Colorado Mammoth 2025-26 Season Recap

One goal. After a season that put the Front Range's pro lacrosse team back among the best in the world, the Colorado Mammoth's 2025-26 campaign ended on a single overtime goal — a 13-12 loss to the San Diego Seals in the National Lacrosse League quarterfinals on April 25, 2026. For Boulder County fans who made the 30-minute trip down US-36 to Ball Arena all winter, it was a gut-punch ending to a season that otherwise gave them plenty to cheer about.

A Strong Regular Season

The Mammoth finished the regular season at 12-6, one of the better records in the league and a clear step up in consistency from recent years. In a league where the schedule is short and every weekend matters, twelve wins is a serious total — it kept Colorado in the playoff picture from the opening weeks and earned the franchise a home crowd for the postseason push.

What stood out across the season was balance. The Mammoth did not lean on a single hot stretch to pad their record; they won at home and on the road, against playoff teams and against the bottom of the standings. Box lacrosse rewards depth — with only a handful of runners dressing each night and a 30-second shot clock forcing constant offense, teams that can roll multiple lines stay fresher in the fourth quarter. Colorado's 12-6 mark reflected exactly that kind of week-to-week reliability.

For a refresher on how the league and the franchise fit together, our Colorado Mammoth guide covers the basics — Ball Arena, the NLL season structure, and why box lacrosse is worth watching even if you only know the outdoor game.

Coyle's Bench Wins Coach of the Year

Behind the record was a coaching job the league noticed. Head coach Pat Coyle was named NLL Coach of the Year, an honor that recognized the structure and discipline the Mammoth played with all season. Coach-of-the-year voting in any league tends to follow teams that overperform expectations or find an identity, and Colorado did both — they were organized defensively, dangerous in transition, and rarely beat themselves.

We covered that recognition, along with the rest of Colorado's award haul, in a separate post on the Mammoth's 2026 NLL awards. The short version: this was not a one-man season, and the league's end-of-year honors reflected a franchise doing things right from the bench to the front office.

The Offense Had a Headliner

Every box lacrosse team needs a finisher, and the Mammoth had one in forward Andrew Kew, who anchored the Colorado attack and earned league-wide recognition for his season. Box lacrosse offense is a fast, physical, give-and-go game played in a tight space — the best forwards combine a quick release with the strength to finish through contact around the crease. Kew's production gave Colorado a reliable scoring threat opponents had to game-plan around, and his presence opened space for the rest of the offense to operate.

Around the headliners, the Mammoth got contributions up and down the lineup — the kind of secondary scoring and steady goaltending that separates a playoff team from a pretender. Box lacrosse is unforgiving of teams that rely on one line; Colorado's ability to score from multiple sources is a big part of how they reached twelve wins.

Defense and Goaltending Set the Tone

Offense gets the highlights, but the Mammoth's 12-6 record was built on the less glamorous end of the floor. Box lacrosse is a high-scoring game by nature — the tight space and 30-second shot clock guarantee chances at both ends — so the teams that win consistently are the ones that defend with discipline and get saves when it matters. Colorado did both. A defense that communicates, protects the crease, and forces opponents into low-percentage shots is worth as much as a hot scorer over a full season, and it travels better on the road, where offense tends to dry up.

Goaltending is the other half of that equation. In a league where a quarter can swing on a three-goal run, a goalie who comes up with a timely stop to end an opponent's momentum is invaluable. The Mammoth's ability to weather the runs that every box lacrosse game produces — to take a punch and answer it rather than fold — was a quiet hallmark of the season. That resilience is exactly what carried them to overtime in the playoffs, and it's the foundation a deeper run gets built on.

How the Playoff Run Ended

The postseason is where the season turned bittersweet. Colorado earned its spot in the bracket and ran into the San Diego Seals, a perennial Western power, in the quarterfinal round. The game was everything playoff box lacrosse should be: tight, physical, and decided in the final seconds.

The Mammoth and Seals traded goals into overtime tied at 12. In box lacrosse, overtime is sudden death — the first goal ends it, and with a 30-second shot clock and end-to-end pace, a single possession can decide a season. San Diego found that goal first, taking it 13-12 and ending Colorado's year one round into the playoffs.

A one-goal overtime loss is the hardest kind to absorb, precisely because it says so little about the gap between the teams. The Mammoth were right there. On another night, one bounce goes the other way and the conversation is about a deeper playoff run. Instead, the season closed on April 25 with the home crowd at Ball Arena watching the Seals celebrate on Colorado's floor.

What the Season Means Going Forward

For a franchise, a 12-6 season that ends in a one-goal overtime playoff loss is a foundation, not a failure. The pieces that produced the regular-season record — the coaching structure, the front-line scoring, the depth — are the same pieces a contender is built on. The challenge now is converting regular-season strength into postseason results, which in a single-elimination box lacrosse bracket often comes down to health, matchups, and which way a couple of bounces go.

The offseason is when rosters get reshaped. NLL teams retool through their entry draft and free agency over the summer and fall, and the front office's job is to keep the core that won twelve games while adding the depth that wins in the spring. Mammoth fans who want to follow those moves can track roster news through the team's official site and league-wide coverage at NLL.com.

Where to Watch Next Season

The good news for Boulder County fans is that the wait is never long. The NLL season runs from December through the spring, so the next Mammoth home opener at Ball Arena is only a few months out once the schedule drops. Home games are typically Friday or Saturday nights — an easy outing for a lacrosse family, and a genuinely useful one for young players. Watching pros play at full pace, with a 30-second shot clock forcing quick decisions, raises any youth or high school player's sense of what the game can look like.

Getting there from Boulder is straightforward without driving downtown: the RTD Flatiron Flyer express bus connects Boulder to Denver, dropping you within reach of Ball Arena and avoiding the parking crunch on a sold-out night. Tickets and the full schedule go up on the Colorado Mammoth site ahead of each season.

The 2025-26 season ended one goal short, but it reestablished the Mammoth as a team worth following. If you've never been to a game, make next season the one — and if you want to understand the indoor game before you go, start with our box lacrosse explainer. The next home opener at Ball Arena will be here before you know it, and this group has unfinished business.