England drawn in top pool at 2022 Men's U21 World Championship

England have been drawn in the top Pool A containing some of the best teams in the world at the 2022 World Lacrosse Men’s U21 World Championship following the release of the full schedule last month.

Ryan Garnworthy’s boys, who are seeded fifth after finishing in that position at the 2016 U19 Men’s World Lacrosse Championship, will open their campaign against the Haudenosaunee Confederacy on the first day of the competition (10 August) before the opening ceremony takes place.

This is followed by pool games against the USA (11 August), Australia (13 August), and Canada (14 August) before the knockout stages begin on 16 August.

The 2022 U21 World Championship is being staged in Limerick, Ireland and will be the first major competition for this squad since they won the 2019 U20 European Men’s Lacrosse Championship, defeating Germany 9-8 in a tight final.

Indeed, it is likely to be some of the first international lacrosse many of the England team will have played since 2020 and the start of the coronavirus pandemic which forced the tournament to be postponed twice and increase its age limit from U19 to U21.

A total of 23 teams are competing in this year’s competition making it the largest ever age group World Championship staged by the world governing body, World Lacrosse.

The other teams include Home Nations, Wales and Ireland, as well as the likes of Jamaica, Uganda, Germany, and Hong Kong.

England Schedule

10 August | Haudenosaunee Confederacy (13:00, Field 2)

11 August | USA (16:00, Field 1)

13 August | Australia (16:00, Field 1)

14 August | Canada (19:00, Field 1)

16 August | Play-in Games

17 August | Quarter-Finals

18 August | Semi-Finals

20 August | Final/3rd Place Game

England to play Home Nations rivals at 2022 European Box Lacrosse Championship

England are set to play two Home Nations’ sides at the 2022 European Box Lacrosse Championship in Hannover, Germany after the full schedule for this month’s tournament was released.

England have been drawn in Pool D and will begin their European Championship journey by playing close rivals Scotland on the opening day of the competition before taking on Ireland two days later in what will be a repeat of the fifth place game at the 2017 European Box Lacrosse Championship.

On that day, England came out on top, eventually defeating the team from across the English Channel 17-12 in a game that even saw England goalkeeper, Eliot Pugh, get his name on the scoresheet!

Six players remain from that Championship squad (Eliot Pugh, Matt Marsh, Will Walker, Pete Wilson, Albert Whitehead, and captain Tom Roche) and England will be looking to go at least one step further this year by reaching the third place game.

Which is exactly what they did three years ago at the 2019 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship when they pushed an extremely talented USA team all the way in the bronze medal match, eventually finishing fourth.

Head Coach, Walt Christianson recently unveiled his 23-player squad to travel to the European Championship where 14 teams will be competing for the trophy, including holders and inaugural winners, Israel, as well as runners-up from 2017, Czech Republic, and 2017 bronze medallists, Finland.

To view the schedule in full or to find out more about the European Championship, click HERE.

England Schedule (All times BST)

30 July | Scotland (08:30, Arena 1)

1 August | Ireland (15:30, Arena 1)

2 August | Play-in Game (09:30 or 15:15 or 18:30)

3 August | Quarter-Final (08:30 or 12:30)

4 August | Semi-Final (11:30 or 15:30)

6 August | 5th Place Game (12:30)/3rd Place Game (15:30)/Final (18:30)

England miss out on World Championship final with close defeat to Canada

England Women will contest the Bronze Medal play-off after going down 9-11 to Canada in the Women’s World Championship semi-final.

A hat-trick from Georgie Southorn led the English scoring supported by a strong defensive effort in a whistle-heavy game that was nip-and-tuck for long periods.

After finding themselves four goals down with 8:51 to go England rallied, but it wasn’t enough to overturn Canada’s lead, who will advance to the Gold Medal match against USA.

England started the brighter in front of a raucous travelling support and had a number of free position shots but struggled to convert.

Down the other end, Canada had to produce their best to beat Britt Read in goal, an Aurora Cordingley BTB the stand-out as Canada led 3-1 at the ¼ time, Megan Whittle making a free position to get England going.

Both teams were given no inch in defence and it resulted in multiple free position attempts for both teams throughout the game.

