Women's Fall Classic Recap: Final tryouts a success in Maryland
Sparks, MD- From October 13-15, the U20 Women's tryout roster travelled to Sparks Maryland to compete in the 2023 Fall Classic, hosted by US lacrosse. Set to face USA Friday night, followed by the defending D1 NCAA champion Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday.
Since the U20 women's team was using the Fall Classic as their last round of tryouts, Team Canada was split into two rosters, one for the opening game vs USA, and one for the following vs Northwestern. The first roster opened up the weekend taking on the U20 Women's USA roster. Both teams came to play early, as they traded goals back and forth early. Canada took a 7-6 lead heading into the second half. It was the US who came out of the halftime locker with the hot sticks, as they rattled off consecutive goals to start the second half. Canada would battle hard until the end, but it was the Americans stifling defence that helped them come away with the win, 16-9.
It was onto to Saturday after an exciting Friday night. The second roster for the U20 women had the difficult challenge of taking on the best women's NCAA team. The women came out firing on all cylinders though, as Canada held the lead after the first quarter. Goaltender Lauren Spence was putting on a first half clinic as she stopped nearly every ball that came her way, leading to a 6-6 tie at half with the defending champs. The second half felt like a repeat of the day before. As Northwestern got hot in the second half and was able to go on a large 10-1 rendering the second half. Team Canada seemed to run into a hot goalie as Canada certainly did not lack chances against the great Wildcats defence. Ultimately Canada would fall 16-7, however Canada was able to stand toe to toe with one of the strongest women's lacrosse teams of the past decade.
The ladies then rounded up their weekend Sunday morning vs Canada's own coach Kylee White's NCAA program in San Diego State. The teams did not keep score as they played 8 quarters of lacrosse against each other. However, it was a great battle with another impressive NCAA team.
The weekend allowed for the team to make valuable strides to deciding their roster for the upcoming 2024 World Championships in Hong Kong. All athletes that attended represented the red and white with great respect, and we look forward to moving forward with this process.
About Lacrosse Canada
Founded in 1867, Lacrosse Canada is the governing body responsible for all aspects of lacrosse in Canada. Our organization is comprised of 10 Member Associations representing nearly 85,000 individual participants, including coaches, officials, and athletes of all ages and abilities. Lacrosse Canada’s mission is to honour the sport of lacrosse and its unique nation-building heritage, by engaging our members, leading our partners, and providing opportunities for all Canadians to participate. Lacrosse Canada oversees the delivery of numerous national championships and the participation of Team Canada at all international events sanctioned by World Lacrosse. Lacrosse Canada is proud to be affiliated with partners that share the same vision and values, including our corporate partners - Nike, CoachThem, Gait, Cascade and Baron Rings - as well as our funding partners the Government of Canada, the Coaching Association of Canada, and the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation.
For more information, please contact:
Kealan Pilon
Communications Coordinator
Lacrosse Canada
Email: kealan@lacrosse.ca
