TWO Herefordshire pupils with Olympic Games dreams competed for Wales at the under-20 U20 World Lacrosse Championship in Hong Kong recently.
Florrie Taylor from Carey, captained the team and was joined by vice-captain Zoë Cripwell, from Broad Oak.
They were joined by fellow Monmouth School for Girls pupil Freya Taylor and they helped Wales retain 7th place in the tournament.
The tournament was an increasingly competitive one with the age group changing from under-19 to under-20, allowing US college sophomores to compete.
Wales secured second place in their group behind world number two ranked Canada, beating the Haudenosaunee to guarantee their place in the top eight.
After tough games against Australia (fourth) and Puerto Rico (fifth), they came seventh overall, just behind England, who were sixth.
With 20 teams competing, Hong Kong gave the tournament the same status as the Hong Kong 7’s and the Hong Kong Open Golf Tournament, promoting it across the metro and transport network with the games taking place in historic sites such as the Hong Kong Football Club, within the Hong Kong Jockey Club racecourse.
The tournament amassed 8.5 million video views and 23 million digital impressions, which emphasises the considerable growth the sport is achieving across the UK at clubs and universities.
This is only likely to grow with lacrosse featuring at the next Olympics in Los Angeles.
The girls continue a long tradition of Haberdasher Monmouth girls gaining Welsh and English caps for Lacrosse at both the Junior and Senior levels.
And with Wales Senior Women, featuring Habs alumna Maddison Jones, recently qualified for the World Women’s Lacrosse Championships in Japan in 2026 and the Olympics coming down the road in 2028, the girls have an exciting future ahead of them.