Successful 11-metre shots from Olivia Hompe and Ruby Smith got England level, before a solo Erica Evans break and a Madalyn Baxter FP again gave Canada a two-goal lead at the half, 3-5.

England tried to close things up a number of times but each time the deficit was cut, Canada responded with goals of their own.

The teams traded goals, Canada with three FP shots and England with two efforts from Southorn as Canada stretched the lead to three going into the final 15 minutes.

England outshot Canada 20-18, with eight shots in a frantic final quarter in which they pushed the game hard and nearly got the rewards.

Laura Merrifield scored a beauty to kick off the 4th driving to goal line extended, before switch-stepping back inside, changing hands and planting it home to make it 6-8.

But another two from Canada in return looked to have put things out of England’s reach.

However, a final surge in the last five minutes cranked up the atmosphere and once Southorn had completed a brilliant hat-trick and Whittle sunk another free position, England were back within two and in the ascendancy.

The team then missed a couple of chances to go within one and Cordingley gave Canada breathing space once more.

Hompe rounded off the scoring with a smart quick-stick finish but it was too late to effect anything and it was Canadian jubilation on the final whistle.

England will now play Australia at 9.30am EST/2.30pm UK on Saturday 9 July for the Bronze Medal in a repeat of that famous overtime match from 2017.

England Points: Georgie Southorn (3G 1A), Megan Whittle (2G 1A), Olivia Hompe (2G), Laura Merrifield (1G), Ruby Smith (1G)

Less than a month until summer 2022 Triple Arrow Camps begin!

After another successful Easter Triple Arrow Camps schedule earlier this year, England Lacrosse is excited that there’s less than a month to go until the summer 2022 schedule begins!

Throughout July and August, there’s set to be no less than six summer Triple Arrow Camps around the country, including ones at Caterham School, St George’s School, Charterhouse School, St Swithun’s School, Queen Anne’s School, and Abbot’s Hill School.

Triple Arrow Camps are over 25 years old and have been designed to allow girls aged 10 to 16 to play and practice lacrosse in fun, friendly environments where they can be inspired by some of the country’s best coaches, including many current and ex-national team players.

With an inclusive curriculum and specialist coaches working with targeted age groups, each camper will have the opportunity to learn, improve and push themselves to be the best lacrosse player they can be, regardless of their experience or ability level.

For summer 2022, there’s a mixture of two-day clinics and four-day residential camps, giving each camper the choice between a fully immersive Triple Arrow Camps experience and a more flexible day camp experience.

For more information about each camp and what you can expect from a Triple Arrow Camp, click HERE.

Summer 2022 Triple Arrow Camps

Caterham School, Surrey (26 & 27 July)

St George’s School, Harpenden (27 & 28 July)

Charterhouse School, Godalming (2-5 August)

St Swithun’s School, Winchester (8-11 August)

Queen Anne’s School, Caversham (16-19 August)

Abbot’s Hill School, Hertfordshire (23 & 24 August)

Your Sport Your Voice Annual Survey

England Lacrosse is launching its 2022 Your Sport Your Voice survey.

The annual survey is your chance to let us know about your involvement with the game, about things that are going well, and about areas where we can help to improve your experience with the sport.

We’re also asking you, our members, players, coaches, officials and supporters what information you are interested in, how best to keep you up to speed with all the latest news and opportunities for how you can play a larger part in England Lacrosse.

This is the first chance to run the survey following a full season since 2020 and will help us to review people’s experiences of the game post-pandemic.

The survey should take around 10 minutes to complete and responses are anonymous.

England box team defeat All-Star team ahead of European Championship

England’s box lacrosse squad defeated a special All-Star team 11-5 in their final training session before the 2022 European Box Lacrosse Championship in Hannover, Germany.

The game took place at the home of England box lacrosse in the north of England, Skate City in Sheffield, on Saturday 25 June and featured 17 of the final 23-player squad heading out to the Euros in August, including reservist Pete Wilson.

The special All-Star team was made up of selected players including many who have been selected for England box squads in the past, such as Ben Stowe, Will Walker, and Dan Eckersall.

An optional training session with the England squad was offered to the selected All-Star on the Saturday morning before the main event in the evening.

