The 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships are set for September 20-29 in Utica, New York with ten teams competing in the first-ever women’s box championship, split into two pools. Six teams advance directly to the playoffs after pool play and teams seeded 7-10 will compete in a play-in round.
The full schedule for the championship can be found here.
Pool B: Australia, Canada, Germany, Finland, Ireland
In the first ever women’s box championship, Pool B features three European teams in Germany, Finland and Ireland, and two field lacrosse powerhouses from Asia and North America in Australia and Canada.
Canada enters the championship with the most expectations, with a deeply embedded culture of box lacrosse in the country and a program that always a contender for the title in women’s field lacrosse.
Australia is also one of the most successful women’s field programs with nine medals at world lacrosse senior championships, and women’s lacrosse in Australia on the whole is supported by a robust club system across the country.
Finland and Germany both have women’s box lacrosse club opportunities throughout their countries, while Ireland has fully jumped into the challenge of competing in the first women’s box lacrosse championship with dedicated training in the past few years.
Tickets for all games of the box championships are available here.
Ireland has been working together in this discipline since 2022, and members of the team have been competing in various box events together as Team Éire, or in small groups in the English Winter League or the Women’s Major Series League in Canada.
Ireland also competed at the 2024 She-Box Invitational in Prague, with 14 players returning from that squad which picked up wins over Poland and Norway.
Becca Moloney performed well in net and Julia Ruscio was the leading forward.
Orla Buggy and Nadine Fadel competed in the 2022 women’s championship in Towson in the United States where Ireland finished in 13th place.
Many players have collegiate field lacrosse experience for Ireland, led by Noreen Anderson (Princeton University), Haley Crosson (Johns Hopkins University) and Lucy Poulin and Catrina Tonin (University of Massachusetts – Amherst).
Germany is bringing an experienced roster of women’s athletes with seven players who have played in World Lacrosse field championships and 20 players who represented the team at the 2024 She-Box Invitational.
Germany went 4-0 in Prague this year with wins over the Netherlands, Ireland and England.
Toni Garbe and Tessa Helf were the two star forwards, and both have led Germany in multiple field championships as well.
Lisa Neubert is also one of the most experienced players at women’s field championships and first represented Germany at the junior women’s championship in 2007 before making appearances for the senior team in 2009, 2013 and 2017.
Kady Glynn will be a player to watch in goal for Germany, and has competed professionally in women’s lacrosse for Athletes Unlimited in multiple seaasons after a collegiate career at Loyola University Maryland, where she made 482 career saves.
Finland is bringing a seasoned box lacrosse team to Utica, with 15 athletes who competed at She-Box in 2024.
Four players on the team – Monda Lundahn, Maisa Penttila, Ida Perakyla and Heli Vihervaara – all play club box lacrosse in Finland for the Turku Titans.
In Prague, Milly Lofgren and Vihervaara both played in net, with Lofgren making 73 saves.
Finland also should receive a boost from Olivia Downey, who is currently playing field lacrosse at Tennessee Wesleyan University, where she has totaled 72 points in her collegiate career so far.
While Finland has not appeared at a senior women’s field championship since 2013, five players have represented Finland at junior field championships including Kata Bitter, Tinda Martin, Iida Ulaska and Inka Ulaska in 2015.
Australia will back its chances to impress in the inaugural edition of the event with a strong squad developed from Australia’s lacrosse clubs.
In February, Australia held its 2024 Box Lacrosse National Championship, with clubs in attendance from South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Ultimately, 14 players from the title-winning Victoria squad were named to the national team with the majority hailing from Melbourne.
“The overall squad performance was of a very high level which made reducing the squad from 55 down to the final team was a tough process” said head coach Chris de Mello. “The squad as a whole showed that they were able to step up under the pressure of a National Championship with some players then showing something extra at camp that maybe they hadn’t shown during Nationals or previous camps, it was an incredibly tough process and all of the squad should be incredibly proud of their efforts but I am confident that we have picked a team that I feel will give us the best possible result in September”.
Abbie Burgess-Brice, Eleni Megoran and Steph Hallows were the top attacking performers at the national championship.
Mel Brickle was named the captain of the team and the Australia veteran defensewoman captained Australia at the junior women’s field lacrosse championship in 2003.
Burgess-Brice and Tegan Brown are two other players with senior women’s field experience, and Brown also competed in sixes for Australia at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham.
Meg Bown is competing in her second World Lacrosse championship of the year, after an impressive showing in midfield for Australia during its fourth-place campaign at the Women’s U20 Championship in Hong Kong, China in August.
Canada held an extremely competitive process to settle on its final 23-woman roster, which will be a contender for the title in Utica.
Head Coach Troy Cordingley is a two winner of the the National League Lacrosse Head Coach of the Year in men’s lacrosse and leads a talented staff.
“Extremely excited to watch the talent unfold at the World Championships,” said general manager Tami Rayner. “This team is incredibly skilled, experienced, fast and strong. They will be a very difficult team to beat in the defensive end with our strength and relentless hustle. Offensively, their creativity and fearless attacking is a huge asset”.
Four players have represented Canada at a senior women’s field championship in Brooklyn Walker-Welch, Megan Kinna, Erica Evans. and Dana Dobbie, and all four also helped Canada win gold in sixes competition at The World Games 2022.
Walker-Welch grew up playing men’s box lacrosse for 10 years and is an All-American in collegiate field lacrosse at the University of North Carolina.
Evans was Canada’s leading scorer in Towson with 24 goals and a three-time national championship winner with the Team Ontario box lacrosse team.
Kinna finished a professional season in lacrosse in 2024 with Athletes Unlimited and had a strong collegiate career at Northwestern University.
Dana Dobbie is one of the legends of the sport and a four-time selection to the World Team at women’s field championships in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022. Dobbie started playing box lacrosse at the age of four.
Brenna Shanahan is another veteran box lacrosse player with a collegiate career in field Louisville University and Canisius, who coaches in Mimico, where she grew up playing. She was on the 2015 junior women’s field team alongside Evans and Kinna, which won gold.
Canada also will count on three players who competed in Hong Kong in Dylana Williams, Morgan White and Dacia Cordingley.
Games to Watch
Friday, September 20: Finland vs. Canada, 10:45 a.m., Utica University Nexus 2
Canada and Finland will face off in the first game of the historic first-ever World Lacrosse women’s box championship. Both nations have a history of women in box lacrosse and the decades-long journey to its arrival on the global stage will make for a special atmosphere in the opening match.
Saturday, September 21: Ireland vs. Finland, 10 a.m., Adirondack Bank Center
Behind Canada, Pool B could be wide open for seeding ahead of the next round, which should make for entertaining matchups game to game. Ireland could be a threat for a playoff run but will have to go through a resolute Finland side in a bout between two hungry European teams.
Tuesday, September 24: Australia vs. Germany, 11:30 a.m., Utica University Nexus 1
Australia and Germany are two of the most experienced field lacrosse programs behind Canada in the pool and will meet in the final game of Pool B action. It should be a fascinating battle of two well built squads from Europe and Asia with real playoff seeding implications on the line.
