up thinking back to the early years during a women’s soccer alumni event Saturday at Jackson Field in Greeley.
Loptien’s emotions spilled over to her former coach, Jim Kadlecek, who was the first varsity coach of the program starting in 1985. Loptien and Kadlecek are both members of the UNC Athletics Hall of Fame, and they had not been in touch for a long time. Kadlecek oversaw the transition of UNC women’s soccer from a club team to an intercollegiate program before women’s sports joined the NCAA and then as an NCAA Division II team.
“I grew up a lot coming to college, and the main reason was him,” said Loptien, now a registered nurse in Littleton.
Loptien and Kadlecek were among the about 80 former players and coaches on campus this weekend to celebrate the 40th anniversary of women’s soccer at UNC. The 2024 season was the official 40th season. The program hosted an alumni weekend Friday and Saturday, allowing those former athletes and coaches to reminisce and reacquaint themselves with friends from years ago.
They also played soccer. A group of alumnae met current players on the pitch at Jackson Field for a friendly match Saturday. A gathering was scheduled for later in the day. The current team was also scheduled to play Metropolitan State of Denver on Saturday evening as part of its spring season.
Forty years ago was a vastly different time for women’s sports. The years when Loptien and Kadlecek were with the Bears was only about 15 years removed from the passage of Title IX legislation that opened the doors for the growth of women’s sports in the U.S.
“I think it’s amazing,” UNC assistant coach Amy Sickler said of the alumni event. “It’s an accumulation of everything we’ve accomplished over the years. To see where we began and where we are now. It’s so moving and powerful to see how far things have come.”
Loptien was the Colorado Sportswoman of the Year in 1988. She was a four-time all-conference selection. In 1988, she was one of 12 finalists for the national player of the year award. Loptien scored 41 goals and added 17 assists for 99 points with the Bears.
She recalled finishing one quarter at UNC with an “awful GPA.” Kadlecek let Loptien know she had to improve her grades to remain on the team. She responded with a high B-plus average the following quarter.
“That helped a lot,” she said. “Just in the growth. “I loved playing soccer. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Jim was a mentor and definitely had a great impact on my life.”
Kadlecek was the athletic director at Greeley Central High School after leaving UNC in the early 1990s. He’s now in his second stint at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, where he’s the director of sport business. He joined the UNC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020. Loptien was inducted in 2003.
In 1986, Loptien’s second year at UNC, the Bears were ranked in the top 20 nationally — before women’s sports split off into divisions a couple of years later. The Bears beat traditional women’s sports power Stanford in 1987.
“I was just so grateful to get to work with them (the athletes then),” Kadlecek said. “I never thought I was the one making a sacrifice. They were the ones making the commitment, the sacrifice to get things where they are. There were a lot of people who’ve put a lot of time and energy and sacrifice into getting the program to where it is.”
Loptien said when she played at UNC, the team at times had “two a days,” meaning multiple practice sessions. The players then didn’t lift weights as athletes do now, and some of the women back for the weekend never received any scholarship money as a college athlete in their day.
“We didn’t have the year-round commitment at all,” she said. “It’s quite a full-time job now.”
