2008 National Draw
Marlton, New Jersey, 20 - 23 June 2008
Upon arrival in Philadelphia we loaded into two brand-new 12-passenger Ford rental vans and headed to Swarthmore College. The little village of Swarthmore (pronounced swath-mor) is gorgeous this time of year – very green and lots of flowers. After a stroll around the campus and a few rides on a great big swing we got to try the “college cafeteria” experience. It was a really good meal. Yum!
Our next stop was Villanova University. Really huge trees on a quiet, yet up-beat and modern campus. Did I mention huge trees? Campus stop number 3 was the stately Bryn Mawr College: beautiful architecture in a dreamy setting, with more green, lots of flowers – a spectacular place to consider for a college education. Our final visit of the day was the strikingly impressive Haverford College campus. To quote one of our team members, “I am definitely going here!”
Day 2 on the National Draw trip found the Outlaws heading back into Philadelphia to visit Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania (NOT Penn State!). These big city schools were a different experience when compared to yesterday's tours. Drexel turns out to be a collection of buildings that are more like office complexes rather than a traditional campus, so the girl's decided to spend the morning at Penn.
This Ivy League institution, home of the Wharton Business School, while in the middle of the city, provides a wonderful campus experience. After strolling through this resplendent university, the girls hit the Bookstore for souvenirs and tee-shirts. Once again, we sampled the college cafeteria (read: lots of food) and had a delightful lunch. After our meal it was finally time to starting thinking about the Lacrosse Tournament.
According to their website, “The National Draw is the premier women's lacrosse amateur championship tournament. More than 5,000 athletes representing 235 teams will participate with attendance expected to reach 12,000. The top club programs in the U.S. will send multiple teams to this event with the hopes of winning the national championship at either the varsity, junior varsity, or middle school levels.”
What a venue! This is a fantastic experience for the Outlaws to see and play at a very high level. Imagine 15 fields, larger than football fields, adjacent to each other spread across the acreage between the High School and Middle School that host the tournament. It is so large they float 10 foot diameter, yellow, numbered balloons two hundred feet above the fields, just so you can find your way around!!
The Outlaws went to school in game one. They played a very tough team from Maryland called the Chesapeake Club. I expect these girls were given a lacrosse stick shortly after birth... this team was good, unlike anything the Outlaws have ever seen in Texas – very fast, very, very skilled. But our girls were able to create a bit of their own magic and scored two goals against!
After a thorough debriefing by Coach Jo and a pump up by her and her sidekicks, Karrine and Victoria, our girls came out with a vengeance in game two. This game was against the Connecticut Chargers. We saw the hard, hot practices pay-off, now that the girls got the hang of the aggressive style and level of play required to compete here. Excellent passing through the transitions, outstanding defense, a few well timed saves, and some great ball control on the offense put the Outlaws ahead at the half. Despite the superb performance by the entire team, the girls ran out of time and lost in a squeaker. This time you could visibly see how proud they were of their performance in this game - a great game to watch!
The second day of the Tournament for the Outlaws found them playing their third game against a team called New England Select Lacrosse League (NESLL) from Massachusetts. Our beloved Outlaws won! The team actually regressed a bit from yesterday's excellent play, but was able to iron out some kinks in this game in order to get ready for game four.
The final game for our girls was against a tough Long Island, New York team called Southbay. The Outlaws really stepped up in this game and played a hard, aggressive, high speed game. While they came out on the wrong side of the score in this game, there was some great transition work, outstanding offensive set plays, and super assists that led to some nice shots. Once again the defense met the challenge and made a lot of scoring stops and caused a number of timely turnovers.
Coach Jo and crew reviewed the ups and downs of both games, in detail with the girls and then cut them loose to shop in the Lax Vendor Village here at the National Draw. If it has something to do with Lacrosse it was for sale in the village. In fact, one of the top fashion items here are the vividly colorful spandex compression shorts the girls wear. Not your plain old black or white anymore... what will they think of next?
The Outlaws next assignment was to observe the first round of the playoffs; to “go to school” on what the top teams were doing that made them so good. The game they watched highlighted the Chesapeake team they played in the first round. (Note: probably one of the best teams here.) Anyway, the girls got to see the game from slightly above the field on the sidelines and get different perspective. It was great to hear the comments as our girls sopped up the stuff they saw – some amazing plays by some very skilled girls. This trip to the National Draw has been a super experience for the Outlaws.
Be assured that your girls did a great job here. These are young women that we should all be very proud of. They all pitched in got get the mundane stuff done, they played hard – as a team -- they learned a LOT and they are great ambassadors for Texas Lacrosse.
For more information or to arrange a try-out contact: coachjo@texasplayhard.com.