During the match, England were good for the victory, showing their experience, quality, and tactical nous to win the game by a six goal margin and come out on top in three of the four quarters.

Star players for the England team included Ben Page-Laycock and Elliot Leonard who are definitely ones to watch at the European Championship which starts on Saturday 30 July.

You can watch the entire England v All-Stars match over on YouTube HERE.

Final Score: 11-5 (3-0, 3-1, 3-1, 2-3).

England goal-scorers: Leonard 2, Trinh, Buchanan, Jefferies, Watson, Whitehead, Page-Laycock 3.

All-Stars goal-scorers: Harris, Walker, Burke 3.

England

GK

Eliot Pugh

DEF

Will Allsop
Taylor Harrison
Luke Mills
Tom Roche (C)
Matthew Tatton
Ming Trinh
Chris Wainer
Albert Whitehead

ATT

Ben Buchanan
Dave Groves
Caius Jefferies
Elliot Leonard
Ben Page-Laycock
Jamie Powell
Dan Watson
Pete Wilson

All-Star Team

GK

Ben Stowe
Jame Tipple

DEF

Alan Keeley
Danny Hilton
Kieran Garvey
Oli Rogerson
Ben Stothard
Primal Fernando
Kyle Macqueen
Jacob Nichols-Cook
Sam Cooper
Matt Howarth
George Dury

ATT

Seán Keane
Rob Harris
Matt Andruchow
Will Walker
Silas Burke
Will Macdonald
Dan Eckersall
Sam Patterson
Sam Perry
Ollie Allsop

Patience pays off for Wimpenny in World Championship journey

‘Patience is a virtue’ has truly been the motto for England midfielder Liv Wimpenny as she approaches making her Senior World Championship debut 10 years on from her first international appearance.

When the midfielder lines up against Australia on Thursday in England’s World Championship opener, it will represent a decade of hard work and determination that has come since debuting at just 16 years old at the 2012 Euros in Amsterdam and be the reward for maintaining that perseverance to achieve her goals.

The initial rise through international lacrosse was a bit of a whirlwind for Wimpenny, who had only started playing age 11, first at Birkenhead School, and then at Oxton Lacrosse Club, where coaches Alison Dunn and Carina Walsh set her on the path to success at an early age.

 “From the age of 13, they saw something in me and began inviting me to play senior lacrosse, and then regional lacrosse, which just set me on this trajectory, and they were so supportive along the way,” Wimpenny said.

Then in the England Under 19 programme, she was part of a group asked to trial for a C team at Home Internationals, ending up in selection for the B squad, and then catching the eye of the coaches for Euros selection.

 “I got pushed up in to the B squad which wasn’t the plan at all, and then somehow scored six goals in a match against Scotland and off the back of that found myself being selected for the Europeans.”

 “I was thinking, what is going on this isn’t meant to be happening! It was such an incredible experience in Amsterdam, but I definitely wasn’t one of the standouts at that tournament.”

Liv is modest in her reflections of that tournament; she scored 16 goals to help England reclaim a gold medal they hadn’t won since 2003; but it was the experiences she had in Amsterdam that focused the mind already on the future.

“Getting to play alongside players such as Lucy Lynch (England’s record appearance maker), and Laura Merrifield was incredible.

“Watching them and how they played was such a massive learning experience and I saw that that was the player I wanted to become.”

But before then, Liv stepped back down to the Under 19s to get her first taste of a World Championship in 2015 in Edinburgh.

It was a championship full of extreme highs and lows, which after losing in golden goal overtime to both Australia and Canada in pool play, culminated in a brilliant bronze medal against Australia and Wimpenny making the All-Star World team at the end of the tournament.

Wimpenny was named in the 2015 U19 World Championship All-Star Team as England won the bronze medal

“We became such a strong team, we were all playing for each other and we had the fight and determination after coming through so many overtime games.

“Getting that bronze medal meant so much to us, we knew that we could get it and when we eventually beat Australia it felt amazing.”

But Wimpenny would have to wait to return to the big stage after missing out on final selection for both the 2013 and 2017 World Championships.

And that patience was once more put to the test, with this delayed 2022 edition continuing her wait.

