Story and photos submitted by London Minor Lacrosse Association
During the weekend of May 30 to June 1, hundreds of female box lacrosse players and their families descended on the Forest City for the first ever London Blue Devils Invitational Girls Box Tournament.
Being one of only two such events in Ontario for the 2014 season, teams travelled to London from near and far to take part in this major lacrosse event. In addition to the Blue Devils’ own Bantam and Intermediate squads, 30 other teams participated in the tourney.
One notable team was the Thunder Bay Ice Midget girls, who drove an incredible 18 hours to attend. While they didn’t see much success on the scoreboard, their coach described the weekend as a positive experience for the team whose only option at home is to play boys house league teams due to a lack of local female competition. Other teams from afar included Nepean and Gloucester, who ended their weekend facing each other in the Midget B championship.
With many new girls lacrosse programs springing up across the province, the London tournament was not only a first for LMLA but for many of the participants as well. The Kingston Krossfire Intermediates, a brand new team, excitedly earned their first point ever with a tie on Saturday at Stronach. The Simcoe Bantams, Windsor Midgets and Wallaceburg Intermediates were also new teams this year, which gives our own Blue Devils some additional, nearby competition.
According to the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA), girls box lacrosse has been steadily growing over the past four years. London Minor Lacrosse is hopeful that this tournament has helped to raise awareness of lacrosse as an option for local girls who enjoy fast-paced team sports. London currently has two all-girl teams but would welcome the addition of more female players, with the goal of offering a girls team at every age group.
As positive feedback continues to come in, LMLA couldn’t be happier with the outcome of the tournament … except perhaps that our lady Blue Devils did not walk away with gold medals. The Intermediates finished strong with a sudden death overtime win to take 3rd place in the Intermediate C division, while the Bantams went undefeated in round robin play and finished 2nd in Bantam B after a championship loss to Clarington.
OLA Girls Convenor and Zone 7 Director Jenn Matheson had much praise for LMLA.
“The London tournament was a fantastic weekend for the girls of Ontario,” Matheson said. “Not only was I proud to have one of our associations run such a fabulous tournament, but I am very excited to see girls lacrosse growing in our zone.”
www.londonlacrosse.com
