England Senior Women head out to North Carolina, USA, on Friday as they embark on a 10-day tour to compete against a number of top American college sides.

England will take on six university sides during the tour, headlined by a match-up against the 2022 NCAA Champions, University of North Carolina, who also reached the Championship quarter-finals earlier this year.

With six matches in seven days, Head Coach Mike Molster has compiled an intense schedule for the 25-player squad but it is something that England midfielder and captain Claire Faram says is important in getting the most out of the upcoming tour.

“We want to use this tour to replicate a Championship environment. Back-to-back days of tough competition, it’s the closest you can get to replicating that – playing three strong colleges three days in a row is like playing America, Canada, Australia.”

Molster, will lead the squad as he continues his preparations ahead of the 2024 ELF Women’s European Lacrosse Championship in Portugal next year.

Taking place in July next year, the Euros will be Molster’s first Championship as Head Coach and it comes after England won the bronze medal in dramatic fashion at the 2022 Women’s World Championship.

“Coming off the back of the World Cup we felt that we competed better than we ever have before – even though the medal was the same as 2017, we felt the semi-final could’ve gone the other way and it was a lot closer than it’s been before,” Faram said.

“Mike’s brought in some fresh eyes, particularly in the attack looking to play different styles, so this is a really good opportunity to test out what we’ve been working on with him to rectify and tweak some things, but also build on our strengths as well as our weaknesses.”

Eight members of that bronze medal-winning squad will be present in North Carolina, including All-World goalie Britt Read, and 2023 Tewaaraton Award Top-25 nominee Emily Nalls, who will face familiar opposition as a current member of the UNC programme.

Outside of the group of returners, the squad has a youthful feel, incorporating a number of players stepping up from previous U23 and U20 squads.

Indeed two of the travelling party, Rachael Ball and Millie Cant, are joining the senior tour for the first time from the current crop of U20s who are preparing for next year’s junior World Championship, in addition to Sofia Wise, who has already made her senior debut at Home Internationals earlier this year.

“Both Millie and Rachael had really impressive performances in the summer with the Under 20s and I think have rightly been selected to come and try out the seniors, and I hope it will be a great experience for them and hopefully something that they can take back to the U20s and feed back through the whole programme,” Faram said.

“Having them on board will not only be a great experience for them, but also great for England Lacrosse as a whole, showing those younger players in the U20s and the pathway that there is a progression for them through to seniors that they can aspire to.”

The squad touchdown in Charlotte, NC on Friday afternoon to begin two days of training and acclimatisation before the matches kick off on Monday starting against Elon.

And Faram is very much looking forward to getting going and seeing how the team test themselves against top level opposition.

“Everyone is very excited and looking forward to it. These teams are competing at the highest level you can in the US, and pretty much the world, day in day out, they’ll be well drilled, they’ll be exactly what we’d expect to see from Canada or America when we play them.

“Playing at that high level will be really valuable, particularly for those younger players that haven’t played at that top level and haven’t stepped out against a senior USA or Canada and gives them an idea of the level that’s required going into the next few years.”

As one of the self-professed senior members of the squad now, Faram also sees it as part of her role to guide those more junior teammates through the tour to ensure they are set up to face the challenges ahead.

“The older players in the team now get to share their experiences with the younger players and going on tour to North Carolina is a really good opportunity to do that.

“It’s about being able to put in a performance and then nailing the recovery, making sure you’re getting ready for the next game are able to prepare both mentally as well as physically.”

For Faram, the tour is a perfect platform for the lead up to next Summer which is ultimately focused on the Euros and making the final squad in a highly competitive environment with the crop of youngsters keeping her on her toes.

“My goals going forward are obviously looking to get selected for that [the Euros], but competition in the squad is high so I’m just going to be keeping my head down and keeping on working hard.

“What we want is people to be fighting for places because it means ultimately we’re going to get the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to selections – we have the mentality that no one is safe – a really important part of elite sport is knowing that you’ve got to be on it all the time and making sure you’re getting better at every opportunity.”

And as back-to-back European Champions, Faram knows the pressure is on them to maintain their position at the top while the rest of Europe looks to take them out.

“Pressure is privilege. We know we have a target on our back and that teams want to beat us and that’s our motivation to get better – the next time the Euros comes around teams will be looking to take wins off of us so we need to keep improving.”

Stay tuned across the England Lacrosse website and social media channels for updates from the North Carolina Tour.

Tour Schedule - Local Time (UK Time)

North Carolina Tour Squad

Rachael Ball
Izzy Brand
Emma Brown
Millie Cant
Jordan Carr
Chloe Chan
Emilie Chandler
Ella Cohen
Claire Faram
Emily Gray
Cece Green
Lauren Hart
Minty Loxton-Barnard
Emily Nalls
Anna Neville
Emma Oakley
Brittany Read
Alice Ripper
Lizzie Rutherford
Emma Savage
Dylan Whittington
Charlie Wilson
Liv Wimpenny
Julie Wise
Sofia Wise