“It’s now been seven years since that Under 19s and although we’ve been on tour and done the Europeans, I really can’t wait to get back on that huge world stage against Australia and Canada and the like.”

“It’s been such a long time coming that It’s going to be incredible and I can’t wait to be there alongside everyone.

And Wimpenny senses that the feeling of togetherness she experienced then in 2015, is present again with this World Championship squad.

“We’ve been there for each other over the past five years and it’s made waiting so much easier.

“The training has had the intensity that we’ve needed to keep us going and we’re all such good friends.

“We give each other hard competition and we get feisty out there sometimes but we just love spending time with each other.”

But when Wimpenny finally does cross the line and steps on to the field at a senior World Championship in Towson this week on her 23rd senior cap, it’s all eyes on the prize, and the prize is ultimately a coveted gold medal.

“You’ve got to set your standards to that height,” Wimpenny said.

”The aim is gold and whilst it’s bold as we’ve never got it before, the target is definitely that gold medal match and then we’ll see what happens.”

England Lacrosse open recruitment process for new Board Chair

England Lacrosse have opened the recruitment process to appoint a new Independent Board Chair to guide the organisation.

England Lacrosse are looking for a progressive, knowledgeable, collaborative and enthusiastic leader who shares our passion to become a major team sport in England.

The Independent Non-Executive Chair will be an integral part of the England Lacrosse team at an exciting and pivotal point in the development of the sport, domestically and internationally, as lacrosse seeks to meet its Olympic and Commonwealth aspirations.

You will lead the board in continuing to realise our mission of promoting and developing all forms of lacrosse, working with our board and staff to ensure that our values of Respect, Integrity, Accountability, Inclusivity, Excellence and Teamwork are upheld, whilst seeking to continue the governing body’s sustained development.

You will have proven leadership capabilities, and the ability to inspire a culture of collaboration and development across our varied internal and external partners in line with our core principles of innovation, efficiency, improvement, and responsiveness.

The appointment is voluntary and for an initial three-year term from the date of appointment. 

Meetings are London orientated with alternative access via Microsoft Teams available.

Please click the 'Apply Now' button to download the Recruitment Pack, setting out the core responsibilities and capabilities being sought, alongside details of how to apply.

Closing date for applications: 31 July 2022

Stockport Sixes set to return in September

Stockport Lacrosse Club are once again set to host their annual Stockport Sixes competition, following the successful launch of the event in 2021.

The tournament uses the rules and framework of the new proposed Commonwealth and Olympic Games six-a-side format and the 2022 edition will take place over Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 September.

The two-day competition would potentially see six different age groups, including junior boys U12, U14, and U16, junior girls U13 and U15, and senior men and women, playing sixes lacrosse on four pitches with ten-player squads.

Stockport are offering a £30 early bird entry fee for those teams who sign up before 20 August with the fee increasing to £40 after that date.

Please note, entry closes on 8 September after which no further teams will be admitted.

To register your interest in taking part in this year’s Stockport Sixes, please email [email protected] with the age groups you are interested in bringing along.

England box lacrosse to host all-star game

England box lacrosse are putting together an all-star team to play against their 2022 European Box Lacrosse Championship squad on Saturday 25 June.

The game will take place at the home of England box lacrosse in the north of England, Skate City in Sheffield, between 4pm and 6pm.

Selected players will be invited to an optional training session with the England squad on the Saturday morning, before the main event (All-Stars v England) in the evening.

Both the morning practice session and the evening All-Stars v England match will be funded by England box lacrosse.

Those wanting to take part in this special one-off event should message England box lacrosse on Instagram HERE or Facebook HERE as soon as possible.

The game coincides with the England box lacrosse squad’s final training session before heading out to the 2022 European Box Lacrosse Championship in Hannover, Germany (30 July - 6 August).

They’ll be hoping to capitalise on their fantastic showing at the 2019 World Box Lacrosse Championship in Langley, Canada where they finished fourth and place higher than their fifth place finish at the inaugural European Championship in Turku, Finland in 2017.

Head Coach, Walt Christianson, has recently announced his 23-player squad due to head out to the European Championship. You can read all about his selection HERE