Team USA Women's Lacrosse Comes to Hills East

Girls came from everywhere for the chance to work out with World Cup Champion Team USA women's lacrosse members in the gym on Sunday. 

Mia Johnson and her twin Barbara, 11th graders, came from Brentwood with their dad Tony. Janisha Sanchez came with her mother Rosa, also from Brentwood. Julie Minard came with her 7th grade daughter Laura from Westchester. Minard said that Laura, who is a midfielder or attacker, has been playing lacrosse since she was in third grade and Minard wanted her to come to the clinic so that she could experience different styles of coaching.

Team USA is the U.S. women's national team, and they hold 12 clinics all over the United States every year. They only come to Long Island normally every few years but this was the second year in a row that Hills East was chosen to host a clinic. 

"It was a real honor for us to be chosen two years in a row," said Rich Makover, the coach for Hills girls lacrosse. "This is the only clinic in New York this year. And these girls--they are the best players in the world. They won the gold. It's amazing to watch them," he added.

Hills girls lacrosse has teams for each grade, from kindergarten through eighth grade. About 200 girls participate, he said. "We have a good relationship with the school district," he said. "It's a good feeder system. And our high school has a strong team, one of the best in Suffolk County. And most of them are also very excellent students, with 80% of them making high honor roll." 

Trisha Dean was the clinic's host coordinator. She is the fifth grade coach for girls lacrosse at Hills, and her daughter Lindsey plays.

The Deans hosted Jennifer Russell at their home. Russell is a Team USA member who graduated this past May from UNC, and this is her third year playing for Team USA. She is one of the 36 girls who helped win the World Cup for the United States in 2009, against Australia in Prague. 

Russell said that they go all over the United States to promote the sport. "We play college teams to help get us ready for the World Cup, which is only once every four years. We have tryouts in the summer and once a month we get together. We are playing UVA and Maryland next."

Each of the 36 girls has to commit to several clinics a year, to help young girls all over the country learn about lacrosse.

At the Hills East clinic, Rachel Vallarelli, Colleen Olsen, Corrine Gandolfi, Katie Hertsch, Mallory Poole and Jennifer Russell were the Team USA members who participated. Gandolfi just graduated from Hofstra this past May and Hertsch is a senior at Hofstra. 

"This clinic is a wonderful opportunity for us," Dean said. "This gives young girls motivation. It shows them what they can achieve. There are not many opportunities for girls on Long Island."

Special Notes
(1)  A U.S. National Team goalie will be in attendance and provide specialized goalie instruction.

(2) Please note that the Dix Hills and Bloomfield Hills clinics will feature the high school girls' session in the morning and the youth girls' session in the afternoon.

(3) This clinic is held in conjunction with the annual Champion® Challenge event at ESPN Wide World of Sports. Participants will receive a free ticket ($29.00 value) to see the U.S. men's and women's national teams vs. Notre Dame men (NCAA runner-up), Virginia women, Maryland women (NCAA Champion), Rollins College, and Jacksonville University. The entire U.S. Women's Senior and Under-19 National Team will be participating in this clinic. The ratio of national team players to participants will be 3 to 1.